Catalytic Converters

[SteveF]

I've come to the conclusion that I'll need to fit a cat - at least for SVA as the engine I'll be using is a 1999.

The next questions are:

1. Where should it go? - do Westfield have a sidepipe / can  which contains a cat & silencer in one neat installation - or do they fit pre-95 engines to the factory cars?

2. Has anybody put a separate cat (seperate from the silencer) on a Westie? - if so where did you fit it?, and were there any issues with the heat generated (the conversion is exothermic - so its hotter than the normal exhaust temp.)

3. How near to the entrance to the cat does the lamda sensor have to be? - can it be anywhere on the 'single pipe' secion of the exhaust manifold?

4. What sort of performance loss will I get if the cat remains on after SVA?

Cheers

Steve

[steppenwolf]

1. Where should it go? - do Westfield have a sidepipe / can  which contains a cat & silencer in one neat installation - or do they fit pre-95 engines to the factory cars?

Westfield supply a side exhaust with the Cat built in - works fine from an emissions point of view.

3. How near to the entrance to the cat does the lamda sensor have to be? - can it be anywhere on the 'single pipe' secion of the exhaust manifold?

Westfield supplied collector has the lambda sensor socket built in but these sensors apparently work best when really hot so Raceline (whose exhaust I now have) move the sensor to one of the down pipes fairly close to the manifold

4. What sort of performance loss will I get if the cat remains on after SVA?

Not easy to say but the standard 5" diameter Westfield exhaust with CAT is a little constricting but on a Zetec 1800 with 130 cam and Throttle bodies, the engine should be good for about 155BHP. A less restricted system (larger pipes and a 7" can - that's about as big as you can sensibly go) should release between 8 and 10 BHP more.