Which is better?

[Fireball27]

Ok, which is better: Buying a high flow cat online. Or just buying it from a muffler shop (i know some carry them)?

I haven't poked around the muffler shops yet, and quite frankly i'm a bit reluctant to (most of the ones round here are in english deprived areas)... but i was thinking would it be easier (cheaper?) to just buy one at the muffler shop rather than buy it online and wait for it to ship (which with my luck would probably take months)?

I know i can get them online for 50ish bucks.

[99camaro-3.8]

Re: Which is better?

they'll both be the same but the one at a shop if they do carry them will be more expensive. i got mine off a member on this site and had it within a week. still waiting to put it on tho. whats the rush if you buy it off ebay it should show up within a week or so

[Lurieh]

Re: Which is better?

This is my standard response to "replacing cats" questions:

Make sure the laws in your area allow you to replace your cat on your specific year car. Some areas have a year threshold, and some have a mileage threshold(your car has to be at least x years old/over x miles). I don't know the specific requirements in CA, but be very careful about replacing your cat. If it's damaged or defective you might only be able to have an oem replacement installed(i.e. NOT a high flow/aftermarket).

1) The shop may or may not even install an aftermarket cat for you(they'll sell it though) if you don't meet the state law requirements for replacement. They may even only offer a direct replacement in order to keep your car oem emmissions legal.

2) The shop may sell, and install whatever you want. You'll then fail visual inspection when you take your car in.

Just a warning. You may have a friend working at the emissions center, or a friend willing to weld it up in his garage, but eventually you'll have to deal with the legality of it.

And to answer your question, I have had better luck getting a cat from a local shop. They aren't usually too much more expensive considering that Ebay sellers nowadays rape you on shipping. Plus a little persuasion usually gets me a discount for installation making the deal even sweeter.

[josh98bird]

Re: Which is better?

no worries here in ky, no inspections... thank god. i would buy one off ebay and take your time. maybe look around some forums and find someone selling one.

[airattack111]

Re: Which is better?

no worries here in ky, no inspections... thank god. i would buy one off ebay and take your time. maybe look around some forums and find someone selling one.

pff, if there are no inspections put straight piping in place of it, that's what i'm planning to do..

[Fireball27]

Re: Which is better?

pff, if there are no inspections put straight piping in place of it, that's what i'm planning to do..

Wish i could just do that... but i'm preeeetty sure that i need it.

Anyway, thanks for the advice, i'll be sure to look up the local laws on that... to be honest i didn't really think about that

Oh yea, and theres not nessesarily a "rush" persay, but after my exhaust fell of on thursday night i've heard this weird vibratory noise. I'm not sure what it is, but i don't want to take the car in to the exhaust shop and have to pay them a 100 bucks to replace a hanger or something minor when i could also have them put in a new cat while they're at it.

[99camaro-3.8]

Re: Which is better?

ya know what i was just looking at where you were from. chances are the shop wont even touch your cat. California has really strict laws when it comes to emissions. instead of wasting your time looking at laws and what not just head down to your exhaust shop and talk to the, about the laws. chances are they wont be allowed to do it but ask them what the laws are regarding you doing it yourself.

[Fireball27]

Re: Which is better?

Ok, so i did some poking around online and found out that it is infact illegal to have anything other than the OEM cat. In fact its also illegal to have a cutout as well... i didn't know that

Kinda lame really, California is supposed to be the :banana: state... but at this rate we'll all be going "come on down to the library! We'll have a great time!"

At any rate this brings me to a dilemma: What to do?
I probably could get some shady exhaust shop to stick a high flo cat on there anyway... but i don't think i want the emissions hassle of it.

Also it now seems pretty stupid to have a 3" cat back when theres this little 2 1/4" bottleneck just after the headers... would it be smarter (performance wise) to switch to a smaller piping size because of this?

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