Decat vs Sports Cat

Free Ranj Egg · Post by **Free Ranj Egg** » Thu Apr 07, 2016 1:23 pm

As the title says, which is the one to go for if you are after performance.

I was reading an article which states sports cats are just as good as decats nowadays...

Are there any pros/cons for one over the other besides the obvious (ie.. putting the cat back on for an MOT)

Does anyone here have a sports cat, that previously had a decat that can offer some insight...

Cheers

Ranj

njord · Post by **njord** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 9:11 am

Ive heard that sports cats have been failing through a mot even when new.

Ive been thinking about de cating my v70r but cba with the hassle of changing the cat for mot

Post by **Merlin** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 9:30 am

IMO just a decat on the car is not that worthwhile, particularly for a 5th gen. Yes, deffo, if it is used with a load of other mods and tunable ECU.

Free Ranj Egg · Post by **Free Ranj Egg** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 1:47 pm

@Merlin - so for someone like me who has just started to modify my car a decat is not really worthwhile? The only other mod I have is an AEM V1 and a lightened flywheel.

I am only going to go the bolt on route so the next mods will probably be throttle bodies, Type R intake manifold etc, is it best to wait for a decat. The next mod I am looking to do is the exhaust manifold.

Post by **Merlin** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 2:19 pm

IMO putting a decat on your car right now will make it a bit louder and smellier and that is probably about it. There wont be much of a difference. You wont start to see real gains until you swap to to an OBDI tunable ECU, then every mod will have benefit.

5th gens with the stock ECU don't respond as well to mods as the 4th gen does. Trying to think back to all the modded 5th's I have seen, most if not all have tunable ECU's.

Free Ranj Egg · Post by **Free Ranj Egg** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 3:15 pm

Cheers mate - I might hold off on the Decat then.

So the best thing to do is go tunable OBD1 ecu so every mod that's done can be tuned and gains can be seen?

What sort of tuneable obd1 ecus are available. The ones I know of are Hondata and that's it.

Post by **Merlin** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 3:26 pm

I would hold off. I didn't mod my 5th gen's engine or exhaust, even before I had the race car.

There 3 main OBDI ECU's that the Hondata S300 can be fitted to are the P28, P30 and P72. The P72 is the only ECU that natively has IAB control, this is important if you are using the Ludes intake manifold, although IAB control boards can be added to the other two. You'll need an OBDII -> OBDI conversion harness to fit the ECU to your car.

If you are serious about wanting some extra power I would gather together the bulk of the parts you want to install and fit them in one go and then get it tuned. Tuning is expensive, around £300 a session, so you don't want to be going back and forwards to the tuner

Have a look at this thread from a now ex-member. He is modding his H22a5 http://www.ludegeneration.co.uk/profile ... t2705.html

njord · Post by **njord** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 4:02 pm

You could always remove the iab plates as these obly help with giving a bit extra low down torque

Free Ranj Egg · Post by **Free Ranj Egg** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 4:45 pm

Cheers Merlin - that's quite informative. Will have a look at the thread later.