Aftermarket X/H pipe and Cats??
 

Hey all,

I'm located in Ontario and have an 02 gt with some rotten old mufflers that I'll be swapping out for a catback this spring. My question is, if I went with a catted x / h pipe, would that be legal even though the aftermarket pipe would contain only 2 cats instead of the factory 4? I've searched all corners of the web, and the true regulations state that completely removing or bypassing cats is a nono, but what about going from the 4 factory cats down to 2 high flow cats with an aftermarket midpipe? Is that still legal even though I'm "removing" 2 of the cats it came with? I'm wanting to stay legal with this car for now.

Thanks,

Z.

Welcome , I would guess if you put on your lawyer hat you could say that the law requires you to have a catalytic convertor, it doesn't specify whether its two, four or sixteen.

The Drive Clean test would likely be the tell all, but that would depend on where in Ontario you live, if they even still do the sniffer testing.

As far as I know the drive clean would be a visual inspection and an OBD-II scan for cars newer than 1999. The rule is pretty grey and up for interpretation.... you're right, it doesn't say how many and it doesn't say you must retain the amount from factory, it just states I can't alter the emissions equipment in any way. So if the 2 high flow cats perform the same job as the 4 old cats, I think I'm fine ??...

Depends on who's doing the inspection, and whether or not they know theres supposed to be four and not two. lol

Never heard of four cats though, thats a new one on me.

My 3.0L ranger has 4, and the late 1990's mustang gt's have 6 cats from factory.... A little excessive in my opinion. I'm going to go ahead and assume going with 2 instead of 4 is illegal, but can be fought against quite easily as well...

Well there you go, they say you learn something new every day, todays my day.

I can't speak for the local po-po on the emission laws, but something else to consider before making your decision is sound. The X vs H will make a difference in how your car sounds. Typically, the X will give a smoother sound with a slightly higher pitch, while the H will sound more choppy with a tone that is a bit deeper...more like the traditional "muscle car" sound. It's not a big difference, but it is noticeable.