cracks in hi-flow cat innards

[joebor1776]

Hi,
I recently bought a used buschur 2.5" turbo-back exhaust system. I installed the downpipe last night and was about to install the cat, and noticed that the honeycomb stuff inside is cracked. It's all still stuck together, but I think the insides are just being held together by being constrained inside the housing. Will these cracks render the cat worthless as far as air flow? Is there any way to be certain? I can't afford 150 bucks for a new cat!

Also, assuming the cat is alright with these cracks, which direction do you install it in? I did a lot of searching and found one thread that said it doesn't matter which direction. But it did mention something about a top and bottom--my cat doesn't say TOP anywhere. Does it matter?

Thanks in advance for your help!
Jborch

 

[92awddsm]

Can you take a pic of the damage?
Most universal cats will have an arrow of flow direction but some can be mounted either way.
I have never heard of a cat having a specific top or bottom.

If price is an issue, you could always get this They are in the western part of vA and they can have it on your doorstep in 1-2 days. They(performance-curve) also had an ebay store so you could check that out and see if you can get it cheaper. I have both a 3" carsound cat and a 2.5" spun cat from them. Both are still working very well.

 

[joebor1776]

Wow, thanks for the fast reply. My digital camera is broken (got dropped yesterday!), so I can't take a pic of the damage. When you look in one end, the material is fine. When you look in the other end, there is one crack going in one direction and another going perpendicular to the other crack (basically a plus sign) so the filter material is separated into quarters.

That is a cheap cat--I looked at the link. So if I were to get that, I could just get flanges welded on, I guess. Thanks for the link and your help!

 

[bpestilence]

Running rich causes the cat to overheat and will eventually destroy the ceramic honeycomb. Had it happen twice with CatCo catalytic convertors, but I have never had problems with a Magnaflow (Car Sound) cat. They are good stuff.

 

[marsh63]

yeah well if you can return it i would. also if you can get away without a cat than do that. sounds way better.

 

[joebor1776]

OK, thanks for the advice. BTW, I went ahead and installed it, and I'm blowing exhaust around the 02 housing and around the cat. So either it's blocked or I must not have torqued the nuts down hard enough. Performance isn't really bad, but it doesn't seem to be much better (if at all) than my stock exhaust. Hopefully tightening the nuts will fix the leaks.

 

[90gsx16g]

My friend owns a 1980 something charger and thats what happened to him, he was runnin rich( carburated engine) for some time and when we pulled his muffler off we found chunks of the cat in it we started it and and ended up blowin the rest out

 

[joebor1776]

Well, I discovered today that the downpipe's flex section has a big hole in it, so now I've got two problems. Guess I shouldn't have bought a used exhaust.

 

[92awddsm]

The link I posted above also has replacent flex sections.

Exhaust - Accessories / Pipes / Tips - Flex Pipes

 

[joebor1776]

Thanks--actually I found those last night on that link you sent me. Very reasonably priced--I am going to order a new cat and flex section from them. That is a great solution to my problem--thanks!!