My Catalysator is pretty much out...

[NEA-4311]

I took it to the stealership today for the regular maintenance and while the car was up there the technician called me in the repair area where he gently punched one of my catalysators and made me hear the noise of money coming out of my pockets... It made a noise as if something was broken in there and little pieces were bouncing up and down. I know its ceramic so.... One of them is definitely broken. Remember mine is a C200K Dec. '96.
So... I run stock exhausts and its a good chance for me to get that sporty exhaust I've always wanted. I want to replace the entire thing but the header. I wouldnt want to go the expensive way and get a stainless steel one or OEM one, I would want to go the racing cat and custom muffler way... Would a custom catalysator be a good choice? What should I be paying attention and what do you reckon in general? Thanks.

[benztec]

catalysator huh? if you had changed your blinker fluid more often and updated the fitzer valve that never would have happened.

[jnolte]

catalytic converter

[Fred Hayward]

If you knew what those "cats" contained ! you would'nt get near one , yet alone having one on your car

[omeyhomey]

is catalysator the new upgraded version of the flux capacitor?

[omeyhomey]

ebay is best bet. you can replace your cat with ebay units.

Something rattling around inside doesn't mean its a bad cat, could be anything or it could be something more serious (something broke off from engine and is stuck behind cat core).

Your cats go bad when they smell like eggs (aka sulfur). Now since you are going to have to take it apart might as well upgrade. You can either get a high flow ceramic core race cat for $37+ shipping bucks or you can get a high flow magnaflow metallic core cat on ebay for about $115 shipped and then get a high flow magnaflow all in one muffler if you want more performance (14815 for dual round tip, or 14833 for C36 AMG style tips).

FYI I've used my ceramic core $37 ebay cats on all my BMW race cars and it performed flawlessly and sounded great once cams opened up.

If you want you can replace resonator or use stock one. An entire full performance exhaust system shouldn't cost you more than $300-350 in parts and about $150-200 i labor so for roughly $450-550 you could pick up a nice few ponies. It would be completely street legal and still pass emissions just as long as you put O2 sensor bungs in the same stock locations.

Hope that helps.

[jnolte]

i say cut it off completely. straight pipe!

[NEA-4311]

Wiseguys! How many times must I tell you Im not good with the damn technical terms!?
If I completely cut out the catalytic converter I wont be able to pass the MOT test so I cant do that.

If I consider to install a racing cat or custom cat, will I be needing two like the OEM one or just one will do the trick? Some say That I might loose power if I experiment too much with the exhaust since its a Kompressor.

[omeyhomey]

Originally posted by NEA-4311
Wiseguys! How many times must I tell you Im not good with the damn technical terms!?
If I completely cut out the catalytic converter I wont be able to pass the MOT test so I cant do that.

If I consider to install a racing cat or custom cat, will I be needing two like the OEM one or just one will do the trick? Some say That I might loose power if I experiment too much with the exhaust since its a Kompressor.

Hello again,

No do not run dual, all you need is single (which will save $$ and weight). If you have OBD2 then you can get away with one cat, as long as you don't get check engine then you should pass no problems. If you want you can get the normal sized ceramic catco cat for $37 as well (much bigger ceramic core but same square opening ceramic core design (checkerboard core). The Magnaflow metallic ones are the metal core rolled (curved) opening cores for slightly better flow. Both are roughly 200-300 cell, OEMs are usually 400-600 cells per inch so its still a big improvement.

I ran a single $37 ceramic cat on one of my E30 track cars and it passed emissions no problems and it was a 2.5L inline 6 (from 1989 which aren't exactly the cleanest burning engines ever, the M20). I ran one on my 2nd 325 but couldn't pass emissions but it wasn't b/c of the cat, it was b/c I was runnign 288 race cams which has worse cam lope at idle than most 60s muscle cars, but she screamed to redline 4500rpm+ (she only failed at idle too so it was obviously the cams).

on your car i doubt it will be an issues, even the tiny ceramic cats are rated up to 5.9L.

If you are on a budget, just get the $37 ceramic race style cats, thats plenty any w202 especially the 4 bangers. And because the cats are much further down the exhaust system and not "header hugger" cats like on newer benzes they are not exposed to nearly as much heat & stress b/c they are a couple feet away from the heads instead of a couple of inches. Even so ceramics can take 1200-1500F for short bursts, where as metallics can usuall withstand 1500-2000F for short bursts.

Hope that wasn't too technical for you just trying to help.

[NEA-4311]

No its fine, thanks homey. Thing is I must start looking for those here in Greece b/c unfortunately I dont have a credit card and I havent bothered setting up my bank account and internet account cause Im f lazy (I hate me on that one). If I dont find anything cheap I will def do sth on the net.

So there wont be any power loss issues even though its a Kompressor? Hope you're sure about that but those are good news.

Thanks again guys.