OME CAT re-core by FABSPEED

No! That guy missed the point.

The goal is to reproduce a smog legal "refurbished" stock OEM looking cat. Fabspeed has done an awesome job. The welds and level of after treatment look totally like it would come from Ferrari. No suspicions would be raised by either a smog shop or a concourse judge. If people want the shiny pretty chrome cats Fabspeed makes those too.

I commend Fabspeed for making what many Ferrari owners want and need a great solution for the cat conundrum.

High Five to Fabspeed!

 

I think Dave's point was that if the welds were ground flat they would not be so noticeable as soon as some heat hit the cats and the new metal discolors.

No clue about the shields.

 

Exactly! Those MIG welds are period correct and you will find welds just like that on many untouched OE Ferrari exhaust systems. Fabspeed is using their brains delivering a well thought out product for a particular application. If you want beautiful welds Fabspeed has a different cat for a different EO fitment exhaust system.

 

In the start of the thread Pete said they are "TIG" welding them back together. Clearly those are not TIG welds or if they are....well....

I never suggested to polish them. A good weld would be fine untouched.

 

Not only were you wrong but what you said, quoted above, puts down one of our supporting sponsors who keep this site running. You could have ending it there but then you post:

All your second post does is continue to denigrate a sponsor and we really don't need that here. This is how we loose quality postings from professionals.

 

Evan was kind enough to send me some shots of the work in progress. They appear to be of the cat with the heat shield. I can say that the welds where the new core was welded into the old end pieces on that work were much better looking. I suspect what you see here may have to do with needing to fill the gap where the can was cut. I figure there had to be at least a 1/16" gap on each end. Not just a straight butt weld.

The important issues are 1) do they leak, and 2) will they pass CA smog?

 

I provided feedback from the photos posted. Feedback is just that. Sometimes it's positive, sometimes it's not.

Sponsor or not, feedback is feedback. Sponsors don't walk on water.

 

What is the cost of this work?

 

Feedback is something you give on something you know about. You have read a half dozen posts and seen a picture do not understand the compromises of the project yet bash the product. That is not feedback. Sponsors don't walk on water but they do deserve a little courtesy.

 

Not sure...never payed attention to stock cats. Is that the way it was sent to FS? Ferrari is not beyond specing left or right cats from different sources. And if the car was used to you it may have had one cat changed and not the other and the other may be from a different model year or batch.

 

Feedback is something you give on something you know about. You have read a half dozen posts and seen a picture do not understand the compromises of the project yet bash the product. That is not feedback. Sponsors don't walk on water but they do deserve a little courtesy.

 

What? Excuse me - how are you so knowledgeable about my experience?

I've been TIG welding since I was 20 years old, 24 years ago.

For the record, without naming names, one of your LA "brothers" sent me a PM agreeing in full.

The welds are horrible, sorry but that's the truth. If you can't accept it, too bad FBB

 

FABSPEED, I live in California. I have personally managed the Exempt Order application and testing process for both air intake systems and superchargers. If you decide in the future you want to apply for an E.O. number for these parts, send me a PM and I can guide you through the process.

As a potential CA customer, I don't care what your welds look like as long as I pass the sniffer and the visual inspection. Trojanfan will be the first to run the gauntlet!

 

Agreed I hope it works! I have lots of high hopes, passing a smog visual, passing a smog test, OK by concourse judges, can we dare hope for freer flowing exhaust for more horsepower as the top of the wish list. That would be having the cake and eating it to. Lets all keep our fingers crossed and thanks to Pete for being the guinea pig.

Pete...PM me for my phone number. I got some ideas on prepping for your smog test that may help improve your odds.

 

That's fine. I was not thinking about anything "special" but more along the lines of making sure your car was running well. IIRC only one cat was dead. My first thought is why? Cats usually do not go bad all by themselves. You certainly do not want the conditions that killed the first cat to still be there to kill or damage the new cats. Anyway, I'm anxious to hear your results.

 

Let's discuss that here in the open forum if you will. I have a selfish interest as I am about to install new cats and have been thinking of just this topic before I do

I have had a couple long chats with Troy at hyper flow about this and short of just put them on and wait to see if any cel show up and then deal with it, I don't have another game plan

Excess heat and unburned fuel is what destroys cats and he said it can happen very quickly. If it takes 17 years and 22k miles to happen again, I can live with that, but if something is. Accelerating the process now , I'd like to work on it

If the car seems to be running good , what can you do to check further ? He mentioned four gas analysis and that's what the ports in the headers was for but that is not something typically done.

He did discuss connections , etc. as well

What specific things can be done/checked before installing the new cats? Codes cleared, car seems to run fine.

Thanks.

 

Thermostat and coolant temp sensors. If any are faulty, it can cause the coolant temp to appear too low to the ECU and make the mixture too rich causing excess heat and unburned fuel through the cats.

Anxiously awaiting smog test results as this is something I have inquired about and want to pursue, but need to see that it passes CA smog as that is paramount for those of us in the DPRK. Agree that the exterior welds are ugly, but so are the OEM welds - stock appearance is the goal here.

 

How do you check them? Engine temps appear normal.

 

Dang, I guess I had mistakenly thought you were going to have your test only done shortly after re-installing. I need to make a decision-my cars inoperable now, but indeed thanks for being the first man.

 

These ceramic cats do go bad all by themselves. It is not uncommon. The ceramic is brittle and prone to cracking and breakup from vibration. And let's not forget that on an OBD II car you will throw codes and light a CEL misfires, knocks, running rich, running lean,bad temp sensors.... Just about everything. If you download and read the PDF I posted in DR. Bob's thread you would know that one of the primary functions of the the OBD II system is to protect the catalytic converter. And if the OBD II system isn't working it will throw a code for that too. So a cats efficiency below threshold CEL w/o any others is pretty much an indication of a bad cat baring serious internal engine damage. And if the cat is breaking up it is probably the only issue.

 

Guys,

Let's keep this thread clean and to the point, any specific inquires should go through me directly either VIA PM or Email.

One cat was done by an engineer (he of course opened it up and had to evaluate what to do with the heat shield) and one cat was done by a Fabricator, you can see that after the first one, we figured out how exactly to remove the heat shielding. All Cats from here on out will look like the one on the right, completely OEM.

See below, that is how all cats will leave from here on out. As you all know, the first cat we did for Peter was the trial run, this is the finished product.
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