BMW E46 330i decat

B

BMWfanforever

New member
Hello BMW fans,

This is my first post and I am sorry for reawakening old posts as there are plenty but the prices are no longer valid as the last posts were in 2010. I am convinced my catalytic converters have seen better days as my 330i Auto now has about 180K on the clock and it feels a bit lazy and is heavy on fuel in town (21l/100kms). Who has had their cats removed recently and where is the best place to have it done? SAC quoted about R2400 per cat to be removed and bearing in mind the 330i has 4 of them, I think that is crazy expensive. 2010 posts were mentioning prices of about R750 to remove them and fit resonators for approximately the same additionally.

Any recommendation?

Cheers,

Jason.


My apologies, I see there are newer posts but not much showing places to have it done and pricing. BTW I live in Potchefstroom but can have it done in Joburg.


Cheers,

Jason.
 
Philip Foglar

Philip Foglar

///Member
Also consider things like Vanos seals - if worn they do tend to contribute to heavier fuel consumption and that laziness you mentioned.

But, with regards to decatting, there are lots of people here who can give you good advice and possibly some recommendations of good places that can do this for you. :thumbs:
 
H

Henry330i

Active member
Hi and welcome.

I had my car (same model and gearbox) done. I took it to Noiseboys in Hatfield. Cost me R300 about a year ago. Thats for the middle cats. Also I didn't have resonators fitted. Then recently I had the ones in the headers removed. This was give or take R700 as I had other work done at the same time.

If you are handy with DIY I'd say take your headers out, mark the O2 sensors and take it to a exhaust place to cut out and weld in straight pipes. And fit make sure the sensors are back in the right place.

Also then have your car mapped to run catless. And remember you don't need cat foolers.

Just to add 21l/100km seems very excessive. There might be a nother problem aswell. Get the codes read. Maybe your MAF or something is out of wack.

My car is on 205000km now due for vanos and a new MAF. And my wife drives daily in traffic and getting 13l/100km.

Hope this helps.

Forgot the most important of all. Contact Ralf on speedway. Look out for him here on the forum. He is our go to guy regarding exhaust and tyres.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
 
B

BMWfanforever

New member
Philip Foglar said:
Also consider things like Vanos seals - if worn they do tend to contribute to heavier fuel consumption and that laziness you mentioned.

But, with regards to decatting, there are lots of people here who can give you good advice and possibly some recommendations of good places that can do this for you. :thumbs:
Click to expand...


Thanks for the advice, didn't even think about the Vanos and worth looking into. :idea:

Have a good day.

Cheers.

Henry330i said:
Hi and welcome.

I had my car (same model and gearbox) done. I took it to Noiseboys in Hatfield. Cost me R300 about a year ago. Thats for the middle cats. Also I didn't have resonators fitted. Then recently I had the ones in the headers removed. This was give or take R700 as I had other work done at the same time.

If you are handy with DIY I'd say take your headers out, mark the O2 sensors and take it to a exhaust place to cut out and weld in straight pipes. And fit make sure the sensors are back in the right place.

Also then have your car mapped to run catless. And remember you don't need cat foolers.

Just to add 21l/100km seems very excessive. There might be a nother problem aswell. Get the codes read. Maybe your MAF or something is out of wack.

My car is on 205000km now due for vanos and a new MAF. And my wife drives daily in traffic and getting 13l/100km.

Hope this helps.

Forgot the most important of all. Contact Ralf on speedway. Look out for him here on the forum. He is our go to guy regarding exhaust and tyres.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Hi Henry,

Thank you very much for your advice. Seems like Noiseboys is about the cheapest and luckily the closest to me (50km) so convenient. I thought about running straight pipes through although from all the Youtube clips I've heard it tends to sound a bit too raspy for my liking. I love the standard exhaust note so I think by adding the resonators it should keep it fairly standard. I would love to get the headers out myself but I've heard it's a major PITA so think I will leave it to the pros. Once it's done I will definitely have it Unichipped along with a performance filter so hope to see some improvements.

If it's still heavy thereafter I suppose I will have to get it to a dealership to check for fault codes and check MAF etc. Once all is done I will let you know how it went. Have a good day.


Cheers,

Jason.
:thumbs:
 
AdiS

AdiS

Well-known member
I second that 21L/100 is exhorbitant ... surely something else other than the cats is causing an issues with fuel consumption...
 
moranor@axis

moranor@axis

///Member
Official Advertiser
that is very heavy on fuel...

you need to have the codes read I doubt it is the cats or Vanos causing this although these will probably help they are not the cause...
 
B

BMWfanforever

New member
Henry330i said:
Hi and welcome.

I had my car (same model and gearbox) done. I took it to Noiseboys in Hatfield. Cost me R300 about a year ago. Thats for the middle cats. Also I didn't have resonators fitted. Then recently I had the ones in the headers removed. This was give or take R700 as I had other work done at the same time.

If you are handy with DIY I'd say take your headers out, mark the O2 sensors and take it to a exhaust place to cut out and weld in straight pipes. And fit make sure the sensors are back in the right place.

Also then have your car mapped to run catless. And remember you don't need cat foolers.

Just to add 21l/100km seems very excessive. There might be a nother problem aswell. Get the codes read. Maybe your MAF or something is out of wack.

My car is on 205000km now due for vanos and a new MAF. And my wife drives daily in traffic and getting 13l/100km.

Hope this helps.

Forgot the most important of all. Contact Ralf on speedway. Look out for him here on the forum. He is our go to guy regarding exhaust and tyres.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Hi Henry,

Who did your cats on the manifold? I just spoke to Noiseboys and they said they don't like to touch those because they are difficult to get to?


Cheers,

Jason.
 
H

Henry330i

Active member
BMWfanforever said:
Henry330i said:
Hi and welcome.

I had my car (same model and gearbox) done. I took it to Noiseboys in Hatfield. Cost me R300 about a year ago. Thats for the middle cats. Also I didn't have resonators fitted. Then recently I had the ones in the headers removed. This was give or take R700 as I had other work done at the same time.

If you are handy with DIY I'd say take your headers out, mark the O2 sensors and take it to a exhaust place to cut out and weld in straight pipes. And fit make sure the sensors are back in the right place.

Also then have your car mapped to run catless. And remember you don't need cat foolers.

Just to add 21l/100km seems very excessive. There might be a nother problem aswell. Get the codes read. Maybe your MAF or something is out of wack.

My car is on 205000km now due for vanos and a new MAF. And my wife drives daily in traffic and getting 13l/100km.

Hope this helps.

Forgot the most important of all. Contact Ralf on speedway. Look out for him here on the forum. He is our go to guy regarding exhaust and tyres.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Hi Henry,

Who did your cats on the manifold? I just spoke to Noiseboys and they said they don't like to touch those because they are difficult to get to?


Cheers,

Jason.
Click to expand...

When I had my valve cover and sump gaskets replaced. I paid a bit extra to have the headers removed. The guy who did the work his name is Andre du Plessis. He is in Pretoria west. Pm me for more details.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
 
B

BMWfanforever

New member
YUBEN said:
Sup Jason.
Where are located?
That will determine where to go.
I would highly recommend Ralf@Speedway Motorsport in Kempton Park.
He did my entire system.
Check out my Decat in the thread below

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=50606

:thumbs:
Good luck
Click to expand...

Hey Yuben,

Thanks for the response. I'm in Potchefstroom which makes thing a bit tricky with work and all. Klersdorp is only 50 kms away and Noiseboys is the only place I can think of that does it but they are already reluctant to do the headers as it is a PITA. Your car looks awesome and they did a fantastic job :bravo: Wish you many happy miles in your car.


Cheers
 
B

Bavs108

///Member
21l/100km is insane. I have not seen more than 13l/100km on mine even with just town driving. I would have the codes read first to see what's causing it to be so high. As mentioned before I highly doubt that your cats are the cause of it.
 
B

BMWfanforever

New member
Bavs108 said:
21l/100km is insane. I have not seen more than 13l/100km on mine even with just town driving. I would have the codes read first to see what's causing it to be so high. As mentioned before I highly doubt that your cats are the cause of it.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bavs, will definitely have it looked at. I agree it is crazy, I do about 3 or 4 small trips a day but no more than 10km in total a day with very conservative driving. Getting about 300km's on a tank so have to get it rectified. Thanks again...
 
GPGrobler

GPGrobler

///Member
Does the car still have the original cats? I had the two exhaust ones removed yesterday, and according to the computer the fuel consumption dropped already by 2l/100km
 
B

BMWfanforever

New member
GPGrobler said:
Does the car still have the original cats? I had the two exhaust ones removed yesterday, and according to the computer the fuel consumption dropped already by 2l/100km
Click to expand...

Yes still got the original cats in, hope to get them removed next week sometime. I think I will start with a dyno to check the performance then remove the two main cats first and replace with resonators to check the exhaust tone because I want to keep it as close to standard as possible.

I will then put in a performance filter, a unichip and remap to optimise for economy and dyno again to see the improvement. Glad to see you already noticed an improvement 2l is alot in my opinion.
 
alexzz

alexzz

///Member
a buddy of mine had a 328i e36 and had extremely high fuel consumption, around 20l/100km.:fencelook:

looked under the car, big oil leak, and car did not rev high anymore. People told him its he's vanos.
 
H

Henry330i

Active member
Personally I would stay with an OEM air filter and air box. It has been discussed many times. Bm did a very good job with the original one.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
 
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