California Cat Converters

[regis101]

geesh.

I had previously bought the Magnaflow CC and the quality was the pits. Flanges were not square and the bolt holes were not in line from one flange to the other. Had to send it back.

Today I got the DEC Cali Cat delivered. First impression was, Hmmph.
It is rectangular and my fear was it would not fit.

I dropped my pseudo cat/muffler set up and found that the DEC cat fits OK.
It does have a bung hole as per the 2.1's. I will have to plug this off with at least a spark plug. I may pick up an Air/Fuel ratio meter and add a heated O2 sensor for personal monitoring like I had on the Bus, back when.

It did not come with a bung plug or the two required gaskets.

This unit is a hun bucks cheaper than the Maganflow. It has the Cali number stamped on and comes with a warranty.

We're at a loss here in Cali for parts.

To critique the DEC unit, the flanges are clocked correctly, ( 1.9 ) and the holes from one flange to the other line up so the muffler will bolt on without interference. The flanges are still not square with other but not nearly as bad as the Maganaflow I had in my hands.

I did have trouble finding a vendor who had these, ( in stock ) All that I contacted seemed to be drop shippers. I had to wait four weeks for delivery.
I even emailed DEC and said, "wtf"

This is probably as good as it gets here on the west coast. The last resort is the Magnaflow Cali universal, get some flanges, and friggin' weld it up myself.

It is 11 1/4" from flange to flange. 7" wide. 4" thick. The bolts holes are slotted.

geesh
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Peace, Regis

[bluebus86]

Looks like all you can get here in californazia is very expensive junk thanks to the air police CARB.
I would suggest if you can, to get an out of state catalyst. it will still pass smog with an out of state one so long as the smog tech is led to believe it is an older catalyst installed before they made this standard capacity catalyst ban law

this is part of californazias plan to get you out of your classic car, by driving up replacement part prices. Since they removed the 30 year smog test exemption (thank you Sally Lieber, State Representative Mt. View (Dem) who wrote that law) you have to keep up the smog equipment, then they make sure you cant get good quailty smog parts, even at a high price. Hell they even make it illegal to sell a used cat at junk yards. I bet there are plenty of still good used cats to be found on wrecks, just is they are not legal to sell at your local califorinazia wrecker. more waste, more pain for the vanagon owner.

Bastards!!!!


PS a friend of mine had to buy a californazia catalyst for his subaru, it was a weld in unit, he had it installed, then went to get smog tested, the tech wanted to fail him beuase the tech could not read the calfornazia smog serial number on the new catalyst, becuase that number was on the top of the catalyst, which was up aginst the floor pan, the smog tech wanted to charge to remove the new catalyst to confrim the number was there. fortunatly my friend was able to convince them that it was installed before the ban , and thus grandfathered in. had he not been fast talking he would have had a big wastefull repair bill just so a tech could read the number (tech also suggested cutting a hole in the floor to read the number!!!!!) this all happened dispite passing the smog tail pipe test with flying colors.

you see Californaizias smog program is not about the smog out the tail pipe, it is about this being a racket to get you out of your classic car, and no doubt some cataslytic converter industry lobby efforts at the state house. (ie campaign contributions)

[r39o]

[regis101]

I was on DEC's website. It might be they sent me the wrong converter.
I can't win. They sent a VW83407 in a VW 83405 box.
The 83407 is shown for the 86>
This link should put you on the product page for Cali. Fill in the blanks for an 85 vs a 90

http://www.deccats.com/catalytic_search/index_california.php?cal=CA

I thought maybe the 85< was superceded or something. But the picture in the two links are way different. The 83405, being rounder, more closely resembles my OE shell.

The 83407 does fit but I just can't win.

Plug in the two parts numbers on Amazon for quick pic's

I'm trying hard to find direct fit Cats.
Side note is that some sites show the Quantum as having the same part number as the 85<
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Peace, Regis

[regis101]

I fired off an email to the vendor via Amazon and DEC.

The vendor replied for me to call him but it is now after hours. Have to wait until next week.

I believe I can make the 83407 work due to the flanges having slotted holes. I just came in from refitting the Cat to the header pipe. The heat shield wants to rub the down pipe but there seems to be enough wiggle room that I should be able to avoid any interference. It will all depend on how the Cat/muffler assembly lays in the muffler support bracket. The blessing is that the exhaust system rides with the engine so as long as nothing rubs body structure all should be well.

If I reclock the Cat 120*, it totally clears everything. It does make it a bit hard to read the smog info. It'd be nice to be nice to the smogger tech's since I'll need all of the help I can get. ya know?

If I had to look for the good in all of this, it seems to me that the 86> Cat is larger than the <85 Cat. I may get better results at the sniffer station.
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Peace, Regis

[cheeseisgood]

So when are you getting the van tested? @ $100 less than other vendors it looks like a decent deal....or the best we can hope for in CA!
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1987 Westy

[regis101]

I'm not up until June 2014.
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Peace, Regis

[regis101]

I also found the same unit for $20 less than my ~$250 delivered. Just gotta look around.
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Peace, Regis

[r39o]

You can get CA legal Catco cats for under $100.

Fkanges are between $5 - $20 depending on where you get them.

O2 sensor bung / nut is $0.50 - $5.

Then you weld them in.

Total cost is less than $150 with welding.
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"Use the SEARCH, Luke" But first visit the Vanagon FAQ!

1990 Multivan EJ 22, Rancho trans 0.82 4th, Small Car front AC, CLKs w/ 215/65-16, homemade big brakes 303mm, Konis, Recaros, etc....

Click to see my ads for Cup holders, Subaru clutch fix and CLK wheels (no wheels currently)

[TequilaSunSet]

Part of the reason I dropped heavy coin in getting my 1.8T... yeah I know it is not for everyone, but for a dumb monkey like me was a great option for piece of mind.
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Don't harsh my mellow...
1985 Hightower Vanagon 1.8T- Gone
1972 Panel Bus- Gone
1967 Bug- Gone
1964 Euro Sunroof Bug- Gone
1969/72/63 Sunroof Bug- Gone
1975 Brazilian Bug in the Philippines 🇵🇭- New to me

[regis101]

I could only find, up to this time, a Catco Universal Cali Cat of similar dimensions for 140ish. I'll keep looking
Sounds like a good black market business. Hmmm
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Peace, Regis

[regis101]

I realize this is just an image but it looks surprisingly close to the DEC except that the DEC was ordered as a direct fit.

http://www.magnaflow.com/02catalytic_converters/02product/displayuniversal_pre.asp?universal=339034

I'm sure there is one or two factories in the world that make these things per vendor spec pretty much as most other stuff in our daily lives.
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Peace, Regis

[devesvws]

the one I got at BD was a joke it said it was oem yeah right, way smaller than the org one, and ugly as hell.
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THE FEW THE PROUD THE ORIGINAL VW WATERBOXER -> looking for a original 91 vanagon owners manual with 1991 on the cover http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmuiG2tUsP4&feature=share https://picasaweb.google.com/101290228103300323836/BostonBobFlywheelVideo#5543000332201103922

[r39o]

[regis101]

[regis101]

Thanks, r39o. I do believe I was on that site or at least something similar.
Kinda makes sense that vendors will offer universal Cal legal Cats before direct fit. Much easier for them to push 'em out the door and not worry about cases like mine. yeah, huh?

One of the misleading tidbits is that not all Cali legal cats are the same. But I do think that if it has some type of EO number etched or stamped into it, the smog cops will put it out of mind.

The company through whom I purchased the rectangular unit, via Amazon, have been very accommodating to make things right. But I emailed them today and decided to drop it. I'll just keep it.

It fits, although not exactly correct, is larger than the <85 Cat, has the latest EO laser etched onto it so all is well.

Plus the extra O2 bung hole will allow me to add an Air/Fuel ratio gauge, as long as I remember to put the bung on the engine side
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Peace, Regis

[r39o]

[regis101]

So I see on page 78 the Vanagon listings.

The file photo of 91135, 86-92, looks quite similar to file photo of 91159, 83-85, with the exception of the O2 sensor bung on the 91135. Had to look hard for the differences. Same price though.
Out of stock, so it says.

Good to see lower priced options out there for direct fit.

I've been coming across a lot of , Out of Stock, availability.

That's the trouble with smaller market share and , oh yeah, the BS with Cali CARB
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Peace, Regis

[regis101]

I have also noted from various vendors while looking for the 83-85 Cats that the Quantum is sometimes listed as a proper or same fit.
On page 58 is the 65381.
A quick search on maxautosupplies shows this, IN Stock, at $163. IN Stock!
What the..
Note, this info is from the Cali catalog.
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Peace, Regis

[chimivee]

I agree on the poor build quality of the MagnaFlow units. On mine, the pipe within the flange protruded enough that the donut seal wouldn't sit flush.

Had to grind it down to get the donut to seal.
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-James
86 Syncro Westy, etc