Tag exhaust system

Howdy folks, Ed here. Welcome back to Bullnose Garage. Do you ever feel like there’s a silent thief lurking in the bowels of your ride, stealing your performance, wrapping your precious horsepower up in endless red tape, and literally choking off the airflow that makes your engine come to life? Yeah, I’m talking about emissions, specifically catalytic converters. Power robbing, crime inspiring, and pocketbook draining cats are a double-edged sword of eco-responsibility and pain. But here’s the thing: you can do something to take back some of that power. Today, we’re talking about cat options, from keeping your ride stock all the way to cutting the cats out completely. Specifically, we’ll talk about high flow cats, how they work, what they can do for you, and I’ll check out the ones that just landed on my workbench, courtesy of Dinox. But don’t get too excited just yet. High flow cats can definitely give you back some of the horsepower that the EPA stole from your ride, but you might think twice when Johnny Law comes knocking. Dramatic? Maybe, but it’s definitely something you need to know. Stick around.

Hello! Now, before we dig into the nitty-gritty, I need to give a shout out to Dinox for sending me these high flow cats. They’re a great example of the kind of equipment I’ll be talking about. And if you want to grab a set for yourself, Dinox’s Black Friday sale kicks off on November 27th and runs through December 2nd, offering up to 50% off. So if you’re looking to nab some exhaust or intake parts, this is the time to strike. I’ll circle back with some more details.

Okay, so let’s kick things off with the basics. A catalytic converter is a component of your exhaust system responsible for cleaning up the exhaust gases before they exit the tailpipe. Inside, you’ll find metals like platinum, palladium, and rhodium, the MVPs of emissions control. These metals work like catalysts, starting up chemical reactions without burning out in the process. They’re also why some sketchy characters love to hack your cat off with a saw. Those metals are worth a boatload, even in the small quantities you find in a catalytic converter. Catalytic converters pull off a nifty bit of chemistry to break down pollutants. There are two stages to the job that they do. In the reduction stage, platinum and rhodium split nitrogen oxides into harmless nitrogen and oxygen, cutting down smog forming emissions. Next up is the oxidation stage, where platinum and palladium make carbon monoxide, a toxic gas, react with oxygen to become carbon dioxide. Any unburned hydrocarbons are also oxidized, turning into CO2 and water vapor. Think of it like a little high temp lab under your car, turning nasty exhaust into something a bit more eco-friendly.

OEM cats are all about compliance, standardization, and appealing to the mass market. That means hitting strict emissions targets, cutting costs, and keeping things quiet. Horsepower? Not a top priority. Because of that, they tend to choke your exhaust flow in order to meet their main objectives. High flow cats, though, are built for performance. They’re designed to let more exhaust pass through with less resistance. It’s kind of like trying to sip a thick milkshake through a tiny straw versus taking a big gulp through a wide straw. The benefit is less back pressure, and that means better exhaust scavenging, which translates into improved horsepower and torque. Now, for those running performance mods like aftermarket headers, camshafts, or stroker builds like my upcoming 408 stroker Windsor here, high flow cats can make a measurable difference.

High flow cats use more open cell substrates with strategically placed channels to keep exhaust flowing efficiently while still catalyzing those gases. Most high quality models, like this 3-inch unit from Dinox here, feature stainless steel construction for durability against heat and corrosion. The cells per square inch, or CPSI rating, in high flow cats is lower than in OEM units. Lower CPSI means fewer tiny channels for gases to navigate, reducing restriction. But don’t worry, these cats still do their job at cleaning emissions, though they may not be certified to do it. That certification can be a bit of a problem when it comes to federal or state compliance with emission laws. Here’s where things can get a bit controversial, especially with gear heads and shade tree mechanics. Most high flow cats, like these, are not federally compliant.

Okay, so let’s get into why compliance matters. CARB, or the California Resources Board, sets the gold standard for emissions regulations, which a few states use as a benchmark. If it isn’t CARB compliant, it doesn’t meet their rigorous standards. These non-compliant cats, like the Dinox cats I’ve got here, can’t legally be sold or used in states with CARB regulations. That’s California, New York, Maine, and Colorado. Why? Well, CARB compliant units have additional testing and require certification to meet stricter emission targets. So if you’re in or plan to sell your vehicle in one of those states, you got to keep that on your radar. It could mean the difference between passing emissions or failing. My state, New Mexico, doesn’t currently follow CARB, so I was able to get my hands on these. Also, keep in mind that modifying your exhaust or emission system, including adding high flow cats that aren’t EPA certified, constitutes tampering as far as the EPA and federal government are concerned. Tampering is a specific term, and that means installing these on your vehicle to replace your stock cats can be a bit problematic in terms of legality on a federal level, even if they’ll work as well as a certified unit and they’re legal in your state. I won’t tell if you won’t.

All right, so let’s take a look at these Dinox units themselves. Right out of the box, they look like they’re pretty high quality, made out of stainless steel, which is great when you’re dealing with temperatures up to 1200°F in your exhaust. So you definitely want something that’s nice and robust there. And you know, I haven’t put these on, obviously. I haven’t tested them yet, but they look good. I did a review of some Dinox headers a couple months ago, and they looked really good too. So, you know, the quality seems to be there. As I’m looking through, you can see where the high flow channels all are in there. You can see right through it. Looks really good. I don’t see any debris. I don’t see any broken bits. I don’t see anything in here that would indicate to me that it’s not high quality. So I am really looking forward to getting these on the vehicle and seeing how they sound and seeing how they work. So, yeah, I’m pretty impressed with these units I got from Dinox. So, shout out to those guys. We’ll see if they live up to the hype.

Installing a high flow cat is pretty straightforward if you’re handy with an angle grinder and a welder. Remember, positioning is key. You want it close enough to the engine to heat up quickly, but far enough down the line to avoid excessive back pressure. Always test fit your new cat, check clearances around your undercarriage, and, you know, make sure that it’s going to fit. A misstep here can lead to rattles, leaks, or even worse. High flow catalytic converters really come into their own when they’re used in a modified vehicle with higher than stock airflow requirements. If you’re rocking a turbo setup or even a naturally aspirated engine with some serious upgrades, that’s where high flow cats start paying dividends. If your car or truck is just a weekend grocery getter that’s more or less stock, high flow is going to be overkill. There’s a lot of other more effective, less controversial mods you should probably do first. But for anyone with a build designed to breathe freely and rev high, that’s a performance edge worth considering, especially if you’re rebuilding it anyway.

So let’s take a moment and talk about the possibility of running an exhaust setup without catalytic converters at all. It’s an option some performance enthusiasts choose because it completely eliminates exhaust restriction, which can result in even more horsepower. But here’s the trade-off: no cats mean more pollutants and potential much louder exhaust notes. And while it might be tempting to ditch the cats entirely for the sake of raw performance and more noise, it comes with its own set of challenges. Not only are catless builds illegal for street use in most places, but they can also trigger check engine lights and issues with your vehicle’s ECU. Even if it’s strictly on an older vehicle without those issues, it’s not a great environmental choice. That’s something you have to decide for yourself. That’s where high flow cats come in as a smarter middle ground. They allow you to maintain a respectable level of emission control, stay compliant in less restrictive areas, and still reap the benefits of better flow and power gains. Plus, they help avoid some of the complications that come with going fully catless, like failed inspections, binds, or ECU and check engine lights. So if you’re looking for a balance between power and practicality, high flow cats might just be the way to go. That’s why I’m choosing these for my build for those very reasons.

One other thing to keep in mind is that high flow cats can sometimes lose efficiency faster than their stock counterparts due to their more open design. Now, while you can’t exactly service a catalytic converter like other parts, there are a few preventive measures you can take to keep them functioning well. Regularly checking your exhaust leaks, ensuring the fuel mixture isn’t running too rich, which can clog the cat with unburned fuel, and keeping the engine in good tune will help prolong the life of your catalytic converter. High flow cats can be extra sensitive to contaminants, so using high quality fuel and avoiding oil burning is also a good thing to remember.

So before we wrap things up, just a reminder: Dinox’s Black Friday event starts November 27th and runs through December 2nd, up to 50% off. It is definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re considering an upgrade. Go check them out at dinoxparts.com, that’s dinoxparts.com. All the information will be down in the description below. A shout out to Dinox for sending me these cats. They’re not paying me for this review; they just sent these to me and asked me to put something up about them, and I thought that’d be a great opportunity to explain how high flow cats work and go through the whole thing. So thanks again, Dinox, for reaching out and supporting a small channel like myself. I really appreciate that.

So are high flow cats in your future, or are you more of an OEM purist? Or are you just going to ditch all that emissions garbage altogether and tell the EPA to go pound sand? Drop me a comment and let me know what you think. If you found this video helpful or interesting, or if you learned something, give me a like and a subscribe. That really helps me out. And like I said before, drop me a comment and let me know what you’re thinking. Also, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, gripes, internet ramblings, stick them below. You think I’m a shill for Dinox? Let me know. I’m never going to turn down free stuff. And if you think that I’m going to get in trouble with the EPA by installing high flow cats on my truck, let me know that too. Thanks again for watching, guys. We will see you next time, tinkering away, getting things to shine. Garage is considered divine. Thanks again for watching. We will see you next time.

hiy folks Ed here welcome back to Bullnose Garage. Today I’m doing something a little bit different. I have a product here from Dinox and a set of headers for my 351W. So, uh, they sent this set to me and, uh, asked me to do a little review of them for you guys, so that’s what I’m doing today. Um, now unfortunately I’m not going to have time, uh, to put those on the actual, uh, vehicle itself. I can’t get them on the engine, obviously the engine’s not ready for that. Uh, but what I can do is, uh, go through the package, open it up, take a look at them, see their quality, and let you know what I think. So let’s get into it. Hello!

All right, so here the box I got. We’re starting fresh. Everything is even still in the bubble wrap. So let’s take a look at these bad boys. These are stainless steel. They look really good. They come with brackets, reducers, your gaskets, and your hardware, and there you go. What you see is what you get. Now when I put these on mine, which I will, um, I think I’d probably go with ARP bolts instead of the ones that come with this. That’s not to say that these bolts aren’t good. I don’t know that they’re not good, but ARP is kind of the standard, and, uh, since I build a performance engine, I want to make sure that I get the best. So, uh, that’s what I’ll probably do there. But let’s take a look at these actual headers themselves. Oh man, I love new engine parts!

All right, so I will be the first to admit that I am not a header expert. I’m just some with a bullnose who likes working on in a spare time. But I can’t tell you when I think something is pretty high quality, and these seem to be pretty high quality. They are 304 stainless steel, and I mean this look shiny. I mean, yeah, they are beautiful. I can’t wait to get these on my 351 when I finally do that build. All right, so what do you get? You get a couple of headers, obviously, get a couple of reducers. Uh, this will take you from 3 in down to 2 and 1/2 if that’s the size of your exhaust. Obviously, you get the gaskets, and you get a couple of hangers, and you get your mounting hardware.

Okay, so let’s take a look at some of the important stuff, right? Obviously, like I said, they seem to be pretty well built. They’re nice and solid. Um, the runners on there look like they’re configured pretty well. Here’s the welds, so you can see what the welds look like. Um, I am not a welding expert by any means, but they do look pretty good to me. There’s your welds on top, and just for the sake of consistency, so that you can see how their manufacturing processes are for two separate pieces, here’s the other one, right? So I know how heavy these are ’cause I’m holding on to them, but how thick are they? On the tin, it says they should be 1.5 mm. I got my CID Harbor Freight caliper, and let’s see what it says. Oh, it’s not pull the battery out of there. Handy dandy Harbor Freight quality right there. Let’s get that back. Come on now, get on there. Hey, there we go. Battery compartment in there. All right, is zero. Okay, now we’re ready. Let’s see how thick it is, and it says 1.52 and 1.47 depending on how I roll it. Uh, obviously because it’s rounded, it’s kind of hard to get an exact measurement, but you know, I do think, uh, let’s see, there’s 1.6, 1.51. Yeah, I think that’s going to be, uh, exactly what they say it is, 1.5 mm.

So for the sake of complete transparency, there is one thing that I want to mention. The company Dinox that sent me these, again, they sent me these for free for me to keep them, put them on my truck. Uh, they’re not paying me for this, so, um, they are a little expensive. These are about, uh, $3.89 for the set on their website. Uh, now they have said that, uh, they’ll make a deal for my viewers. It’ll be down in the comments. Um, but, uh, they do come with a three-year warranty from Dinox. Um, now again, to be fair, I don’t know how, uh, good that warranty is going to be. I haven’t had to deal with their customer service. I have dealt with them as part of this, uh, this video preparation for them to send me these headers, uh, and they’ve been very responsive. They’ve gotten back to me within, uh, you know, 24 hours every single time. Now obviously they’re trying to get me to make a video to do release or to do a review for you guys, so you know, they’re trying to grow their business, they’re trying to reach out. You know, the other thing I’ve done noticed is that, uh, they’ve been posting a lot on like 4×4 forums and, uh, you know, other automotive forums trying to get their brand out there. Uh, so what they mainly make is, uh, exhaust stuff. They kind of specialize in EGR delete stuff, um, tubes and fittings and stuff to do those sorts of projects. So, you know, if you’re looking to do an EGR delete or, um, you know, they got a couple videos out there about, uh, um, exhaust dumps, electronic exhaust dumps, and, um, just a bunch of stuff it comes with exhaust. So if you’re looking into that, you may want to give them a shout. But they’re fairly new, so, uh, you know, if you’re willing to, they gave me a chance, small channel trying to get out there and, uh, you know, promote their products, and so I really do appreciate that. And like I said, I will definitely be putting this, uh, on my truck when, uh, when that time comes, uh, when I get that engine ready to go. So I’m looking forward to that.

And you know, as much as I’m not a mechanic, I am kind of a perfectionist, so I’ve been doing a lot of research on basically every part that’s going to go on that engine. And I wouldn’t put a part on the engine, uh, that I don’t trust, you know, and that’s just the way that it is. And even with my limited experience in headers and parts and that kind of stuff, man, these are, you know, these are heavy. Uh, they feel like they’re really well built, uh, and it just, it just they look beautiful. So, you know, take that for what it’s worth, take it with a grain of salt from me because again, I’m not a mechanic, I’m just a Schmo. All right? And I got these for free, but I will tell you that they’re not paying me, so, uh, the fact that I got them for free has not tainted this review or anything. It is just a straight honest, um, you know, what you see is what you get with me, guys. Uh, you know, we’ll see how they go. It’s like the bolts, right? I’m going to use ARP ’cause, yeah, anyway, yeah. So when we put these on my truck, uh, you know, when I want to put them on the engine ’cause I’m going to run on a stand, uh, we’ll see how it goes.

So anyway, as always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, gripes, internet ramblings, put them below. Uh, I’ll have links below to all of this stuff and the Dinox website, uh, for more information. Thanks again for watching, guys, and we will see you next time.