Has anyone passed smog in California with this cat? Or could something else be awry?

Car has 52k on original engine, fuel filter less than 5k miles, 2k miles since oil and filter change and spark plug change (all 9s); less than 2k on cleaned air filter. I swapped the stock IC and ECU back for the test and have a Cheap Bastard intake, downpipe, SMB cat with air pump hooked up, RB dual tip, and HKS Twin Power. Car was hot for test and air pump is working fine. Car runs like a champ on both my normal PFC and on the stock ECU. Idles smoothly at 720rpm.

The following are the results of my first test:

Test________CO2%__O2%______HC(PPM)________CO%_____ ____NO(PPM)_____
_______RPM_MEAS__MEAS__MAX_AVE_MEAS__MAX__AVE__MEA S_MAX__AVE__MEAS
15mph_1843_14.12__0.64_|_88__21__123__|_0.52__0.06 __0.67_|_704__150__513
25mph_2044_14.72__0.09_|_53__13___99__|_0.50__0.05 __0.16_|_738__136__252

I changed the oil and filter, put new leading 7 spark plugs, ran a pint of Seafoam through the tank, and filled up for a new test (at the same facility a week later). Again the car was hot when tested.

New results are almost the same (though NO and O2 are lower at 15mph):

Test________CO2%__O2%______HC(PPM)________CO%_____ ____NO(PPM)_____
_______RPM_MEAS__MEAS__MAX_AVE_MEAS__MAX__AVE__MEA S_MAX__AVE__MEAS
15mph_1771_14.69__0.16_|_88__21__120__|_0.52__0.06 __0.57_|_704__150__245
25mph_2034_14.70__0.11_|_53__13__106__|_0.50__0.05 __0.65_|_738__136__201

I am going to swap a stock cat back on and retest unless anybody else has some bright ideas. Not too keen on running denatured alcohol through the system.

TIA

WTB: stock low mileage cat

 

Forgot: oxygen sensor has less than 5k on it. SMB has even less miles than that.

 

I am not too sure about that cat. I was running a little rich I admit, but nontheless, mine burned out after 1 week. I don't know what cat they use in it, but it obviously cant stand up to the FD.

 

What were the symptoms? Mine still definitely flows pretty well because I am hitting 14psi at 2800rpm and can maintain 14psi to redline - so it definitely not clogged. Did the honeycomb disintegrate?

 

When I first put it on, it did a great job, no exhaust stink, but the thing would get crazy red. Now the exhaust stinks again and the cat doesn't get red anymore. So I assume it's not doing anything and is burnt up. I will be taking it off soon to weld in my WB bung, when I do, I will look at the inside, but I am confident that it is toast.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll probably be pulling mine off next week and will see what I find.

It is such a high quality piece that it is hard to imagine that it has failed - though rotaries are hard on cats.

 

I admit, when I received it, I was in awe. It was so nice looking, but I think the metallic cat they use, is of low quality.

 

Mine has lasted close to 30,000kms (Around 15,000miles I think)
Running around 15psi..with a decent tune.

Looking into the exhaust pipe now (I have the engine out) it looks pretty close to brand new..

I would suggest your problem was something else....and that perhaps the SMB lasted longer than most cats would..

 

I have no problems with mine at all, although Ive done less than 4000km so, it has good tune making 330hp with stock twins. Deffinantly performs better than my last hi flow

 

Did you have your air pump hooked up?

 

Yes. But that should not matter with this pipe, as the airpump tube is AFTER the cat.

 

Have any of you Aussie guys had to pass emissions with this cat? If so, what sort of test do you have (idle only, rolling dyno)?

 

I also ran through with the SMB cat and corvette air pump, but was unable to pass. It didn't help that I had 850 primaries.
I swapped the injectors out for 550s and put the stock cat on, and passed with flying colors. I'd be interested to see what I ran with the SMB and the 550s. BTW, my AFRs were in the 12s with the 850s and I leaned the AFRs out to around 14.3 with 550s. Also for my emissions testing they make you idle the car and rev it to 2500rpms for the emissions testing; we don't have the rollers.

 

^You guys have it good no sales tax and no rollers . Hate watching the guys on and off the gas so much. But that is weird it went out so quick did you ever contact them str8down?

 

No, I figured it was common and was just going to deal with it. But since I seem to be the only one, maybe I will. Are they pretty good with customer service?

 

Do you recall if you failed by a huge margin or just barely?

 

I believe it was almost 5 times over the limit. I would be interested to see what it would have done with the SMB cat and 550 primaries.

 

I've had my SMB cat in for at least a year and a half if not 2, many miles on it. No problems what so ever - no stink, no boost problems, just good, smell-free power .

I'd e-mail them and ask them about it. They're friendly and good with responses.

Speaking of, I e-mailed them a while back. I don't have emissions testing (thank you, Florida!) and I just want the high-flow cat to reduce noise and eliminate stink. I asked them if the airpump was necessary with the metal cat, seeing as I'm not concerned with emissions. They replied that it's no problem, they have a shop car that's run an SMB cat for quite some time with no airpump with zero problems. Woohoo!

Dale

 

moconner maybe you can try using my exhaust. I usually wouldn't lend it out, but it has a tunable valve in it. For smog I turn it to the most closed position. I passed the sniffer with HKS RS intakes, Stock I/C, HKS DP, Apex-i PFC, and Apex PS Revo exhaust. I am running a stock cat (if I take this off, say hello creep!). Let me know what's up....

-Jeff

 

Thanks for the offer. I just found a stock cat.

How does the valve work?

 

in a fully closed position, it allows only a little bit of exhaust out of the muffler, inorder for the valve to open up, it would need pressure. Smog dynos don't require much speed, so there's barely any pressure. So that means only a little bit of exhaust gas comes out.

 

I pulled off the SMB today in preparation for swapping in a stock cat and the substrate looks perfect - so the failure is not caused by a faulty cat.

I will be taking the test again in a few days with a stock cat so it will be interesting to compare numbers.

 

I know this isn't much help but this is my recent Emission in Texas with the Knightsport Metallic cat

High Speed (1946rpm) Low Speed (1791rpm)
HC 7 9
CO(%) 0.03 0.02
CO2(%) 14.4 14.8
O2 (%) 1.4 0.9
NOx(ppm) 218 275
Dilution (%) 14.4 14.8

the HC seem way too low....I have no idea...just something for comparison.

 

Thanks. I just found the last test I did two years ago with the stock cat. Apart from the HKS Twin Power, I had the same downpipe, intake, and exhaust as now.

Test________CO2%__O2%______HC(PPM)________CO%_____ ____NO(PPM)_____
_______RPM_MEAS__MEAS__MAX_AVE_MEAS__MAX__AVE__MEA S_MAX__AVE__MEAS
15mph_1744_14.70__0.70_|_88__21___24__|_0.52__0.06 __0.06_|_704__150__108
25mph_2044_14.80__0.60_|_53__13___21__|_0.50__0.05 __0.09_|_738__136__142

Your HCs are plausible - the test the previous owner did before selling had numbers almost as low as your's. Though that was with the stock cat. The Knightsport apprears to be as good as stock. Were you running an airpump?

I'm going to be testing again with a stock cat in a few days so will be able to see if the SMB is to blame.

 

Yep before the cat...tuned PFC, I think I have stock primaries 1300 secondaries.