The Great :cat: Shootout

[johnwag]

As most of you know, I go through parts like ken o goes through cars. I'm always buying something to test out so that I can gain feedback from it.

A few weeks ago I had a boss frog straight pipe, fm high flow cat, and a stock cat in my possession. I compared the weight of the three cats, sound and put them on the butt dyno. The baseline for this test was the stock cat.
Car had a monsterflow filter on stock intake plumbing, UD pulley, cracked ebay header, and FM single tip exhaust.

My conclusions:
Stock cat: 10 pounds, sounds like stock, power feels pretty good for minor bolt ons

Boss Frog Straight Pipe: 3 pounds, spec miata loud and disgusting, less low end torque/slightly freer top end/lots of carbon-soot out of tip

FM High Flow Cat: 5 pounds, slightly louder than stock with more growl, more power altogether throughout the whole powerband

The obvious choice became the high flow cat. I had a JR high flow cat on the '96 and I thought it made a difference. I now confirm that the FM cat made a big difference on the '94 so I stuck with the FM high flow cat.

Since the cat shootout, Rogue welded the cracks on the header, I added a monsterflow carbon intake w/heatshield and TSI's. The car feels way stronger than my '96 did. I contribute part of this to the fact that the '94 is 150 pounds lighter than my '96 was.
i've got another intake to try out and a header on the way. I hope to get to the dyno for an intake/header shootout and some real world #'s
soon.
Thanks to Chris Fain for lending a hand.

[MiataMike]

I had my FM High Flow cat replaced at a local muffler shop with the exact same part for less than $100 after install. Just for anyone looking to replace theirs it would be cheaper to find the brand name or just go to the muffler shop and have a high flow universal cat welded on.

[MadMonkey]

For some reason my "dual" exhaust with a test pipe sounds sweeeeet going under overpasses... not Spec-ish at all.


But then again, I'm special

[Miatamoto]

I found the same type of results between the stock cat and straight pipe. I never had a chance to run a high flow cat.

BTW, I don't remember if it was this month or last but GRM has a full cat test on Andy Hollis's STS2 Miata. They dyno tested about 6 different options. Very informative.

[johnwag]

I found the same type of results between the stock cat and straight pipe. I never had a chance to run a high flow cat.

BTW, I don't remember if it was this month or last but GRM has a full cat test on Andy Hollis's STS2 Miata. They dyno tested about 6 different options. Very informative.

I should have gotten a GRM subscription a few years ago. It is time....

[SirHustlerEsq]

I noticed very little change in noise when I deleted my cat.

[jrj512]

We're about to go look at the animal shelter in Fort Worth today for a new cat for the . I will steer the toward an FM, if they have one, since it will be lighter than a stock cat and not as loud as a straight cat. I'm a little worried about the high-flow part, with the new carpet and all.

[channelmaniac]

I noticed very little change in noise when I deleted my cat.

Did you remember to change the batteries in your hearing aids?

[driftdevil]

I bought the magnaflow high flow off fleabay and it cost less than the FM and still gave good results.

[johnwag]

I bought the magnaflow high flow off fleabay and it cost less than the FM and still gave good results.

How much was it? I payed $125 shipped for the FM high flow.

[Jeff_nc]

I bought the magnaflow high flow off fleabay and it cost less than the FM and still gave good results.

I also bought an Ebay Magnaflow cat and put it on my old 95... I forget the shops name, but they were doing "buy it now or best offer". I think it ended up being about $85 shipped. I'd definitely recommend it.

[Brad]

We're about to go look at the animal shelter in Fort Worth today for a new cat for the . I will steer the toward an FM, if they have one, since it will be lighter than a stock cat and not as loud as a straight cat. I'm a little worried about the high-flow part, with the new carpet and all.

outstanding!

[driftdevil]

How much was it? I payed $125 shipped for the FM high flow.

I ended up paying around $90 shipped for it about 6 months ago

[trickyrix]

I found the same type of results between the stock cat and straight pipe. I never had a chance to run a high flow cat.

BTW, I don't remember if it was this month or last but GRM has a full cat test on Andy Hollis's STS2 Miata. They dyno tested about 6 different options. Very informative.

Anybody have a copy of this GRM issue laying around?

[sammm]

Anybody have a copy of this GRM issue laying around?

Check online. Article may be there.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/

[Miatamaniac92]

No FI no care.

Chris

[trickyrix]

Check online. Article may be there.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/

I already searched their website... couldn't find any sign of the article.