i know on my old car (2000 mitsubishi lancer[non evo]) this was an option to swap out the catalitic converter to a straight pipe...I know many have swapped out their resonators or mid mufflers with a straight pipe, maybe both ...just curious if anyone has done this to the TL with their cat. con.? thanks in advance

 

I have done it. Can't think of any disadvantage. Did not notice the exhaust being louder either.

 

Same here, doesn't seem to make the exhaust louder at all.

 

For those who have done this: Are you able to pass emissions?

 

My car is still new and have not had a chance to go through emission yet. However the straight pipe is just a simple bolt on, so you can always put the cat back on just for the emission.

 

just make sure the shop knows you intent to put it back on before they go hacking up the pipes. flanges are always your friend when it comes to exhaust systems.

 

There is actually a bolt on straight pipe for our TL. It's made by Megan. It's the same one made for the 7th gen Accord.

 

is the cat that restrictive that its worth it to get a straight pipe to replace it?

 

There are 3 cats on the TL, are you discussing the removal of all three or just the last one? In any case what kind of performance gains have you noticed or documented?

 

I took the cat, resonator, and pre-muffler off my tl and noticed a world of a difference.

 

I'm still new to the honda/acura world, infact this 3rd gen TL is my virgin acura car..lol HOw many parts made for the accord fit our TL's? just wondering cuz this would make searching performance websites and ebay that much simpler...


2ndgentl - whats your definition of a "world of a difference"?

lastly....I noticed in a similar thread about swapping out one of the pipes for a straight pipe, someone posted diagrams of an exahust layout for a v6 and a 4 banger......on the v6 there is a sensor on the cat. converter.....what is done with that senser? should there be a hole drilled out for that sensor?

price of the megan test pipe replacement for the cat converter????

 

I was just talking about the one just before the exahust "B" pipe, not the preliminary cats on the exhaust "A" pipe...

 

are you talking about this?

http://www.meganracing.com/products/...id=95&catid=24

 

^- Thats pretty nice but unless you really care how it looks under your car, going to a shop will be much cheaper.

 

98-02 is 6th gen.

7th gen is 03+

 

What are the advantages to doing this? does it actually improve anything i mean...

 

It should be freeing up some exhaust flow, but I mainly did it so I wouldn't have to deal with this 3rd cat breaking up when I get the S/C.

 

^-what are you going to do about the first two?

 

I was talking to Prototype Racing, they were going to develop their "off-road" headers for the TL w/o cats, like they did for that TL track car. If they eventually release them when the demand becomes available, I'll get those, if not, I'll have a shop custom-fab something.

 

one like this would work..

 

Nope, you would need the one specifically for the 03-05 V6 Accord Coupes, it has the correct flanges and length. There are no sensors in the 3rd cat, so you can even opt to replace it w/ just a straight pipe as well.

 

the above is adjustable for length and the 02 bung could easily be capped

 

on an 06 TL what problems would you face if you were to remove both of the warm up cats and replace them with custom SS flanged pipe with O2 bungs for the sensors and then eliminate the third cat as well. I understand that you would probobly need to replace this setup with the stock cats for smog testing which would be a maximum of once every two years or so, but I could go back and forth a few times and never come close to the cost of the e-shift pro cats. Other than it being non street legal ......is there some inherent unsolvable problem with this idea?

 

The computer would probably have a shit fit with the readings it'll be getting, similar to what I had on the Altima w/ no cats Maybe an 02 simulator would work, or spacing the sensors a bit farther down the exhaust path.

 

My understanding is that the O2 sensors are just putting out a voltage signal that need to fall between certain parameters, it does not seem to difficult to determine these voltages and then either modify the placement to achieve, modify or change the sensor to fool the ECU, or hack or reflash the ECU to work with the voltages being transmitted. I guess I would like to know if there would be to little backpressure that may cause an entirely different set of issues.

 

Not sure about the backpressure issue, but from what I heard from the Prototype guys, they seem to be a great addition to the NASA TL they built them for. They were also wondering if we would show some interest on the boards here to mass-produce them, but I'm not sure how many members would go for that idea.

 

I am definitely interetsed

 

same here

 

I'd be interested if I didnt live in CA.

 

^^I'm interested anyways haha

 

I am definitly interested especially because I live in CA!!!

who are the "prototype guys" and what is the "NASA" TL? normally aspirated automatic?

 

Here's a link that explains it all:

NASA TL

 

Thanks for the link! looks like they have already solved the running with no cats problem. Is there any way that we can get them to share with us what had to be done to the ECU to allow that?

 

I'll see if he will be able to explain it, I'll get back to you on that one

 

Did you feel any gain at all with the 3rd cat removed? Any weird smells, or check engine lights?

 

It wasn't something that was as noticeable as an intake, but it does feel a bit better accelerating on the freeway. No weird smells, just a bit more intense when standing behind the mufflers. No engine lights

 

Sounds good. Anything else that I need to know before doing this mod? Did you buy a pre-fabbed pipe, or just had the shop custom make one for you?

Also, how long have you had it? Noise increase? Do you have any idea if this will pass smog?

 

That would be great, because I am sure there is even more performance gains to be had by removing all 3 cats instead of replacing with the pro-cats, and for 1150+ install on the pro-cats I could have a flanged setup fabricated and switch back and forth for smog purposes.

 

As I recall....Nitrotiger and E-Shift fabbed up a cat delete and it actually robbed power on the resulting dyno due to lack of needed backpressure?

 

Was that in addition to the E-cats, or just the 3rd cat delete by itself?