de-cat pipe

davethewheel · Post by **davethewheel** » 02 Oct 2008, 20:52

i've seen a de-cat pipe that would replace the cat on my xsara diesel estate, my question is do you think it is worth doing, there is nothing wrong with the cat that is on there i was just thinking if it would give me a bit more performance it would be worth doing, car has only got 72bhp so any small gain would be useful

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 02 Oct 2008, 22:31

defenatly is/dose/did on my xantia 1.9TD, besides that they give good money for scrap cats

regards malcolm

jgra1 · Post by **jgra1** » 02 Oct 2008, 22:49

its a new betting syndi cat e

cats scrapping

XantiaMan · Post by **XantiaMan** » 03 Oct 2008, 07:21

Wont make any noticeable difference on a non-turbocharged diesel engine to be honest.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 03 Oct 2008, 09:26

i belive it should make a diferance on a disesl, as even a brand new diesl engine pumps out soot partcals, which will foul the cat up, hence restric the exhaust gasses escaping
regards malcolm

davethewheel · Post by **davethewheel** » 03 Oct 2008, 19:01

even if i only gain a few bhp it will still be worth it, unfortunately the pipe i thought id found isn't a cat replacement pipe it to repair the pipe after the cat.
i suppose i could get someone to cut the cat out my old xantia had this done.

ralph · Post by **ralph** » 03 Oct 2008, 20:35

The snag is the Xsara diesel was never made without a cat, so all replacement exhaust sections will be made to fit with a cat pipe.

You'll be able to get non-cat exhausts for 306 and ZX diesels, but whether these will fit a Xsara is a different matter.

I recently had my cat replaced on my Xsara. It was a "distress purchase" (the old front pipe had rusted through at the manifold) so I didn't have time to look around for a through-pipe alternative.

It goes no quicker with a new cat however...so I can't believe they get that clogged up.

Stunned Monkey · Post by **Stunned Monkey** » 03 Oct 2008, 21:38

Diesel and petrol cats are different animals (hah! see what I did there?

) with the diesel one basically being a particulate trap, and can legally be removed because particulates aren't tested at MOT. The Xantia HDi cat is part of the downpipe and always splits at the elbow just upstream of the cat. I had mine welded back together and gutted the internals. Then it split just south of the cat

- if I had the time, I'd sort out a proper bit of pipe instead of what it is now - a resonance chamber. I noticed marginal improvement in performance and mileage.

oscarloco · Post by **oscarloco** » 08 Oct 2008, 16:28

Performance gains are low, about 1 or 2 hp. But you gain on fuel economy. The downside, noise. My ZX is LOUD, specially in the 5000-6000 RPM region and with the K&N filter and cold air induction.