Hi all
some meth head decided that he needed my catalytic converter more than I did,, so now I'm in the market for a cat and muffler. Ive been running straight pipe which sounded cool but these days I street drive more so I'm looking for something reasonably quiet.
It's been forever since I had the stock muffler, do they all drone?


I appreciate any recommendations

 

OEM replacement exhaust shouldn't drone, should be nearly silent. I have a Thrush Turbo muffler on my XJ and it isn't much louder then stock was.

 

A new cat is a theft attracting thing a plain ole stockish muffler is fine. if you need to pass smog test, a test pipe can be installed on days you are not getting smog tested, the cat then lives locked up in you garage, safe from criminals on non test days.

Dont let the criminals win..

 

Good to know, how about for a catalytic converter, can I go cheap on this?

 

You live in Colorado. They test like California. You're going to need a California legal cat. It's not going to be cheap. Ask me how I know.

Get the Walker direct oem replacement, with the 02 bung, and a Flowmaster 40. The muffler sounds great with no drone. Again, ask me how I know.

The other option for the muffler is a Cherry bomb glass pack. Loved the sound when I had it

 

So colorado requires the california cat now?

You might be able to install a non california cat, (much less expense) and still pass, just claim that that is the cat installed prior to the law change. Dirty it up, paint it so it looks old) In california you can still run the non california cat IF it was on the vehicle prior to the law change mandating california cats, i.e. old cats are grandfathered in.

The politicans in california by mandating very expensive cats have really hurt the people. Many times an old car needing a new cat is hardly worth the cost of the new cat, which means poor folks basically have an unregisterable car now. The politicans say they are helping us by making sure we can only buy long lasting cats, as the cheaper cats dont last as long as the pricey california approved cats. But when you got a old beater on its last legs, it dont make sense to install an expensive cat that has a 10 year life span, you just need a short life cat at that point.

Because these mandated cats are so pricey, they become much more attractive to steal, so another blow to the people who can least afford it. add to that the soft on crime justice system, well lets just say it is a criminal paradise.

To further add insult, they outlaw the retail sale of used cats. This is supposed to protect the people from being sold a worn out cat, forcing the poor to buy a new expensive cat to replace the one stolen thanks to the soft on crime policies. So you can forget about buying a used cat at discount from a wrecker, forget about asking your mechanic to find a good used cat to save money. It is insane that a late model low mile car, which will have perfectly good cats when wrecked cannot have its good cats harvested for another car to give a person a break in replacing a stolen cat.

Not only that, at smog test time, the test requires the shop to record the cat part number of these california cats. A buddy of mine had his exhaust reworked at a shop, new muffler and pipes, but same good cat. But the cat was installed upside down with the part number up against the floor board heat shield, and this it could not be read at the next smog test..., smog test FAIL! the smog shop told him to either turn it over so number was visible, or to cut a hole in the floor so they could read the number!

We got crazy laws, that cause much financial wows, hitting the poor hard, written by politicians who claim to be looking after the poor. This state is a joke.

 

I know I still have my factory cat on my 92, and I just installed a Walker Stainless steel muffler and regular tailpipe, with hangers and such it cost less than $100. The sound is not what I would prefer, but sounds pretty much stock and I can live with it.

Before you decide, why not go on your DMV website to verify what you will need before purchasing.

 

Reading the law, If not reading this incorrectly, it seems that if an non CARB cat was installed before the law came into effect, then you can keep it?