Who Is Running Catless X Pipe

[Dlpfcb]

Just curious how common this is to be fully catless. I searched the forums and found some information but not a lot of recent stuff. I'm considering a catless dual resonated x pipe and wondering how brutal the smell will truly be.

[pbonsalb]

Do you sit in traffic much with your windows down? Or are you nearly always moving and/or have the windows up?

[Dlpfcb]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Do you sit in traffic much with your windows down? Or are you nearly always moving and/or have the windows up?

I use it only on weekends and only in from spring through fall. The car only gets about 1-2k miles on it a year. So rarely traffic.

[pbonsalb]

The fuel smell seems to bother people only during gold start in an enclosed area and sometimes sitting in traffic with the windows down. A few people are very sensitive and complain about an unbearable smell that seems to be there all the time. A compromise is to use 200 cell rear cats like stock; pretty much all users have no complaints. The legality would be more of a deterrent to me than the smell.

[Shiza]

I'm fully catless and while I don't mind the smell I've had a few people driving behind me comment. Other than that I haven't had any issues. Just make sure you can pass emissions where you live.

[yidgyi]

I'm fully catless and the smell doesn't bother me. It's honestly not that bad but people are all different. I actually find it smelling more during winter then summer.

[Ngilbe36]

I am catless and I don't mind the smell. I actually kind of like it. A little eye burning helps you wake up in the morning!

[Freiheit]

What I don't understand is why people don't just have the smell tuned out. If its a rich fuel smell, thats simply excess fuel the ECU sends to control the temp on the cats. Rich to warm them quickly, rich to cool them down when the heat gets up there. In tuning class it was called "Catalytic Converter Over Temp" trim, or CCOT. I would think there'd be an additional performance benefit plus a slight mileage increase. Unless the S65 is somehow different than any other motor?

Or is the smell something besides a rich fuel scent? I have yet to ride behind an un-catted M3.

[SAMM3Y]

I think it's more embarrassing than anything. People will notice your car smells when they get in and out of it. You have to manage the windows when coming to a stop to avoid in wafting in but it's liveable. I hate smelly cars in traffic when I'm behind them so don't really like to be that guy but having said that, I've got a catless x pipe.

I think the full akra evo in my opinion is the best exhaust option for the e9x m3. Sounds great, has 100 cell cats it doesn't smell a lot, light weight, noticeably more responsive throttle, easy to install and all around smile maker..

[xander_g]

catless here, the smell doesn't bother me nor any of my passengers one bit

[M43S7RO]

Ditto.

Originally Posted by xander_g

catless here, the smell doesn't bother me nor any of my passengers one bit

[cjm41]

I'm fully catless. I couldn't give two shits about the law, rules are for dorks.

But it smells like an old beater car when sitting at red lights and it makes me feel like I should have a confederate flag bumper sticker and be rocking a mullet. Anyone who says it doesn't smell doesn't drive with their windows down.

I'm putting cats back on it because of that.

[M3AN_S65]

I used to be catless, but the smell starting to become unbearable. So now I have cell 100 cats from Active Actuwerkre and it's much better now. And still be able to run my stage 2 tune.

[kyrix1st]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

The fuel smell seems to bother people only during gold start in an enclosed area and sometimes sitting in traffic with the windows down. A few people are very sensitive and complain about an unbearable smell that seems to be there all the time. A compromise is to use 200 cell rear cats like stock; pretty much all users have no complaints. The legality would be more of a deterrent to me than the smell.

Which brand of 200 cell cat do you recommend?

I am thinking of adding it to my current x pipe.

[rks68rt]

I'm fully Dinan catless and don't mind the smell at all.
Reminds me of driving my 68 Charger. Same smell, same pleasure....

[Dlpfcb]

Thanks for everyone chiming in. Sounds pretty split out there.

[Freiheit]

Originally Posted by cjm41

I'm fully catless. I couldn't give two shits about the law, rules are for dorks.

But it smells like an old beater car when sitting at red lights and it makes me feel like I should have a confederate flag bumper sticker and be rocking a mullet. Anyone who says it doesn't smell doesn't drive with their windows down.

I'm putting cats back on it because of that.

C'mon man, you were in St. Pete- you know no one there drives with their windows down, unless its those couple weeks in January when it drops into the 60s.

[cjm41]

Originally Posted by Freiheit

C'mon man, you were in St. Pete- you know no one there drives with their windows down, unless its those couple weeks in January when it drops into the 60s.

Believe it or not I drove with my windows down and sunroof back 80% of the time I was in the car (with the AC blasting of course, providing it wasn't raining). Part of living in Florida is just making a commitment to being a soggy mess for 8 months out of the year.

Now that I'm in Southern California I might just remove my windows and sunroof for weight reduction, sure as hell dont need them to shield me from the elements to be comfortable.

[Freiheit]

Originally Posted by cjm41

Believe it or not I drove with my windows down and sunroof back 80% of the time I was in the car (with the AC blasting of course, providing it wasn't raining). Part of living in Florida is just making a commitment to being a soggy mess for 8 months out of the year.

Now that I'm in Southern California I might just remove my windows and sunroof for weight reduction, sure as hell dont need them to shield me from the elements to be comfortable.

Not fair, man. Not all of us can run away from the weather. I'm jealous.

I drive my car about 3 times a month, and I can wash it maybe twice a year. Summer months are basically a no-no. You know how that goes here: get up in the early morning, wash the side of the car that's out of the sun first, then hit the sun side and work like a madman to get it cleaned and rinsed in that 5 minute window before everything dries on the car.

And the car still looks like ass. Plus there's the danger from working so fast I might scratch up the car from not cleaning the mitt enough. So I can't do it that way. I have to either scam a carport from someone or wait for one of those real slight windows of opportunity when its about to rain. When I do that, I have to drive the car for 20-30 minutes because I'm not going to just run the motor for 2 minutes to pull it out of the garage. Oils gotta oil, right?

So for the perfect summer wash day here, I have to wait until its overcast, drive the car till the motor warms up, make it back home and get the thing washed (at least an hour) then dry it and pull it back inside.

Of course then I'm drenched in sweat from the humidity and I feel guilty about everything I came into contact with in the interior.

[art unique]

Originally Posted by Freiheit

What I don't understand is why people don't just have the smell tuned out. If its a rich fuel smell, thats simply excess fuel the ECU sends to control the temp on the cats. Rich to warm them quickly, rich to cool them down when the heat gets up there. In tuning class it was called "Catalytic Converter Over Temp" trim, or CCOT. I would think there'd be an additional performance benefit plus a slight mileage increase. Unless the S65 is somehow different than any other motor?

Or is the smell something besides a rich fuel scent? I have yet to ride behind an un-catted M3.

It doesnt work like that. Thats the job of the cats...to eliminate the smell and gasses emitted. If you remove them...you get smell and increased emissions.

[JPWEraser]

I'm catless (OG Challenge Race X Pipe + Challenge rear) and it doesn't bother me. I've had a catless car for the last ~20 years so I'm pretty accustomed to it. Does it smell? Of course. As others have mentioned stop lights and waiting on cold start to cycle are the worst times. Normal driving is not a problem for me but I'm sure everyone behind me is wondering where the beater is in front of them but I don't care. I think it's part of owning a tuned-up car honestly. Everything is a compromise.

[Freiheit]

Originally Posted by art unique

It doesnt work like that. Thats the job of the cats...to eliminate the smell and gasses emitted. If you remove them...you get smell and increased emissions.

No, thats not the job of the cats. They're strictly there to combat hydrocarbons, CO, and NOx, not play de-odorizer.

Our cars use three-way cats to get the NOx out, as do most cars made over the past thirty years. You have to have richer mixture than usual to make a three-way cat to its job to eliminate NOx. Take out the three way cat, you have a richer than normal mixture that smells like Amoco's colon. Adjusting the fuel mixture to lean it out at idle or off-idle will (or should) clean that up.