Hi guys,
I got a series 2 rx8 with 21k km on the clock. I am planning to gut the oem cat. I have read and I know the outcome of going catless..
1) bad smell
2) will fail eco test
3) loud sound
4) check engine light

I am totally cool with the first three.. But the check engine light bothers me.. I wanna know whether there are any way around this... To gut the cat and avoid the cel.
If someone can shed some light on stuff like o2 sensor mini cat will be a great help...
Thanks in advance guys.

 

don't gut the cat they are worth some $ used
also did you try searching? try looking in this thread for S2 8's https://www.rx8club.com/series-ii-en...nstall-241584/

 

yeap, don't gut it if it's good. You will get no noticeable benefit from gutting a good cat. where are you located? The only way to really hide the CEL for good is a flash tuner.

 

Don't gut the cat if it is healthy. A good used one with low miles has resale value. Our cat is basically a high-flow unit that does not create much restriction in the exhaust stream. You get almost no HP gains by gutting it, and what you do get happens around 7,500 RPM. How much of your driving is way up in that range? Probably about 2%. Not worth the trade-offs.

The only way to get around the CEL on an S2, short of dumb luck, is to buy MazdaEdit and turn it off. The ECU is too smart to fall for any tricks.

If I was not tracking my car 12 times per year, I would leave my cat on. Because I track my car frequently, I have a BHR resonated midpipe, but I hate the smell and the CEL. It gets... [wait for it] exhausting.

 

it gets EXHAUSTING lol, sell the cat, get a midpipe. If that is what you are going to do anyways.

 

I fully agree with you...

How can i check whether my cat is clogged/partially clogged ?
It is not glowing red around the O2 sensor after a hard drive and in idle the cat temp stays around 1200*F

 

I have the BHR resonated midpipe(in case you can't see that in my sig).

1) Honestly the smell is nothing, only time its really noticeable is at a stop(Disclaimer: I drove an old Merc 300D Turbodiesel for many years and that thing smelled. I was 'rolling coal' way before it was a 'thing', not that I did so purposely, just would clean out the turbo.)
2) Only sniffer tests(not all regions do this) if you use something like a Mazdaedit to block the CEL.
3) Even with the BHR, the exhaust note isn't really that loud. I was almost disappointed at how little noise I gained.
4) Mazdaedit

 

Ok, your cat isn't bad and its at really low millage. Sell it for no less than $500. Use $50 of that money to buy a used gutted OEM pipe and install that. Use $400 of that money to buy Mazdaedit and Tactrix.

Boom, at least $50 profit, you're catless, have the ability to tune, and have no CELs.