Lights Out For Solo Cats

[Morfious]

Wondering how loud this will be with the Street Race exhaust system. I love the sound of my car now, but much louder and it will take some of the fun out of the ride. Unless I save my pennies for the audio system upgrade. Also how difficult is installation? Something that could be accomplished in the driveway, or do you need to jack up the engine/tranny to install the cat?

[lil goat]

I should have the instructions soon, I think the hard part is getting the old cat out. They recommend you move the O2 sensor bung back so a little welding. I will no more by Friday it goes in on Thursday, I am concerned about noise as well.

[spiky3480]

Originally Posted by lil goat I should have the instructions soon, I think the hard part is getting the old cat out. They recommend you move the O2 sensor bung back so a little welding. I will no more by Friday it goes in on Thursday, I am concerned about noise as well.

I was told by Jeff from SOLO that it does not raise the volume much...and some have said it is very close to OEM quiet. I think that cat has a little more packing in it than other high-flow cats, as these were specially made.

[Deepbluegxp]

I talked to Jeff, waiting for mine to come in, you have to take out a motor mount and jack up the right side of the engine about an 1 1/2 inches to be able to change out the CAT. I've done simular proceedure when I had to change the timing belt on my son's dodge spirit. (in my garage)

[lil goat]

I just got the instructions, Deep is correct. You also have to move the exhaust bung for the O2 sensor back, drill a hole in exhaust and weld in new bung.

Instructions for O2 sensor

1) Take the front pipe right off the car.
2) Draw a line directly backwards from the center of the O2 bung. This line is a guide that you will measure on.
3) Measure back along this line exactly 2 inches from the center (middle of the O2 hole) of the stock O2 bung.
Mark the 2 inch point.
4) With a flexible measuring tape measure 1.25 or 1 ¼ inches down towards the passenger side of the pipe.
5) This is the center of the new O2 bung. Drill your hole and weld it in here.
6) Plug the front O2 hole with the provided plug.
7) Use the extender on the new rear O2 bung.
8) Install the front pipe and then thread the O2 sensor into the extender.
9) You’re done….


Install instructions:

1) Take off cat heat shield. 10ml bolts x 3.
2) Take out O2 sensor that goes into body of cat. 7/8 or 22ml wrench.
3) Undo the 4 bolts that hold the cat to the back of the turbo. 15ml x 4.
4) Take off two bolts from pipe flange to cat. 15ml x 2.
5) Take off two bolts from bottom cat flange to hanger bracket. 13ml x 2.
6) To get more removal room for the cat, take off bottom hanger bracket. 13ml x 2.
7) Cat is now loose but still can't come out.
8) Remove 15ml bolt from passenger side bottom motor mount.
9) Lift engine (actually tilt engine) up 1 to 1 ½ inches. This gives you enough room to rotate and manipulate the cat out from the bottom.
10) Reverse process to install new cat.

Some Cat Install Tips:

 Make sure the stock cat has cooled down all the way before you start removal. Being cool will not only save your skin it will help you not to break a stud.
 The upper gasket will only fit one way. GM’s bolt pattern is irregular and therefore will only fit properly one way.
 Professional installation of the catalytic converter is recommended.
 There is an O2 extender included with your kit. This O2 extender is to be placed in the front pipe at the rear O2 port. This takes the O2 sensor out of the direct stream of the exhaust. Repositioning this oxygen sensor to the rear O2 port and extending it will keep your engine light off.

[SmokinSolstice]

Originally Posted by spiky3480 I was told by Jeff from SOLO that it does not raise the volume much...and some have said it is very close to OEM quiet. I think that cat has a little more packing in it than other high-flow cats, as these were specially made.

I was told that same thing about their headers which is why I want the headers. I would think the cat would make some noise from what I heard from someone else.

[spiky3480]

What kind of noise is that? These are a new cat...the older ones made more noise because they were filled with less material, and a different material.

[SmokinSolstice]

Originally Posted by spiky3480 What kind of noise is that? These are a new cat...the older ones made more noise because they were filled with less material, and a different material.

No no no! I understand that and was hoping so too. That is why I like solo so much. Just a member on here as both the headers and cat from solo and he said the cat did make more noise but less than the competition, if that makes sense. This is why I am going to stick with solo...more performance and less noise. I hope the free flow cat is like OEM like stated!

[GOINGSOLO]

Hi to all. Thanks for such a great response to the cats!! A few customers have told me that the cats aren't overly noisy. In my estimation it changed the exhaust note to a deeper sound and increased the volume about 15% or so. I know that they are a whole lot quieter than the 3" cats that we originally used. Don't judge the sound by the initial start up. Just like the Street Race kit the initial start up is the worst sound that it makes. Within 2 minutes the car adjusts itself and becomes smooth. It becomes even smoother during the first week or so. We have had several cats go out the last few days (thanks) and we are looking forward to your feedback on sound and performance. Thanks Lil Goat for putting the instructions up. One thing I should add to the instructions:
Top Gasket - 4 hole to the turbo
1) The edges are extremely sharp. Please be careful.
2) There is an inner ring to this metal gasket for a better seal.
3) Tighten to 40 - 43 foot pounds of torque.
4) Because of this inner ring there appears to be a small gap between the turbo flange and the cat flange. This is proper and normal.
Thanks.

[spiky3480]

Jeff,
Are all of those instructions included in the box that you shipped to my installer?

[lil goat]

Yes they are in the box but in braille.

[GOINGSOLO]

Hi Spiky. The install instructions are not in the box, sorry. Hopefully they have an e-mail and you could forward the ones I sent you. If you need me to send to them just let me know. BTW I sent Norm some goods yesterday in regards to the project he's doing for you. I think it's getting close. Should be stunning. Thanks.

[spiky3480]

Originally Posted by GOINGSOLO Hi Spiky. The install instructions are not in the box, sorry. Hopefully they have an e-mail and you could forward the ones I sent you. If you need me to send to them just let me know. BTW I sent Norm some goods yesterday in regards to the project he's doing for you. I think it's getting close. Should be stunning. Thanks.

Awesome...he posted some pics in another thread and it looks great! I have the directions and I printed them out...I will leave it with my installers. Thanks so much.

[Go-N Def]

I ordered mine the other night along with the Street Race exhaust. Thanks, Jeff, for working with me on it.

They are being shipped to Deepbluegxp's house, pre-welded. It should be a pretty simple install (I hope) on the SMIB Mod Meet on the 29th...

[lil goat]

If you go on the run before you guys do the install you will have a very hard time the system will be really hot. Not the best idea doing it at the meet. I think you need at least 4 hours cooling time. I dropped mine off a day in advance so it would be cool.