Riddle me this. . .

Anybody have specs on how much damage a catless car does to the atmosphere ?

Any solutions to the problems of too many cats but at the same time to have some environmental guidelines ?

Any half-way midpoint to the problem we are faced with ?

WRX Rush

 

inhaling poluted air and stinging eyes??? here in los angeles area??? i find that hard to believe. but since i was born around 1980 i have no say. i've visited korea about a year ago and thats exactly how it is over there. as soon as i stepped outside the airport, it just started smelling like smog. i stayed there for about a 2 weeks and that smell never went away. i love the air here in los angeles but it just seems like its getting worse. if there is a hole in the ozone, does it ever cover itself up again if we pollute less? for example if we have cleaner cars?

 

the shop where i got my car tuned would not sell cat-less down pipes in the turbo back systems. i was told that if i was caught with that, i can get fined and they can get sued. a down pipe with a high flow cat will make about 5hp less on the dyno than one without any cats. i didn't believe him until he showed me some numbers. hmmm, 5hp and getting in trouble? not worth it to me. i would rather have 5hp less and get my car properly tuned then run with a down pipe w/o cats and kill my bumper. you can usually point out cars with no cats cause the bumpers are blacken by their exhaust. not too many people take time out to get their cars tuned anymore. i can honestly say that for WRX's, mods are not plug and play. i had a shortram filter and a cat back and lost hp over a stock WRX. so, if you remove them, you car will have no clue whats going on anymore.

 

that's right...you were born in the 80s. that makes you a fledgling still.

 

I didn't vote yet cause I'm going to do some more research on cats so I can place an educated vote. but this thread got me thinking. I'll let you all know what i find out.

 

my car doesn't have the black bumper as you said. I've been runing catless for about 1/2 a year and i drive about 60-70 miles a day.



Speaking of how mods are not plug and play, and how u lost hp with a catback and shortram filter, what are you basing that power from? dyno from before and after each part installed?

 

BTW...if we had more trees and plants around, then we could get more CO2-->O2...then it'd be better....


CO2 is, indeed naturallyoccuring...and it's not toxic..but it IS THE #1 GREENHOUSE GAS!!!!!! Cats are very neccesary...but don't be mistaken, the huge amount of CO2 produced by cars isn't too good either. (Methane is a worse greenhouse gas per molecule, but there's so much more CO2 around that it contributes far and away the most to global warming...)

 

I'm basing the power from what I know a stock WRX hp is and what I actually put down to the wheels. Those two mods did nothing for any type of power gain. The car doesn't know how to account for the different air flow and can't react accordingly. I'm sure you had no problems, but I did. I have the dyno sheet and was watching him the entire time. If those two mods were really that good w/o tuning, why didn't I get any power gains?

 

I've read the post regarding the short ram and cold air intakes. I was able to get power out of the short ram after dyno tuning. It just took a little longer thats all. I make less than 10 hp than a stage one kit without a downpipe. This still doesn't explain why I made less power with a short-ram and a catback. You figure I would have at least gain some power out of it. After the tuning was done, I gained about 36whp.

 

To all those who would run w/o cats: Go to Paris, or Rome, and try to see the buildings in the distance: they are shrouded in smog. Depending on the will of the wind, this is what we used to breath in the USA. If cats are the law, and they are, we ALL should run with them. Yes, cars used only in racing don't, but their total numbers/hours of use is quite small. Where in grew up in California, one could see the Sierra Nevada mountains to the East, and the Coast Range to the West. This gradually faded away, with the onset of post WWII autos, but has now come back! Also, let us not use the feeble logic of: "Well, a big truck puts out all this junk, but why do I have to be restricted?" Big rigs are constantly getting cleaner, with better diesel fuels and cleaner burning engines. We need to keep up the struggle for cleaner air with all vehicles, not exempting our little old Subies just because they could be faster without pollution control.

 

The BS part of the law in CA is the visual inspection. If your car can pass the sniffer that should be the end. Who gives a crap if your car has an aftermarket highflow cat or none at all. As long as it's not "illegally" polluting it should be okay.

 

that's my opinion. I almost wish there was a one time fee you could pay on a car and be exempt from the visual inspection. Gruppe-s has proven that a WRX can run one high flow cat in place of the 3 oem cats and still pass tailpipe emissions. since these are some of the strictest tailpipe emissions requirements in the country, that tells me that a single hi-flow cat is effective.

 

A high performance electric or alternative fuel car is possible. ( I think, only read Popular Mechanics at the barber.) But the economy surrounding oil and our dependancy on it- make it unimaginable that a 400HP WRX running on Hydrogen with hemp seed oil in the front and rear diffs is gonna happen. I mean the people with the money to bankroll the research and mass produce this to make it "affordable" aren't willing to be the generation that takes one for the human race and instead of becoming billionaires make a sincere effort to release the United States from under the thumb of oil.

Anyway, until you posted this I never gave it any sincere thought. I couldn't wait to go Stage II with a up/down pipe to OE catback. Which I will still do. But what lead be to think about the alternative fuel car was the simple fact of -why? why do I want this? .....I love to drive.

Anything-a forklift-I'll drift it around the wherehouse by the end of the day. And I'm not rich so I buy a car with "potential". But the car comes with smog parts that are added for the US market. So I take those off because the car is being stifled and it's ruining my corner exits. California has higher emissions standards than many other states with equal or greater population why are we always taking it for the team when it comes to cars. Have you ever laughed out loud when they say what the national average is per gallon of gas??!!?? So we get **** gas and muted cars. When other parts of the country won't be up to CA standards for another 20 years or more. Than outside of that other nations that pollute. So in a nutshell- The rest of the world is not pulling there weight with pollution and global warming-because of this i'm taking off my cats and driving my favorite road because...... well I guess it comes down to either A: I have to act on my convictions and do what I can to stop pollution regardless of the actions of thers. or B: I know taking this cat off is going to pollute but since the rest of the world doesn't care neither do I. Why do I have to pollute to have fun? Because it runs on petrol.

So I'm leaning a little toward a high-flow cat now, but i'm still mad bout the whole "strung out on OPEC" thing.