IM 240 test

[stumpeater]

As a followup to T.L.'s thread, it is possible to pass the IM 240 test with aftermarket cats. As I mentioned yesterday in his thread, my Toyota Camry Cats failed so I got some 2.5" off the shelf Euro 4's made by Cateran and it passed this afternoon with no problems. These new cats are physically smaller than my Camry ones. Interestingly another Cobra with a GM donk passed the test this morning according to the test guys. It must be a record!
I am now a very happy chappy
Now to book her in with Bernie for final approval, (I hope).

[sambo]

Well done Peter! How much are those aftermarket cats and what are the dimensions roughly speaking?

[boxhead]

Congrates.

[stumpeater]

Thanks Paul, I was charged $200 each but I'm not sure if that was a special price or not. I was quoted $250 initially. They are oval, the body of the cat is 160mm long, plus approx 60mm tapering down each end, about 90mm deep and 150mm wide including the welded seam.By the way the VE stock Tune supplied by Sideshow did the job.

[stumpeater]

Thanks Boxy, it was certainly a nervous wait in the cafeteria while they did the first run, then I watched the second confirmation run, it was a good feeling.

[sambo]

Thanks mate, I have the same tune although I'm running VZ cats. All the best with the engineering process.

If you need some last minute work done on you car this Saturday you should drop into Kenmer. My car will be ready for it's maiden voyage.

[Modena]

awesome work, it's fantiastic that another one is nearly there....

[sjelby]

So with all the trouble and cost of passing this test, would being designated gas have a benifit to passiong this test.
I was talking to an engine builder tonight and he informed me gas is friendly.Hmmmmm

[Rob. Smith]

Originally Posted by sjelby

So with all the trouble and cost of passing this test, would being designated gas have a benifit to passiong this test.
I was talking to an engine builder tonight and he informed me gas is friendly.Hmmmmm

In happy NSW it has to pass all the tests on gas as if it was petrol. No consessions .

[400TT]

Yes gas is relatively clean.

There are no gas requirements for ADR 37/01. So no test for gas.

So where ADR 37/01 emissions levels are required, you can do anything on gas.

That's in theory anyway.

[DaveW]

probably too late to add anything of relevance, but as an ex auto engineer i thought i'd chime in with some previous knowledge.

In the tune of "oils aint oils sol", cats are the same, the precious metals used on the carrier or substrate are expensive, Palladium, Rhodium or platinum, so manufacturers only use what will get them over the ADR 37/01 emissions averaged over a decreed drive cycle, it is submitted by the manufacturer for compliance, not tested by 3rd party, but evidence is required. this test may not be the same test as conducted with ICV's.

Most of todays engines are considered Lean Burn Technology so the cats require less substrate than say 5 years ago.

My suggestion would be to look at cats from an earlier model known to be high in nasties, like the older Holden and Ford cats, keep away from the imported vehicles as lean burn was implimented OS long before Aus-land. or use a diesel cat without the particle / soot catcher.

e.g VK commodore with the old 5 litre or blue motor 6 or Ford XD anything earlier than this would probably become too restrictive in flow., these cats unfortunately tend to be bigger but they needed to be.
The critical factor in today's cats is surface area of substrate that can come into contact with the gas / flow.

That's about the limit of my understanding

Cheers

[Zedn]

My 5lt VK didnt have cats. I didnt think they started till around the VN.

[Outwest34au]

XD's don;t have cats either, or XE. None of the ones I have ever seen anyway,
I believe EA might be the start point in falcs, but someone might remind me it was XFs.

[sideshow]

there must be alot of undeducated exhaust shops around these days
it took me awhile to get any decent info from them

there are new aftermarket cats available these days
some are euro 4 compliant and i think are 200 ppi
i think ppi is parts per inch or something like that
its basically a figure for the amount of perforations in the cat
the euro 4 this shop were using had say a number of 200
then they said if u really wanted to pass then the very latest cats available where
euro 5 compliant and they have 400 ppi
which is double the holes in the honeycombe when compared to the 200 so the surface area of the material is double so they work much better
he said they use these now for cars that need to pass emissions

another thing u can do is run e85
garanted to pass every test hehehehehe

the problem i think with gas is u might not be allowed to run it on a very new motor
especially if that motor didnt have gas
unless its a heap of **** ford 6 cyl that comes factory with gas but these motors r crap
as the gas side of things always plays up

years ago everyone would run on gas to ge tpassed emissions but im pretty sure the rta stopped that being allowed

[boxhead]

Unleaded was made a requirement with VL Commonwhore and I think late XF, 1986 I think.

[Zedn]

Originally Posted by sideshow

there must be alot of undeducated exhaust shops around these days
it took me awhile to get any decent info from them

there are new aftermarket cats available these days
some are euro 4 compliant and i think are 200 ppi
i think ppi is parts per inch or something like that
its basically a figure for the amount of perforations in the cat
the euro 4 this shop were using had say a number of 200
then they said if u really wanted to pass then the very latest cats available where
euro 5 compliant and they have 400 ppi
which is double the holes in the honeycombe when compared to the 200 so the surface area of the material is double so they work much better
he said they use these now for cars that need to pass emissions

CPSI cells per square inch. I believe most OEM cats are 400 CPSI. Catalytic convertors require heat so need to be mounted as close to the motor as possible. On factory cars they have to trade off between close enough to work but not too close that they dont last. (Can you tell i was just on howstuffworks.com?)

In our application obviously space is an issue, but our cars dont really do that many Ks so durability is less concern.

Sideshow, when you tune a crate motor, do you use the fan output or standalone fan circuit? I wonder if a lot of the problems people have passing are due to the operating temperature being different to the factory setup. This combined with the spacing of the cats and could mean the difference between pass and fail.

If all else fails, piss into your exhaust. Apparently the urea does the trick.

[Krait]

Liam,

When Sideshow supplied the ECU and modified engine harness for my LS2 he asked the number of fans that would be used (1 or 2). In my case he set the ECU to drive 1 fan.

Vaguely remember seeing a screenshot of HP Tuners or similar where the number of fans was selectable

Cheers

[Outwest34au]

Sideshow also did my loom and it has 2 x fan relays.
The temps are adjustable through EFI Live in my case.

[DaveW]

Boxhead, yep your right, Intro of cat converters into australia from January 1986, so must be VL / XF like you said.

Looking up my old Toyota docs, in the 1986 Camry, the cat contained 4.6g of platinum, in 2007 the content was 1.9g of platinum, less than half.

Dave

[kyleb]

I was talking with a guy the other day who is ex EPA and he tells me that there is a number of things that can affect your test. E.g. positioning of cats so they light off, the type of cat used, back pressure in the exhaust, mixture being too rich, he also says a lean mixture is just as detrimental as being too rich due to lean misfire, which a lot of the time is not detectable. Also how the test is conducted with regards to getting the engine hot before the actual test runs, (note the factory running temps for your engine, you will find most run quite hot these days which is for emission control purposes ) and limiting idle time between runs....I am running XF cats behind an LS1 and am just about ready to do the IM240 test ( if I ever get my diff centre back). The guy I was talking to is coming along to ensure they tick all the boxes on their end to give us the best possible chance of passing.. Will keep you posted..