What to do - Catalytic Converter Core Given Up:

Hi All, Sorry if this is a commonly asked question. I am fairly new to the Porsche brand in terms of ownership so am still learning where the best places are to source parts and what can and can't done. Just had my car ( 2006 Cayman S ) up on the ramps and asides from some heat shielding that needed sorting, the passenger side Catalytic Converter's core is breaking down and rattling around in it's casing like a bag of spanners. It's the cat directly after the manifold. This leaves me with a query on what to do really. I guess I have to keep the cats in there as they are the ones with the lambda sensors and need to be there for the emissions. If I am right about what I am led to believe, the secondary cats can be deleted here in the UK without causing the car to fail the MOT (please correct me if I am wrong). Just my luck it's not one of those that's failed! I see a most of the sports systems are cat back (leaving my broken cat in place) so won't resolve the issue for me. I'd be ever so grateful if someone could help suggest my route to getting this resolved in terms of sourcing new parts. After market sports cats perhaps? I was considering replacing the exhaust system, just not yet since I haven't had the car long. Should I be looking for 'manifolds' or cats? I can see that you can buy Headers that delete the cats as shown here: http://www.design911.co.uk/fu/prod1...fold---Header-with-Catalyst-Bypass-for-Porsche-Boxster-987--Cayman---DesignTek/ But won't these make the car fail the emissions tests? Regards, Jonathan.

There should b guys on the forum who have old OEM headers laying around the garage. I'd see if you can find a PAIR..

You are lucky to have enough options for your 987.1 that won't cost an arm and a leg. I would consider getting this: Porsche 987.1 Gen 1 Cayman & Boxster Exhaust System including Manifolds & Cats | eBay No failed emissions, complete exhaust with lots of power and at the price of what just a muffler setup would be for a 987.2 :/.

You could buy a replacement from Porsche or from the sources like ebay etc. However, if you pull your factory manifold/cat unit off and find that it is bad I would suggest replacing with aftermarket headers which you can get with or without cats. If you get headers without cats I don't think euro ecu's complain but if it does then you can get an ecu tune to turn the irksome dash light off and give more power. Plenty of reading about it on this site.

I think I am going to follow up with Carnewal. I've dropped him an email and am awaiting a response. I guess it will mean the car is off the road for a bit but then it will have a set of what are effectively sports cats on it. I'd love to run without cats but then we enter into the arena of CEL, MOT and legality issues. Looking on eBay, we are back at the age old issue where some components that look 'shiny' are just that and probably poorly welded and not worth putting on the car. I worry about second hand cats since I will have no comeback and will never be fully certain of what I am buying. I always seem to be the guy that ends up with the burden. In terms of running catless Manifolds, as far as I can see it, this will get rid of the main catalysts benefits and put the emissions above what is legal for the car. I get the impression the other two, back cats, are only there for when the car is first started prior to the main cats coming up to temp., to help further reduce emissions and some speculate to further hinder the performance of the engine; preventing it coming into 911 territory :crazy:. Needless to say, deleting the cats will probably mean repositioning of the lambdas, if the back cats do do anything, or having the ECU reconfigured. All these things will undoubtedly get messy and cost money! At least keeping the fitment standard, but with less calls, I can then look forward to the slight added power, fitting a nice cat back system, without the back cats on, in future and if I really want to, then purchasing the catless manifolds simply for track use. If anyone has any other ideas, I am still open to them but this seems the most sensible route at present!

I think it's a good choice going with Carnewal, keeps things OEM and fitment will be perfect. Getting catless headers will not affect emissions if you keep the secondaries in the mufflers but since, as you already concluded yourself, the monitoring is done on the primaries you will get CELs. You will need a software tune to run like that which is more cost than reward IMO. Removing the secondaries is the best way to free up power, improve the sound/note as well as keeping with in emission specs and not triggering CELs (i.e no tune needed).

Perhaps you could have the broken exhaust manifold replaced under an emission control warranty (if it applies in your case.)

That's a good thought but here in the UK, other than the age/mileage limited warranties we don't have anything like that I don't think. The other factor is that at this point, the cat is completely functional. It's throwing no errors, it's just the core is loose.

I'd suggest calling a few P-car race shops in your area; they probably have take-off manifolds for sale at a reasonable cost. This seems like the simplest course of action to me.

Hi Croc'ed. what are P-car race shops? Not sure we have them in the UK?

I think Croc'ed is referring to tuning establishments in which case, places like Autofarm, Parr and Nine Excellence here in the UK.

Yes, that was my intention.

I had the same problem 2 weeks ago and after asking for suggestions and sharing a few of my own 3 people on this forum offered to sell me their unused cats/manifold since they had went with race exhaust. I bought one pair (driver and passenger side since the price was right although I just needed passenger so bank 1 here in the states) at a very good price compared to new part from dealer. I installed it myself and I am back on the road. Thanks to the community here at Planet-9. Here was my thread .

Very happy today. Popped the car up on the ramp and had another look. One of the lambda sensors was loose. Done it back up and the issue is now resolved! Thank heavens for that. :hilarious: Dont know how the original mechanic missed that but ho-hum!