A friend of mine replaced the Catalytic Converter on his RSX with a "test pipe" Accoriding to him, he got an increase of 10 hp. I looked at www.testpipes.com and they don't have a "test pipe" for the 2003 CL-S.

I understand that if you replace the Cat, you won't pass smog. However, I've been told, its a simiple installation and if you can't do it yourseld, it costs about $30 bucks at a muffler shop.

Has anybody heard about replacing your Catalytic Converter for increased power? If so, does anybody know where you can buy one for an 03 CL-S? Also Pros and Cons? Thanks.

 

Yeah but the other prob is that your ecu will light up like a chritmas tree from the secondary o2 sensor........ Theres lotsa of these pipes arounf the work better on some cars then others.. the "better" ones are a bypass diverter so you can manually select thru-cat or bypass cat.. And a custom job shoulndt cost more then $100

 

I thought I heard that it actually DECREASES performance on our cars somewhat because the engine was designed to have some amount of back pressure.

Not sure though.

Shawn S

 

Shawn,

It does decrease torque quite a bit from the lack of back pressure.. it also retards timing .. but thats a whole other long story......

 

Not sure about a stock CL-S, but I saw gains (dyno proven) on mine. My car is OBD1 so no secondary O2 sensor. You usually lose a little tq but will gain hp. I pass smog w/ my car no problem at all. Hondas burn clean, really clean. My car is so far from stock it isn't funny, no cat, 320cc injectors (stock is 240cc) and supercharged and I passed easily.

I'd like to hear your explanation on how it retards timing.

 

Removing the cat will increase hp. The RSX is an unique car because putting an intake, removing the cat and tweaking the ECU (Hondata) puts about 40hp at the wheels!!!! That configuration puts about 205hp at the wheels on a motor that's rated at 200 crank hp stock!

 

Oh yeah... if you plug in the second O2 sensor to the test-pipe, you won't have a check-engine light. The problem is that your fuel-maps will change slightly and you have to compensate for that somehoe either with a V-AFC controller or something like that.

 

Yup that may work aside from the fact that youll be running rich as all hell And then to use a vafc to try and lean the mixture without direct control over spark advance would make for one hell of a mess....... better off just wiring a quarter watt - megaohm resistor inline with the ground on the sensor.....

 

have fun paying the fine if you get caught with no cat... I think the fine if something like $300+... Stick with the legal mods if you want to power without worries.

 

Florida and Hawaii are the only states that dont require emission testing but I *THINK* a federal fine of $1500 still applies somehow.... Not sure how that would be enforced in states that dont require emission testing though lol all you guys in C.A. are out of your fucking minds to even try it lol thats why I wont even consider moving there with the CARB gustappo

 

Kansas doesn't require emission testing.

 

Yeah, the fines are a bitch! I would be worried if I was driving a Civic Hatchback or Integra. But a CL! What cop is going to look under the car on a luxury coupe with stock rims??!! I dunno, just thinking about it. I think I'll go with headers instead...