Catback, Decat, what does it all mean?

[king_panther]

Another dummy question from the king_panther !

Can someone explain to me what exactly 'cat-back' & 'decat' etc all mean ?

Is one better than the other ? Price ? Reliability ?

 

[bradc]

a decat removes the catalytic converter

a catback exhaust is from the catalytic converter to the back of the car

 

[Guest]

as brad said, a cat-back is the entire exhaust from the cat converter, to the rear muffler.

a de-cat is a piece of pipe with flanges at both ends that takes place of the cat converter

 

[king_panther]

Thanks guys for the explanations.

So is one better than the other ? What are people running on their cars ?

If you run de-cat, that means there's no catalytic converter ? What effect does that have on the car ?

 

[Guest]

Running without a cat is illegal so is up to u if u want to do, but u should see some slight gains as the less on the exhaust to restrict the flow the better. So for example u will see some race cars with exhausts coming out the sides, they have no cat or resinator or mufflers.

 

[king_panther]

Thanks for the tip Paul, & no I won't be running decat then !

 

[king_panther]

Can any workshop replace the hosing underneath with piping ?

I do wish to replace all the hosing with hard piping. Does it need to be a certain millimetre diameter ?

 

[Guest]

are you refering to the intercooler piping? i'm pretty sure its all 2.5", or 63mm piping.

an exhaust place should be able to do it for you, also alot of the performance workshops can do it as well.

 

[king_panther]

Yes I intend on replacing the intercooler piping, but also the hosing on the underside of the car...

 

[snickells]

Hosing? What exactly are you refering too Brad? I'm a little lost

 

[king_panther]

There's a small section, about 15-20cm, of hosing underneath the car towards the front..the existing piping under there looks a little worse for wear too..

Or is that classified as intercooler hosing still ?

Once I get a camera handy I could take a shot..

I told you all I'm a dumbarse at this stuff !

 

[Guest]

there is the intercooler outlet hose there, and the bottom radiator hose too...
either way, it can be replaced with a hard pipe.

 

[hawks]

Yep Decat = big no-no in NSW.

You will be decatted by the EPA if they catch you (if you know what I mean wink-wink snigger )

 

[king_panther]

Thanks Mitch now I know better !

& Mark, no I had no intention on 'de-catting' my car, as I had no idea what it even bloody meant until now hehe !

 

[bradc]

it's still legal here in NZ, hence my car (and most other VR-4's) are putting out a nice mix of NO, CO and CO2

 

[gilly]

I think the hosing he is talking about could be the exhaust flex pipe?

 

[king_panther]

Yea I'm not too sure what exactly it is... but I see hosing .. it's pretty much in line with the front wheels in the middle of underneath the car where the piping goes back to the exhaust....

In fact looking at the piping it looks pretty crap too...