Circular race-cat v.s. ground clearance?

[#84]

Hi,

I have been in touch with Ecocat, maybe world leader in metallic substrates - and supplier to Alfa Romeo :). They have supplied the original parallell catalysts, under the previous name Kemira Metalcat, and today they have a range of racing catalysts as can be seen in the attached catalogue. The smallest one, 112 mm diameter, have I been recommended and it is no problem to fit it since one of the original catalysts are 7x13 in cross section.

So, I would gain 1 cm on each side, but I would loose 3-4 cm in ground clearance, therefore I wonder if anyone in this forum have fitted a circular catalyst of similar size and if that has casued a lot of problems or not? I am a bit worried since ground clearance isn't really my car's best discipline.

[Steve Webb]

Hi, I don't have a circular Kat myself, but from the last time I was under the car, I'm failry sure that the KAts weren't the lowest part of the exhaust system, and certainly not the lowest thing under the car, so I don't think you would lose any ground clearance.

[#84]

Ok, I have to check then when I have the car on the ground again. I had some damage on the heat shields of the current catalysts, so even if they are not the lowest part, they are not really safe.