eta catalytic converters

[tcheb]

Anyone knows of an aftermarket catalytic converter that is a direct fit? I've read reviews with horror stories about both Magnaflow and Bosal cats. And the OEM cat is almost $2K.

Thanks!

[bradmer]

Anyone knows of an aftermarket catalytic converter that is a direct fit? I've read reviews with horror stories about both Magnaflow and Bosal cats. And the OEM cat is almost $2K.

Thanks!

I just bought CARB approved Walker for the 24v car, $200 each for their universal unit and will install next week, it looks realy well made. Your state may not require that executive order number on the cat when you smog like California so you might get off paying less. Here's the link.

https://www.walkerexhaust.com/univer...er-search.html

I do not work for them and have no other experience other than trying to get the car through smog, and I am not there yet.
Good luck to you.

[ZeKahr]

DO NOT get any aftermarket cat, especially the universal ones - they are all garbage. I have an aftermarket Bosal on my auto Eta (stock auto Eta cat is NLA), and it is noisy, has poor fitment, and rattles. The aftermarket cats are cheap for a reason - piss poor engineering compared to OEM.

You have two options here:
- If you live in an area that doesn’t smog pre-OBDII (1995 and earlier) cars, you can try converting to the Euro non-cat setup (Europe didn’t have continent-wide emissions regulations until around 1992, so pretty much all North American E30s got cats while some European ones didn’t). The prices for the Euro Eta non-cat midpipe is around the $400-500 range. There isn’t a lot of information out there on doing this besides the diagrams on RealOEM and I am looking into doing this myself.
- If you live in an area that does smog pre-OBDII cars, you’ll have to suck it up an get the OEM cat. Note that the OEM cat for the auto Eta isn’t produced anymore, so if your Eta has the auto transmission, you can either try putting on the cat for the manual version (of which there are only 19 new ones left around the world as per a convo I had with Turner Motorsport, unfortunately there isn’t any info out there on whether the manual cat will fit an auto Eta), or switch to the remanufactured 325i cat (you will need to switch over to the 325i muffler too if you choose to go this route). Unfortunately, switching to the 325i cat on an Eta will kill some of the low-end torque due to loss of back-pressure (the Eta cat merges into one pipe to increase backpressure).

Good luck.

[tcheb]

DO NOT get any aftermarket cat, especially the universal ones - they are all garbage. I have an aftermarket Bosal on my auto Eta (stock auto Eta cat is NLA), and it is noisy, has poor fitment, and rattles. The aftermarket cats are cheap for a reason - piss poor engineering compared to OEM.

You have two options here:
- If you live in an area that doesn’t smog pre-OBDII (1995 and earlier) cars, you can try converting to the Euro non-cat setup (Europe didn’t have continent-wide emissions regulations until around 1992, so pretty much all North American E30s got cats while some European ones didn’t). The prices for the Euro Eta non-cat midpipe is around the $400-500 range. There isn’t a lot of information out there on doing this besides the diagrams on RealOEM and I am looking into doing this myself.
- If you live in an area that does smog pre-OBDII cars, you’ll have to suck it up an get the OEM cat. Note that the OEM cat for the auto Eta isn’t produced anymore, so if your Eta has the auto transmission, you can either try putting on the cat for the manual version (of which there are only 19 new ones left around the world as per a convo I had with Turner Motorsport, unfortunately there isn’t any info out there on whether the manual cat will fit an auto Eta), or switch to the remanufactured 325i cat (you will need to switch over to the 325i muffler too if you choose to go this route). Unfortunately, switching to the 325i cat on an Eta will kill some of the low-end torque due to loss of back-pressure (the Eta cat merges into one pipe to increase backpressure).

Good luck.

Thanks! That helps a lot!

I'll look into the non-cat setup. I do care about not polluting the planet so I'll have to see what's stronger... my thriftiness or my conscience :)

[Kershaw]

Running without a cat sucks. If you get stuck in traffic, prepare to inhale nasty fumes and suffer a bad headache. And realize you're forcing that on all the other drivers too.

[jeffnhiscars]

The difference between the manual and auto cat is a weld able support bracket which can be easily made but for all the people who are pulling eta cats (such as me) and swapping engines or converting to 2.5 exhausts, I'd find a used one

[tcheb]

Poster a topic in the wanted section

[ZeKahr]

Running without a cat sucks. If you get stuck in traffic, prepare to inhale nasty fumes and suffer a bad headache. And realize you're forcing that on all the other drivers too.

I used to drive an E36 318i with a gutted cat (essentially no cat). Didn't smell a thing and didn't get any headaches when I was stuck in traffic. Exhaust only smelled bad if I was standing right behind the tailpipe. E30 engines aren't old American muscle car engines with carbs that run super rich all the time even in good tune. The issue of forcing that on other drivers depends upon your moral complexity.

[e30strokr]

I got a catco one for my 88 stroker and it made me pass bay area California smog with 0 all over....that was 4 yrs ago...?