Just found out that my pre-turbo cat may be on its way out (rattling a bit), question is, if I smash the ceramic inserts out of the cat will it be the same as a cat replacement pipe. Been quoted £140 plus 5 hrs labour for a new cat and £110 plus 5 hrs labour for a cat replacement pipe, cant see the point of putting a new cat in as ive got a centre secton with a cat that I can pop back in for mot time, just wondered if I can save the £110 for the replacement pipe and spend it on the labour costs instead.

 

Best to cut it open and remove the innards, then weld it back up again, or just cut out the whole box and weld a tube in place of it.

You don't want any reminents of the old cat ending up in your turbo


I did try prodding the innards out once. It takes alot of bashing an alot of time...easier just to cut the box open.

 

If the cat does start to break up is it liable to cause any damage to the turbo, mechanic said no but I cant see chunks of ceramic flying through the turbo will do it any good.

 

I've seen turbos loose blades from chunks of carbon....so chunks of catalyst would probably do similar damage (sounds like a jet engine on take off). Also these is a chance the cat could completely collapse and block everything up. In which case you'll get overtaken by milk floats.

So it is best to get it sorted sooner rather than later.

I would ask why the old cat failed though - backfiring (atm dumpvalve?), missfiring, fuel mixture problems or physical damage (accident or grounding). Unless you've done lots of miles.

 

Its only done 35,000, mechanc said its not gone just probably come a bit loose down one side, he said vibration will eventually kill it though.

 

Look around for an OEM classic up-pipe or a newage STi version as these will fit but have no cat. Should find them at breakers, SN or Ebay for IRO £40.
You'll need a CEL fix (Resistor for 25p) as your up-pipe has an EGT sensor and the above up-pipes have no boss to mount it.

NIck