Aftermarket Catalytic Converter review

[nosivad_bor]

I just went full fledged cheap fuck on a Y pipe with new catalytic converters on my disco 1. I am taking one for the team if these turn out to totally suck, at least you will know not to follow my lead. I will report back occasionally to report on performance or issue.

I encourage others to reply to this thread with their experience with other brands of catalytic converters.

I purchased the Y pipe and cats from www.racepages.com

described as:
1997 Land Rover Discovery Davico Catalytic Converter Discovery Davico Price: $311.27 Qty: 1.00 Part #: DAV17072

I found a ten percent off coupon by googling. coupon code was RPCART

final total including shipping is as follows:
Sub Total: $311.27
Discount: $31.13
Shipping: $8.34
Handling: $2.00
Tax: $0.00
Core: $0.00
Total: $290.48

I don't know why shipping was so cheap , but I wasn't going to argue.

I looked up Davico and seems that they have a manufacturing site in the USA and probably other global locations. So I am hoping at least a portion of the cat was made here. Generally they seemed like a legit cat manufacturer.

I expect the cats to arrive at the end of the week. I will update the thread again at that time.

 

[Tims95Disco]

I installed a Davico y pipe with cats in 2005, bought off ebay. No problems so far, fairly easy to install.

 

[rrc.swb]

This is great info guys.

Thanks!!!

 

[nosivad_bor]

encouraging news

 

[Errant]

I've been thinking about going the same route, but am concerned about it being able to pass California emissions

 

[crown14]

Recently I came into possession of a truck that has become a bit of a pet project. Prior to my ownership someone had cut out the converters and I had no y pipe assemblies on hand at the time so I began looking into alternatives. The truck is a 1995 and as a result of many years of knowing the right people, even if it were a later model I would have no problem passing inspection here in NC so I decided to get creative.

Not all Disco 1 trucks came with cats, and the non-cat pipe is VERY reasonably priced even in comparison to the Davico unit, so I purchased one from Justin Lucky 8. Part number is ESR225, he ordered it from the UK and I had it about 4 days later. While the primary pipe and collector piping diameters are smaller than the cat y-pipe's 2.25in, they are still large enough to do the job. Plus they are a more true to a 4-2-1 design, if that matters or even makes sense to you. It breaks down into three parts so shipping is not expensive and installation is easy. I did purchase some clamps during install (cheap) but if you have access to a welder then it will come in quite handy.

ESR225 has one glaring downfall- it has no O2 sensor bungs, and the 4-2-1 design means the bungs need to be installed aft of where the two pipes on either side meet- which is some distance further than the standard location. This also makes adapting ESR225 to a OBDII truck a little more challenging (but not impossible). I was going to have to purchase new sensors anyhow for the truck so I ordered a pair of the proper 12mm bungs from a company in MN called Pollution Control Industries, Inc at the whopping cost of $2.28 each. Then I got in touch with someone who spoke engrish at NTK and found some sensors that would fit 12mm bungs, and happened to come attached to no less than six feet of wire- meaning I could put the sensors where I wanted with wire to spare. They are direct fit to some long forgotten Nissan contraption but are actually cheaper than buying direct plug and play Rover sensors. Note: stop reading now if you are afraid to solder some wires. Part number for the sensor is # 24005, manufactured by NTK (o2 sensor division of NGK) price from advanceautoparts.com was less than $100 each.






I still havent installed the sensors yet :rofl:

 

[enjoi1968]

I'm liking my 2 magnaflows 2.25" inlet- 3" cat- 2.25" outlet.

 

[Blue]

aren't you worried about that going crunch one day?

 

[enjoi1968]

if it happens it happens, but it hasn't yet (that's an old picture when it was shiny and new)

it's only about 2", at the most, lower then the stock Y pipe.

 

[benlittle]

Hey Rob, how come you didn't do the maremont ones Marc did? Those are about $150 for a pair...

 

[jmonsrvr]

i had my cats cut out of my nrp y pipe about a year ago and replaced with magnaflow cats. works great with the rest of the nrp set up. I have front to back nrp. Nrp made the last ones for me- for my disco and for my lwb before they closed the doors..

 

[oldygoldy]

Replaced mine at B&B Muffler in Dallas, TX for $280.00 about three years ago. I have not had one problem. They were recommended by North Texas Rover and the dealer after I refused to pay dealer prices. It took about an hour.

 

[cgerrells]

Good thread, I'm about to redo my system also. I have gone around and around with it reading up on all the different options I could find on the different forums, I'm just wondering if it's really worth putting Cats back into mine or simply bypassing the rear o2 sensors altogether. Where I live there is no emissions, and any shop around here will cut cats out of anything if you ask them to. In this 96 I'm redoing right now, I have already dropped the system, and put in some headers and was just going to y them to flowmaster 44 and be done with it, but I'm still wondering if it would be worth the money/effort to put a couple of those mag flow cats in the system or not.

Here's the truck running open header... http://www.youtube.com/user/NGARover

 

[enjoi1968]

planetmagnaflow.com was the best price around for magnaflow cats, I want to say mine were 67$ each shipped.

 

[nosivad_bor]

Hey Rob, how come you didn't do the maremont ones Marc did? Those are about $150 for a pair...

Yes, Ben I considered what Marc did, but there were a few reasons I didn't go that route.

1. my existing pipes are seriously rusty.

2. Marc confessed to me recently that his rig job is rusted to shit and he wishes he had just replaced it with a new Y pipe.

3. I don't own a welder, nor did I feel like fucking with all that labor for something that no one will ever see, even if I did have a welder.

4. When I sat down to shop for cats online, I was under the impression it was going to cost 600 with shipping, so $290 for a plug and play , no dicking around, sounded like a slam dunk. Let's hope I'm right.


For everyone else, this isn't the how to illegally removed my cats thread, it's the catalytic converter review thread. IF you want one about illegally removing catalytic converters, start your own thread.

 

[benlittle]

Yes, Ben I considered what Marc did, but there were a few reasons I didn't go that route.

1. my existing pipes are seriously rusty.

2. Marc confessed to me recently that his rig job is rusted to shit and he wishes he had just replaced it with a new Y pipe.

3. I don't own a welder, nor did I feel like fucking with all that labor for something that no one will ever see, even if I did have a welder.

4. When I sat down to shop for cats online, I was under the impression it was going to cost 600 with shipping, so $290 for a plug and play , no dicking around, sounded like a slam dunk. Let's hope I'm right.


For everyone else, this isn't the how to illegally removed my cats thread, it's the catalytic converter review thread. IF you want one about illegally removing catalytic converters, start your own thread.

haha, nice!

 

[crown14]

For everyone else, this isn't the how to illegally removed my cats thread, it's the catalytic converter review thread. IF you want one about illegally removing catalytic converters, start your own thread.

no

 

[cgerrells]

Sorry, my reply was not meant to be a legal debate on the legality of removing the cats but an attempt to gather some information on the actual performance difference if any. Adding a set of even the cheapest cats out there will add 150 bucks to the system (My muffler place will build the rest of the pipe for 100 bucks regardless) The flowmaster 44 is costing me 70 bucks. So it comes down to a total cost of $170 bucks without cats or $320 with.

Now, if there is s a reason adding them back in would do something to better the vehicle I'm all for it, which is why I like this thread.

In my limited understanding of the cats I always thought the only reason for them to be in the system was to burn off the extra fuel and that they actually lowered performance? Course with the second set of O2 sensors I also wondered what the negative effect on performance was by them not putting out the correct information IE "cat failure" as it was my belief that this would in fact cause the OBDII systems to retard the engine performance.

I'm new to the Discos having only owned 3 of them (2 currently) and I do 95 of my own work on them so it would be nice to find someone that could give a definitive answer to this question and if that answer is yes, you get better performance using the cats then which cat is recommended (mag flow?).

Believe me, I have a lot of other issue with my discos I would rather spend that extra 150 bucks on...

 

[nosivad_bor]

Thank you Cgerrells, I appreciate your situation, but I simply can't condone the practice of eliminating the converters.

If you are hollowing out cats with the expectation of better performance from your Disco you will be disappointed.

Crown, yes

 

[enjoi1968]

I'll condone it, gained me 65 ChHP on my WRX by going catless.

Disco is a completely different beast though.....