Installing the New Catalytic Converters in my 300zx part 3
I finally got the new catalytic converters into my 300zx the Wasp. Wow.. what a pain. What I thought would likely be an easy install turned into a 3 week process (lots of that time was spent letting Pb Blaster soak in so don’t feel too bad for me. 🙂
My 300zx has seen some salt in her life, and the studs where the pipes for the catalytic converter connected to the exhaust manifold were beyond hope. As I posted earlier, I had accidentally broken off the studs on the drivers side, so I decided I would take it slow and easy on the passengers side to try and not break those studs by letting them soak on Pb Blaster for “as long as it took”. I also soaked the broken studs on the drivers side hoping I could “extract” them. Here is a video that describes stud extraction if you don’t know what that entails.
After letting the passengers side soak for two weeks with no “give” on the studs, I gave up and broke those off too. The extractor didn’t work either so I was stuck drilling out the studs and threads, and using bolts to attach the manifold.
I want to make sure you don’t under estimate the “drilling out” part. It is not easy drilling steel, and technique and good bits are required – slow and easy wins the race here. Just a second of “full drill” will dull the best of drill bits. It takes time. And it hurts! My shoulder is still killing me a week after I did this job.
After drilling out the studs and treads it is an easy matter to install the new converters with some bolts and nuts. For the life of me, I do not know why they don’t just install these in the factory with bolts instead of studs. If a bolt breaks while replacing these catalytic converters, it is no big deal. But a broken stud is a pain!
So, once the new catalysts are installed,did it help?
Yes! Praise Jesus! the smell is gone. I can now drive The Wasp into parking garages and other places with out fumigating the place!
You might be wondering about those guys who put in “test pipes” or other methods to delete their catalytic converter. They are either –
1) Living with the smell of a stinky/rich exhaust (which I can tell you is BAD). Hey, if it is a race car, who cares what it “smells like” right?. But if this is a daily driver or a “fun” car, trust me, you don’t want your car to smell like it will without a catalytic converter, or
2) Using a “chip” to change the fuel to air ratios to a leaner mix. Cars with catalytic converters are designed to run slightly rich. A custom ECU chip will allow you to change the fuel to air ratio to closer to “stoichiometric” perfection which will give better performance and fuel economy and no “rich exhaust smell”. However your NOx emissions will be through the ROOF!
Ultimately, If your in a state with only CO and VOC testing (and they don’t physically look for your catalysts), you might be able to get away with a catalytic converter delete. However, if your state does NOx testing.. DO NOT DELETE YOUR CATALYTIC CONVERTERS!! You will not pass your emissions testing with out them.
October 22, 2013 11:36 pm 2 Comments
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» Replacing the Catalytic Converters on my Z32/300zx — January 10, 2014 @ 3:19 pm
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By Janette, September 14, 2014 @ 4:03 pm
Hey very interesting blog!