Catalytic Converters – A Common Myth – Busted!
Catalytic Converters - A Common Myth Busted.
There seems to be a common myth going around that forced induction requires that you delete the cats. That's simply not true. There are hundreds of production forced induction vehicles that have catalysts and meet emissions standards. Pretty much any modern day super or hyper car would be a great example. The engines in those cars are making astronomical HP per liter and they aren't burning up cats left and right, and they also meet emissions standards. Obviously, super and hyper cars are using catalysts that have been designed to handle the abuse they see in those applications, which is one of the reasons they are typically very large, as a larger surface are in the catalyst substrates allows for a higher rate of heat-dissipation. That doesn't mean that stock cats on F150's can't survive with boost. 99% of the time whether or not a cat survives is down to abuse by the person operating the vehicle.
The following is a tip in a response to an email asking about the life expectancy of a Gesi G2 cat, which is an EPA approved cat that is rated at 750hp+ each cat. Dorian runs these cats, along with SPD ported exhaust manifolds and their 3" y-pipe, and makes well over 1100 whp. He uses his truck every day and everyone that knows him knows it sees a ton of track passes. I would say that there's probably not a better "poster child" for showing the robustness of the G2 cats. So, here's the info that I passed onto our customer asking about these cats.
"The Gesi cats are very robust. Dorian runs them on his 1100+ whp Whipple truck and they are holding up strong. The important thing with cats is not to abuse them. They can handle a lot of heat, but they have to be given adequate time to cool off. Over-temp protection is a double-edged sword. It richens the mixture under load to lower EGT’s, which will lower catalyst temp initially, but if the mixture stays enriched for too long (i.e. making a long highway pull) that richer mixture will begin to actually heat the cat further. Believe it or not, that’s the most common cause of catalyst failure along with back-to-back roll-racing pulls and hot-lapping at the track. Simplest way to keep them alive is to make sure you return to a cruising state for at least a few minutes after a hard pull. That will lower EGT’s and lean out AFR, and the cats will begin to cool down. It takes time though. There are constant chemical reactions taking place in the cats, and that reaction takes time, especially when we’re talking about the flow values and richened mixtures that we see with forced induction vehicles. So you need to give them plenty of time to cool after running it hard. Do that, and they will live a long and healthy life".
Deleting the cats - Is it a good idea?
To be clear, this isn't a post about what's cheaper, and I don't care to hear anything about "deleting them is cheaper". If you have that mindset, you're part of the problem and the reason why our hobby, and this industry, is under attack by the EPA. The fact is you can make power and be compliant, and as collective whole, we all need to get onboard with this if we want to continue to be able to enjoy our hobby into the future.
Is deleting the cats a good idea? In some cases, yes. For dedicated track use, absolutely. I remove my cats on my 2018 Mustang GT every time I take it to a track day. It's part of my pre-race setup procedure. I have a catted mid-pipe and a non-catted midpipe. The non-catted version gets installed on the car the night before, and is removed and swapped out afterwards. Why do I do this? Is it becuase it makes more power with no cats? No, in fact it actually makes very little difference in performance. The reason I remove the cats for track use is because I am doing circuit course racing. I spend 20+ mins at a time under heavy acceleration while on track, and that gives very little time for the cats to cool off. Because of that, they could easily become damaged, and as we all know cat's are not inexpensive. So, this is a way for me to protect the cats from abuse and premature failure, and removing them in this manner is completely legal. There are no laws prohibiting removal of emissions components in closed-course competition, albeit this area is a bit "grey", but the EPA has not come to any race track, that I know of, looking for emissions components installed on vehicles competing on a closed course.
Many will care to differ, but the reality is there's no reason to delete your cats on your road-going vehicle. It isn't a race car, and you're not racing it competitively on your commute to work. The reality of the situation is that people are either cheap, lazy, or both, and simply don't want to spend the extra money or put in the extra effort to "play by the rules". I wish that wasn't the case, as that mentality is what's killing the performance aftermarket.
Ken Osborne - Owner. Oz Tuning, LLC.
