130i Decat Question

Philip Foglar

///Member
bullet24 said:
@ Reese130: Thanks I get what you are saying, still need to take the car on a track day to get a feel for it there. I am overall still very much happy with the car as a fun/play around car.

Mr Foglar... hallloooo daar. :) , thanks thanks, few months now obviously we are not seeing each other enough lately. Don't have any nice photos of her yet you volunteering to put your skills to work??? :rollsmile:

Definitely! :thumbs:
 

Antec

New member
The only problem i have with forking out 3.5k for branches is that its claimed to give me about 15kw for instance, when i dyno the car i get like 7kw increase which is then bad luck for me as the suppliers have there money already.

I am just scared i pay for an expected 15kw and get like 7kw. :cry:
 

Bayn46

Active member
Antec said:
The only problem i have with forking out 3.5k for branches is that its claimed to give me about 15kw for instance, when i dyno the car i get like 7kw increase which is then bad luck for me as the suppliers have there money already.

I am just scared i pay for an expected 15kw and get like 7kw. :cry:

I would guess that supplier figures are quoted at the flywheel and may also take into consideration a software tune to get the most out of it.

Also dyno's will vary based on correction, variables on the day, whether the reading is taken at the flywheel or at the wheels. So many things to consider.
 

ambroseg1

New member
Antec said:
The only problem i have with forking out 3.5k for branches is that its claimed to give me about 15kw for instance, when i dyno the car i get like 7kw increase which is then bad luck for me as the suppliers have there money already.

I am just scared i pay for an expected 15kw and get like 7kw. :cry:

you would be more unhappy if you lost power. power gained is power gained. tuners I think developers of mods use an average power increase as no two cars are exactly the same power wise and no two cars respond exactly the same to modifications.


abmi0000 said:
I have to admit that I am very surprised regarding the concerns.

I have removed my cats without software as yet and I certainly didn't lose any performance. The car without a doubt performed better and the consumption stayed the same if not marginally better.

Software will be coming soon though as I have now done the rest of the exhaust system.

why is everybody ignoring this statement ^:fencelook:
 
J

Jakkals_F30

Guest
mmmm abmi... seems like there's no comment to your statement... lol
 

d2coza

Member
Maybe it's just me, but I think when one takes the bigger picture into account (granted, most people don't think further ahead than the length of their noses), removing a catalytic converter is both silly and irresponsible.

1) The vehicle is designed to work with the cat in place. Yes, it may impact performance slightly, but the engineers who design and build the engines you guys love to mod so much actually do know what they're doing. Tolerances in modern engineering are incredibly precise, and by changing the parameters of a complete system outside of those it was originally designed for *will* eventually impact the longevity of the system.

2) Even more important than the first point, removing a catalytic converter releases a @#$-load more pollutants into the atmosphere. Knowingly allowing this is irresponsible and selfish, regardless of the little bit of extra pleasure you're getting by increasing your 0-100 time, impressing your buddies with the extra noise your car generates, etc. I simply cannot understand how people just conveniently talk past this fact. Not cool.

Maybe I'm just old, or conservative, or too educated and informed, but in general I think modding cars is silly.
 

NavZ

Active member
d2coza said:
Maybe it's just me, but I think when one takes the bigger picture into account (granted, most people don't think further ahead than the length of their noses), removing a catalytic converter is both silly and irresponsible.

1) The vehicle is designed to work with the cat in place. Yes, it may impact performance slightly, but the engineers who design and build the engines you guys love to mod so much actually do know what they're doing. Tolerances in modern engineering are incredibly precise, and by changing the parameters of a complete system outside of those it was originally designed for *will* eventually impact the longevity of the system.

2) Even more important than the first point, removing a catalytic converter releases a @#$-load more pollutants into the atmosphere. Knowingly allowing this is irresponsible and selfish, regardless of the little bit of extra pleasure you're getting by increasing your 0-100 time, impressing your buddies with the extra noise your car generates, etc. I simply cannot understand how people just conveniently talk past this fact. Not cool.

Maybe I'm just old, or conservative, or too educated and informed, but in general I think modding cars is silly.

With all the regulations in place, the engineers are forced to use cats.
I don't have any technical experience & I am not sure of how true the following statements are but from what I have read it seems the argument for removing cats are as follows:
1) By removing the cats, there are less blockages and the exhaust system is under less strain. So it should increase the lifespan.

2) Cars which are being driven hard actually release more pollutants before the decat, this is because they are made for a certain style of driving & if you are not driving 'normally' the cat is inefficient. You are also saving fuel, which is good for the environment/wallet.

I'm not saying it's good to do a decat & I probably won't do it myself, but it isn't always black & white.
Some people may be doing it for the sound/performance but that doesn't mean that they are irresponsible.

Something else I found:

whattingh said:
FYI: from wikipedia:
Environmental impact
Catalytic converters have proven to be reliable and effective in reducing noxious tailpipe emissions. However, they may have some adverse environmental impacts in use:
The requirement for an internal combustion engine equipped with a three-way catalyst to run at the stoichiometric point means it is less efficient than if it were operated lean. Thus, there is an increases the amount of fossil fuel consumed and the carbon-dioxide emissions from the vehicle. However, NOx control on lean-burn engines is problematic and requires special lean NOx catalysts to meet U.S. emissions regulations.[citation needed]
Although catalytic converters are effective at removing hydrocarbons and other harmful emissions, they do not solve the fundamental problem created by burning a fossil fuel. In addition to water, the main combustion product in exhaust gas leaving the engine — through a catalytic converter or not — is carbon dioxide (CO2).[16] Carbon dioxide produced from fossil fuels is one of the greenhouse gases indicated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to be a "most likely" cause of global warming.[17] Additionally, the U.S. EPA has stated catalytic converters are a significant and growing cause of global warming, because of their release of nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas over three hundred times more potent than carbon dioxide.[18]
Catalytic converter production requires palladium or platinum; part of the world supply of these precious metals is produced near Norilsk, Russia, where the industry (among others) has caused Norilsk to be added to Time magazine's list of most-polluted places.[19]
 
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