Catalytic Converter Options

[blocke]

Something else that needs to be noted is that it is now illegal for a business within the state of California to sell you (a CA citizen) a Non-California approved muffler.

This is true. I was in the same boat as OP a few months back. I tried several times online to buy a "universal" or "bolt on" cat to save on labor...nobody will ship to cali. My orders kept getting cancelled.

Ended up having to pay local exhaust shop $325 for a magnaflow "high flow" installed. Passed smog with flying colors, and now my car sounds like a V8.

[Wild Ride]

'92 BMW 325ic 2.5L CA CARB approved, Magnaflow universal high flow dual in/dual out #36008 $186.45 to your door. Hottexhaust.com 800-288-7730. That part # is not listed on line, must call. to discuss.

Are you sure it is your cat? Can you post a cc of your smog readout? Was it good & hot when you tested it? Do you have any vacuum leaks? How long did the car sit before you bought it? A simple search will bring up a number of instances where a simple tune-up & fixing any engine air leaks (cracked air intake elbow?) got many cars to pass. Getting it to run good can clean-up tail pipe emissions.

The car sat for several months before and after I bought it. This month the car received all preventative maintenance and was fully sorted when it was smogged. New vacuum hoses, timing belt, water pump, valves adjusted, valve cover gasket, spark plugs, distributor, cooling system, fuel filter intake elbow, hose clamps, oil and many other things I am forgetting..
After failing the first time the fuel system was completely drained of 2-9 month old fuel and filled with 100 octane and the numbers were worse. And i drove it very hard before testing both times. Needless to say the car is now in tip top mechanical condition.

Unfortunately in addition to failing the sniffer the previous owner had a modified the exhaust before the cat to a singe pipe vs the approved dual setup and installed an illegal cat so it fails the visual. Even if I welded in a new cat it would not work because the piping is all wrong as it is single in and won't work with the approved dual in cat.

So my second option is to buy a magna flow cat but I will still need to source the factory correct oem dual piping from the headers to the cats. So I will consider someone who just has the piping.

[blocke]

Damn holy thread revival.

[MrPedals]

Something else that needs to be noted is that it is now illegal for a business within the state of California to sell you (a CA citizen) a Non-California approved muffler.

Dumb question, what is the real difference between CARB legal and 49-state legal cats? Is the 49 state one just a high flow 200-cpi or something?? I can't seem to find anything saying what makes one legal or not.

[Bimmer0761]

plus you can sell your old junk cat to me for $100+

[GothE30]

failed smog in CA

So, I am now in this same boat. WAY too high NOx reading. Apparently, the failed test has been confirmed to be the cat + header (pipe), rusted out, needing replacement. Also doing oil change (GTX high mi. 20W50) & replacing spark plugs w/ the NGK ZGR5A's, or Bosch silver.

I've started doing some research into purchasing a new cat...Wondering if there are any options in/near L.A. area for -less than- $500+...suggestions??

note: I do have access to (live with) a welder, if that is necessary. Of course, bolt-on would be preferred, OR a shop that'll do the whole thing for a reasonable price, like what dreamer420 had, a shop that hooked him up with a special deal ($275 installed).

Any ideas/ referrals would be much appreciated! Thanks!

[joonsup]

I have a carb legal magnaflow cat which was used for about 2K miles at most to pass smog because i initially did not pass with high NOX reading on my oem cat. PM me if you're interested. I'm in norcal but the cat can be in socal next weekend.