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      04-01-2020, 11:57 AM   #1
Stlnation
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Downpipe regret?

Has anyone gotten a catless do and wish they got a catted one or vice versa? About to order a vrsf but can't make up my mind on which one
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      04-01-2020, 12:05 PM   #2
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For what it's worth, I went catless on a Trans Am...couldn't take the fuel smell. I would only go performance cat...my 2 cents.
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      04-01-2020, 12:16 PM   #3
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Im not fully answering your questions but I ordered a catted DP. Its sitting my my garage for about a month now. I am debating if I want to deal with a check engine light, until a tune is available to clear it.
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      04-01-2020, 02:01 PM   #4
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Had vrsf catted and the cats blew out (likely due to burbles .. stock burbles at that) so I removed my downpipe and gutted the cats and now I have a catted-to-catless converted downpipe. if you don't mind the smell when stopped I think it's worth the extra sound and money saving but that's just me.
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      04-01-2020, 11:33 PM   #5
freshxdough
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I have VRSF Catted Downpipe. I can smell it some times if I'm getting rowdy in sport with burbles and high RPM stuff. It's enough for smell for me alone with Catted. I couldn't imagine what catless would be like. I smell some cars in the shop with catless though and i really dislike it
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      04-02-2020, 05:23 PM   #6
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I've done catless DPs with welded race cats on my X5M. It was terrible without the cats. With the 200 cell race cats there was still smell but wasn't awful. I recommend just getting DPs with hi flow cats in them to save any hassle.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayf30 View Post
Had vrsf catted and the cats blew out (likely due to burbles .. stock burbles at that) so I removed my downpipe and gutted the cats and now I have a catted-to-catless converted downpipe. if you don't mind the smell when stopped I think it's worth the extra sound and money saving but that's just me.
That's nuts! OP, maybe don't go catted and get some cats welded in further down the line. I'm sure it depends on your tune, if you do the proper break in on the cat, and how much power you're putting down.
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      04-03-2020, 01:44 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by suby01 View Post
Im not fully answering your questions but I ordered a catted DP. Its sitting my my garage for about a month now. I am debating if I want to deal with a check engine light, until a tune is available to clear it.
Even if there's a tune to clear the code, will you be able to pass emissions when it comes time for inspection? I ask cause in NYC once you have a CEL light you won't be able to pass
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      04-03-2020, 07:09 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by Stlnation View Post
Has anyone gotten a catless do and wish they got a catted one or vice versa? About to order a vrsf but can't make up my mind on which one
I had the VRSF Catless, thought long and hard about it and came to the decision because:

1) My car was getting custom dyno tuned, so catless will give more flexibility and more power
2) Makes your exhaust louder
3) You can definitely hear turbo spool
4) It's cheaper than a catted version

Downside, only one, the fume smell but you quickly get used to it.
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      04-03-2020, 07:25 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by g0t2bmiirii View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by suby01 View Post
Im not fully answering your questions but I ordered a catted DP. Its sitting my my garage for about a month now. I am debating if I want to deal with a check engine light, until a tune is available to clear it.
Even if there's a tune to clear the code, will you be able to pass emissions when it comes time for inspection? I ask cause in NYC once you have a CEL light you won't be able to pass
Even though the CEL is off the monitor still needs to pass.
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      04-04-2020, 07:15 PM   #10
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I go back and forth. I got the ER catted pipe and it sounds great. noticeable increase over stock without being overly loud. There is a very minor change in odor with the exhaust because there is less cat surface area, but not like catless and only when cold. I still get the CEL after about 15 min of driving so have to code it out or use a spacer (i'll try later on). I'm starting to waffle a bit on if I did the right thing on getting catted. am unhappy? no. but i've never had catless cars and I'm starting to think i'd want to try it even if for a little while. Like above, if my cat fails I'll just punch it out and run gutted for a bit and see if I want it replaced, but I don't regret the extra expense of getting catted or getting ER. I'm happy, just curious about the other side.
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      04-04-2020, 08:14 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Torinalth View Post
I go back and forth. I got the ER catted pipe and it sounds great. noticeable increase over stock without being overly loud. There is a very minor change in odor with the exhaust because there is less cat surface area, but not like catless and only when cold. I still get the CEL after about 15 min of driving so have to code it out or use a spacer (i'll try later on). I'm starting to waffle a bit on if I did the right thing on getting catted. am unhappy? no. but i've never had catless cars and I'm starting to think i'd want to try it even if for a little while. Like above, if my cat fails I'll just punch it out and run gutted for a bit and see if I want it replaced, but I don't regret the extra expense of getting catted or getting ER. I'm happy, just curious about the other side.
Even a spacer won't work. Didn't work for me so far. I tried the 90* and I even tried a mini cat on my 02 sensor.
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      04-04-2020, 09:56 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayf30 View Post
Had vrsf catted and the cats blew out (likely due to burbles .. stock burbles at that) so I removed my downpipe and gutted the cats and now I have a catted-to-catless converted downpipe. if you don't mind the smell when stopped I think it's worth the extra sound and money saving but that's just me.
I'm thinking about gutting my VRSF catted DP. Even though its catted... I still smell the fume somewhat. How much difference did it make after you gutted it? Smell, sound and performace.

OP... no regret at all except for the smell. I love it.
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      04-05-2020, 11:32 AM   #13
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Been in an X3M40i with no cats. Phew! Not worth it. It's not a race car.
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      04-06-2020, 04:01 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LouKango View Post
I'm thinking about gutting my VRSF catted DP. Even though its catted... I still smell the fume somewhat. How much difference did it make after you gutted it? Smell, sound and performace.

OP... no regret at all except for the smell. I love it.
Smell is definitely stronger with windows down but unchanged with windows up. Sound is definitely much better as far as tone and volume which is what I care most about. Couldn't tell much difference in performance as far as when my cats were still functional. I was getting hiccups however when my cats were all dislodged in the downpipe.
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      04-06-2020, 03:39 PM   #15
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So would you do a bootmod3 without a downpipe mod?

So my big question is: Would you do the bootmod3 without the Downpipe mod? Is it even worth it or not?
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      04-07-2020, 06:12 PM   #16
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Been running catless for months now with no regrets. The smell of fumes is definitely there when I start up in the garage. Really depends on the individual if it’ll bother them. I ran catless on my G35 for over 6 years, so it doesn’t bother me at all.
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      04-07-2020, 06:18 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nog0odd3ed@gmail.com View Post
So my big question is: Would you do the bootmod3 without the Downpipe mod? Is it even worth it or not?
I don't personally have tune but you can do stage 1 with stock everything. Stage 2 and up is where you really want to have at least a Downpipe for the tune to really take advantage of the no restriction used by the cat
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      04-17-2022, 12:12 AM   #18
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Anyone here experienced with the AA 400 cel catted downpipe running Mhd?
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      04-17-2022, 11:53 AM   #19
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Anyone here experienced with the AA 400 cel catted downpipe running Mhd?
What do you want to know?
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      05-20-2022, 11:40 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by freshxdough View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by nog0odd3ed@gmail.com View Post
So my big question is: Would you do the bootmod3 without the Downpipe mod? Is it even worth it or not?
I don't personally have tune but you can do stage 1 with stock everything. Stage 2 and up is where you really want to have at least a Downpipe for the tune to really take advantage of the no restriction used by the cat
A few questions because I can't let this AA downpipe saga go:

Does the stock B58 gen 2 have a more restrictive cat than the stock gen 1? Sounds like BMW tightened up emissions on the gen 2.

Anyone running catless with a pure E85 setup? I assume this would take care of the fumes issue.
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      05-20-2022, 11:56 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chief Orman View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by freshxdough View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by nog0odd3ed@gmail.com View Post
So my big question is: Would you do the bootmod3 without the Downpipe mod? Is it even worth it or not?
I don't personally have tune but you can do stage 1 with stock everything. Stage 2 and up is where you really want to have at least a Downpipe for the tune to really take advantage of the no restriction used by the cat
A few questions because I can't let this AA downpipe saga go:

Does the stock B58 gen 2 have a more restrictive cat than the stock gen 1? Sounds like BMW tightened up emissions on the gen 2.

Anyone running catless with a pure E85 setup? I assume this would take care of the fumes issue.
A cat is a cat. They're basically the same part
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      05-21-2022, 09:12 PM   #22
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With catless AA DP enroute, shortly will have first hand experience of the level of stink this will be (for the wife). Hopefully as mentioned already the higher E blend may help to offset the smell. Does seem to, with 200 cell cats from HJS running E85.

Then again, read somewhere that higher E blends can, has possibility of killin catts, so yeah...
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