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Catalytic Converter stolen - replacement advice please

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36
Hi, I just had my cat stolen from my Accord Type-R in broad daylight - they jacked up the car and cut it out with an electric hacksaw. Grrr.

I've never really got my head around exhausts and the differences between decat / cat back and how you can use a decat if a cat is required for the mot. Do people just swap in the cat for the mot? Surely if you have a crash the insurance is invalid?

I've got what's left of an OEM system with pre-facelift back boxes. I was happy with the noise level (after taking off some very loud and boomy back boxes when I got the car).

Are there 3rd party alternatives to OEM Honda cats that are worth getting or are they all just rubbish and unlikely to pass mot?

I'm not interested in extra performance, or swapping stuff around come MOT time, but it's an opportunity to have a nicer (not louder!) exhaust note. I was thinking about the Mongoose which isn't supposed to be too loud. Budget is £500

Any suggestions welcome.

Cheers, David
 
Legally you need a cat. A lot of us have or still do remove the cat. Either come mot time you need a very friendly tester or to swap everything over for the test.

You can pick up a second hand cat cheap on eBay and same for the OEM cat back.

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Sorry to hear that. The absolute cheek of some people!!! Whereabouts in the UK was this??

I'm really not familiar with the Accord range at all so I can't offer much solid advice. The only thing I will say is beware of cheap chinesium copy CATS (heh... copycat...). If you can get hold of a 2nd hand Honda one in decent condition, that'll be your best bet. A new one will likely cost several billion.
 
OEM ones new are horrifically expensive, you have my sympathies. I was considering replacing my EP3 one recently and they were £2700 new :eek:

Third party/cheap ones will generally require either some form of mapping or a standoff for the post-cat O2 sensor otherwise your car's check-engine light will be permanently lit.

I hope you can find one second-hand.
 
Utter b'stards.
May the fleas of a thousand camels infest their curly hairs, alternatively a slow painful death.
 
Sorry to hear that. The absolute cheek of some people!!! Whereabouts in the UK was this??

I'm really not familiar with the Accord range at all so I can't offer much solid advice. The only thing I will say is beware of cheap chinesium copy CATS (heh... copycat...). If you can get hold of a 2nd hand Honda one in decent condition, that'll be your best bet. A new one will likely cost several billion.

Leafy Teddington, SW London. What's up with the cheap Chinesium Copycats (tm)? Do you lose performance?

OEM ones new are horrifically expensive, you have my sympathies. I was considering replacing my EP3 one recently and they were £2700 new :eek:

Ouch, that will almost certainly make my (otherwise very healthy) car a write off :(


I've seen that some exhausts have "sports cats" which are less attractive to the tea leafs because they have less of the rare metals but does that mean the car won't pass the MOT emissions? Has anyone has experience of them?
Something like this: https://www.larkspeed.com/index.pl?p=MONGHDS008&a=i
 
Leafy Teddington, SW London. What's up with the cheap Chinesium Copycats (tm)? Do you lose performance?



Ouch, that will almost certainly make my (otherwise very healthy) car a write off :(


I've seen that some exhausts have "sports cats" which are less attractive to the tea leafs because they have less of the rare metals but does that mean the car won't pass the MOT emissions? Has anyone has experience of them?
Something like this: https://www.larkspeed.com/index.pl?p=MONGHDS008&a=i


Just a bit of a gamble really. You might get lucky and get a decent one. More likely you'll get one that does any of the following:

Doesn't fit
Disintegrates on vtec
Clogs & chokes the car
Doesn't actually contain anything to reduce emissions
Doesn't contain sufficient doobilydoo's to pass emissions
Is made from a hard cheese or bi-products from tofu production.
 
Just a bit of a gamble really. You might get lucky and get a decent one. More likely you'll get one that does any of the following:

Doesn't fit
Disintegrates on vtec
Clogs & chokes the car
Doesn't actually contain anything to reduce emissions
Doesn't contain sufficient doobilydoo's to pass emissions
Is made from a hard cheese or bi-products from tofu production.

I bought one a while back and had issues with fit and ECU. Ran okay for ~150Mi, then the CEL came on, and stayed on. Took my old cat to Hayward & Scott and had them replace the flange instead, great work, and a functional cat.

You'll often see this kind of line on the sales page for a cheap sports cat:

.. is not type approved and may not pass an MOT. Additional modification to engine management sytem may be required

IMHO, avoid this kind of thing.
 
Sorry to hear that. The absolute cheek of some people!!! Whereabouts in the UK was this??

It’s rife across west London and into the Home Counties, there have been thousands of thefts in a few types of cars across a relatively small area.

Admittedly this is the first instance of an ATR that I’ve heard of, but a few other models of Hondas are popular targets so maybe they thought this was worth a gamble.
 
It turns out that Mongoose system doesn't include a sports cat - it's just a bit of generic text for other models thats included in the Accord advert

My current favoured option is Solid Fabrications sports cat and Flexi pipe and Mongoose cat back.

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Ouch, that will almost certainly make my (otherwise very healthy) car a write off :(

An Accord R is worth saving! Be gutted to hear of one being written off as they are probably my dream Honda. Nice and uncommon.

Absolute c***s who did this.
 
I have been looking at alarm systems recently, was shocked at how many catalytic converter alarms out there.
Never heard of one being stolen.

Rotten luck. Hope you get this sorted!
 
Has anyone had experience with the Solidfab sports cat? I like their big bore manifold that comes with one, good price as well and looks well built, but i wonder if it will actually pass emissions... and for how long lol
 
Quick update. I went for the Solid Fabrications exhaust including sports cat and front pipe. Great service from Alan. A couple of the clamps sent with the exhaust were the wrong size, but he sent new ones quickly for me.

Some observations...

It's nice and shiny!

It's horribly boomy - exactly what I was trying to avoid :( I'm guessing there's not a lot to be done with this now...

The EML has come on reporting a reduced efficiency warning. I've read this is usually triggered by the sports cat. I don't want to just leave it on in case something else comes up which I then miss. Resetting it every time it comes on is going to be a bit of a pain. Is there a way to permanantly disable this warning only?
 
Remap is your only way out of that issue doing it properly.

Can get spacers which trick the system though, although remap is the answer
 
All the Solid Fabs systems are boomy. I haven't heard a nice one yet and I've read more than a few posts from people having build issues with them. I'd say I don't understand why they're raved about on forums but I've come to expect that now.
 
All the Solid Fabs systems are boomy. I haven't heard a nice one yet and I've read more than a few posts from people having build issues with them. I'd say I don't understand why they're raved about on forums but I've come to expect that now.

Is it just the back boxes that make it boomy do you reckon? What would you say is a better option. I'm tempted to sell these and put on something else. That or sell the car and get something different completely!
 
Is it just the back boxes that make it boomy do you reckon? What would you say is a better option. I'm tempted to sell these and put on something else. That or sell the car and get something different completely!

A proper sports cat mated to a 2.5" system (JDM and JASMA approved) or OEM.

Does the SF cat use the standard lengths? If so look for a Fujitsubo exhaust or similar.
 
Yep, the SF system is all standard bolts / lengths and OEM compatible but the cat-back is a complete system otherwise i'd have just kept my OEM back boxes.

Unfortunately I think options for the Accord Type-R are pretty much limited to Mongoose and SF

Jimbodeeni: I've found this o2 simulator which supposedly stops the CEL light coming on. Would a remap offer anything more?
http://www.hondaperformanceparts.co.uk/o2-simulator
 
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There's always custom. Often not as expensive as you might think. You can pick your own diameters, back box, silencer/no silencer(s) etc.
 
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