How hot does a cat get? Want to wrap it.

[casketcrewchick]

I want to know how hot can a catalytic converter get. I want to wrap my cat (the crappy weld job is sorta leaking), use a spray coating and then use a band clamp over top of it all and this will seal it up and it wont leak anymore.
I am also doing this cause I might want to replace my high flow cat in the summer. Basically if I wrap it, spray it then clamp it, i know i will have a tight seal then i can remove it if i want without having to saw thru my exhaust again.

What do you think? The wrap i am looking at is good up to 2200 degrees... but if i use a SS band clamp around it, will that be too much heat? This wrap i am looking at is ok for cats but what bugs me is i want to put a clamp over it too... almost like i am making my entire exhaust bolt on.


thanks... oh and i know you are probably thinking, just get it welded but i dont really want to.

[crasher]

well I know some of the actually stuff on the inside of a cat is like platnum or some rare earth metal that doesn't start metling until some ungodly high temp. So I would say you could probably heat it up to the near metling point of the housing metal, what ever that may be.

[hockeyman]

High-temp silicone spray??? Never seen it...
After you get the leak covered (however you may do it), you can infact cover the area with a high temp header wrap. Just be sure not to cover the whole converter, wrap only the area that you had the leak at.

[casketcrewchick]

Yes, hockeyman... I wanted to just wrap the welds basically, not wrap the cat itself.

There are high temp silicone sprays out there but this is a coating that sorta bonds with the wrap which protects it from debris and whatnot... it sorta seals it (i guess it hardens it).

I want to place a (band clamp) clamp over the wrapped parts, is that risky? cause like i said i dont want that welded cause i might just end up getting another cat instead of the one i got so it isnt as loud.

[casketcrewchick]

Oh and was reading on what the inside of the cat was made of and since then i forgot but yes it can stand very high temps. Like i said i am not looking to wrap the cat itself but the pipe in front and behind it.

[T-Punk]

you could get some high temp appoxy for it to seal it up, that would work better imo.

[hockeyman]

Epoxy will work, but it'll be a pita to get off once you are ready to remove the converter. You're probably better-off doing the spray and band clamp to get you through a few more months.

[ellik]

Im a little confused as to exactly what is leaking. Is it the welds where you put the new cat on?

I used stainless steel band clamps before and after my cat so that it would be easy to 'replace' it. ;) Ive not had any problems in over 6 months and the clamps still look as new as when they were installed.

[ January 11, 2005, 05:24 PM: Message edited by: ellik ]

[Razzer]

just weld it, this is to much work to try to save a little time and besides the wrap and silicon spray you guys are talking about will probably be exspensive. They may even catch fire, you're creating more trouble and headaches down the road. Cutting steal is a piece of cake. just my .02 cents.

[casketcrewchick]

I can just clamp it (I have the band clamps)... but i have to grind it down (the welds) and thats a pain in the ***.

Yeah i should weld it... cant find a damn welder though around here. eeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk