always faster

Well i ve just had my new Kooks Green cats welded on my ARH X-pipe.

After the install(still on 4 jackstand at around2.5 feet in the air) i start the car to see if everything was ok.After 4-5 minutes the fuel smell that my car had(catless with a good cam) did stopped and i was really happy.
I let it idle for maybe 10 minutes then look under the car...the first 1/3 of both cats where glowing red .Stopped the car and kept my fire extinguisher close...

Is it normal or do i got a problem ???

By the way, before the cats install i never had any problem with my exhaust system(meaning no red color anywhere).Even when the Kooks cats turn red today, the rest of my system wasnt red at all (headers,x-pipe before and after cats,TI axle back).

Thanks
Eric

racebum

glowing cats at idle is either retarded timing or you're too rich at idle. i would suspect the later first. you also may have already smoked the cats. it doesn't take a lot to melt the honeycomb if you're rich

martysauto

Your cam is probably too large for cats. It's the raw fuel burning off from the cams overlap. Without running primary O2's and having stoichiometric air fuel ratio as a target. The cats won't survive.
I run a much smaller tsp 228r114 cam in my ls6 and the tune is MAF based. The O2's will not read correctly at idle and low rpm's. That's why it's always in open loop. Unless you want to change the cam, you will have to remove the cats. My car was tuned by Cartek.
Did you ask LG about this?
I'm sure some others will post. Just my $.02

always faster

Maybe im running to rich at idle.I did installed the cats to cut the gas smell .They where not red for the first 5 mins and only the 1/3 of the cats where red after another 5 mins so hoping that they are good.These cats are good but freaking expensive...

For the basic info, i got a 383ci with a custom grind 240/244 (.62x/.62x lift) @ 113 LSA on EXR lobe.

So it would be impossible to make this cam work with some good cats ??? I mean i a earlier thread i was thinking about changing y cam or just putting some cats.A lot of member agreed that they would just slap some cats and call it a day...so why now my cam would be the problem ???
Am i the only one with a good size cam that want to run some cats...Well now im depressed

always faster

Email has been sent to kooks to have there opinion too .

HardcoreABN

sounds like a 100% tune issue....the tuner didn't lean it out enough at idle is what I would be looking at

Bill Curlee

Im running a 235/235, 610 lift at 114+4 cam and RANDOM TECH Cats. Have been since 2004. NO ISSUES.

Its all in the tune! Yours doesnt sound right.

martysauto

But, do your cats work? Do they clean up the exhaust? I'm not trying to be a wise guy, but I would think not. I see high quality factory cats fail after years behind stock engines that run much cleaner than high compression big overlap cam engines.
Maybe a good tuner will post.

racebum

if his haven't melted that's really good for a large cam

oem cats are typically better quality than aftermarket by a long shot

there are really two things, like a mentioned before, and both = unburned fuel going out the exhaust

1st is retarded timing

2nd is being too rich

either one will nuke your cats sooner or later. trust me, i've done it. the honeycomb melts together

you either need to learn how to tune your own car or find a really good tuner. i know there are a few on the forum.

Bill Curlee

Marty

YES,, they worked. Maybe not as good as an OEM cam on a stock tune,, but I did not have the NO CAT SMELL.

The CATS have been installed for about 20,000 miles and I can tell that they are less efficient than when they were new. My O2 sensors are getting weak and I need to change them.

When I had the exhaust system off about a year ago the CAT matrix looked good.

Bill

always faster

Heres the answer from KOOKS:

''Hey Eric,
The car s not use to seeing cats, so it may be running a little rich at idle. That should be fine.''

Arun Ahuja did my tune when i didnt have cats.
He will look at my tune and see whats the best to do .

Will update later when the correction will be made

always faster

Small update and question since im unable to reach Arun for the moment .

I did load a new updated tune in the car:

Idle rpm from 900 to 950
Idle timing +6 from what i ad.I dont have the number because i dont have hptuner,my friend got one and flash my pcm for me so without it i can read the tune.

The cats are not glowing red anymore and they still cut the fuel smell after a 2-3 mins warm up time so perfectly working but...

After 10 mins they are still getting slightly red,not totally but you can see that they are turning red a little bit.

Could i just add more timing or is it useless ???

Thanks
Eric

Russ K

What is your idle spark timing? Also with that size of camshaft, I would delay the EOIT by 25*

Russ Kemp

always faster

Sorry for the delay, still waiting for the idle spark timing info since i dont have hptuner.

Cam info:
Duration: 240/244
Lift: 62X"/62X"
LSA: 113
Type: XER
Idle rpm: 950

What is EOIT ???

Thanks has soon has i get the idle spark timing i will post it.
Eric

always faster

Idle spark timing is at 30 degree.