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I just picked up a few accounts that give me catalytic converters. I don't no to much about them, i do no some are worth good money. Does anyone out there have any knowledge on how to spot a aftermarket catalytic converter? any and all advice is much appreciated...
Thanks..
R.
Very Small >> Light > Currently worth about $4.00 to $5.00 each
Not really worth the $2.50 blade and time to cut them off
But I still do >> Can't bring myself to leave any kind of cat on the car when I drag it across the scale
will usually have an arrow designating which direction the Cat. needs to be installed. Also heavy, newer looking welding located on the exhaust section of the pipe showing that the steel is "younger" than the rest of the car's exhaust system
In addition to the arrow, look for wording (such as a brand name) indicating that it's not OEM.
But the best advice is: get real good at IDing them real quick. Find something with pictures to use as a guide. You can lose a lot of money in no time just by making a couple wrong guesses. Shop owners do not necessarily tell you wrong - they may not realize an aftermarket was put on a few years ago. Just saying it "came off of '89 Cadillac Eldorado" doesn't mean a thing.
In my experience I find a lot of aftermarket ones will have spot welds around the seam.
A shiny heat shield and or a wide flange, an arrow or the words "flow", sloppy welds...
And look online for some buyers who have an online catalog with pictures and prices. Use as a reference.
Ahh Gents.. Yes the "FLOW" may give it away.. but some GM "Round Bread" and "XBody2" converters have FLOW stamped on them- and they are OEM. Reason being- they are so symmetrical that if they got on the parts car backwards in the factory.. car no runny runny right.. So yes Flow is usually a good determination.. but not always!!
I have already told you to send me some pictures lol.
Me send you pics? Or the OP?Quote:
Originally Posted by Focker
the op messaged me a few days ago and i said send pics then makes a post about it some people lol
also, until you know what your looking for the cat's that are part of the exhaust manifold or bolt right to the car can be quite tricky to tell if they are A/M or orig.
I am the same, unless it's a real PITA to cut off I have to take it, although the piping on the aftermarket is usually easy to cut and causes minimal wearQuote:
Originally Posted by JohnC4X4
Aftermarket cats will usually have markings like N/CA, CA/TA or something similar. Many also have a manufacture date stamped on them (02/06, etc.). Some can be tricky to ID until you get very experienced with handling converters. Then, there are some good OEM cats that look like they would be aftermarket. Some round Nissans and Fords have no heat shields and no numbers or markings from the factory, but they are good OEM cats.
If you're ever unsure on a converter, make sure you're set up with your buyer to text pictures to them for a positive ID. Any good converter buyer will provide this service. That way, you won't get stuck paying good money for a $5 aftermarket, and you will also know that you didn't accidentally buy a good cat as junk.
Sparrow-
Long Time no see man. My core buyer will gladly do this for me as well. I appreciate that he does.. and once it is cut off- he already knows what is coming his way!
;)
Funny you say that Sparrow, but yesterday I scrapped a '97 Ford Cougar XR7 with the 4.6L V8 2 pre and one 3 way cat, they all had the date stamped 06 04 97, thought that was cool. Still got $110 for them. Also they were pretty hard to cut, double wall pipe.Quote:
Originally Posted by SparrowMetals
Don't get me wrong I respect your opinion and enjoy your posts, but I am sure they were OEM.
I'm glad you mentioned that, Dave. Yes, many OEM Ford cats are stamped with a manufacture date. These will have the full date like yours did, as opposed to just a month and year like some aftermarkets do. They also have a small Ford logo on them near the date, which is a dead giveaway that they're good ones. I've seen dates on some other OEM cats as well- Volkswagen, Audi and Saab that I can think of.
You can usually spot a Ford cat from a mile away. They just have that very distinctive heat shield style.
thanks for all the advice.. i will post some photos later today.
The first photo as you can see has brass trim so I'm going to say that's the real deal, other two not sure.. thanks again for all the help
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...psa5a3ad60.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps4faf86ae.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...psffbfb7ed.jpg
Left to right:
Aftermarket
OEM (Notice how much heavier this one is than the other two just by picking it up)
Aftermarket
you have 2 aftermarkets and what was the middle one off of and do u have a pic of the other side
Not sure where it's off of, only pic i have.. if you look close you could see a logo. the mid one is a lot heavy, going to say it's worth 140
Small spot welds on the outer 2, aftermarket, the one in the middle I can make out Alfa Romeo. I've never saw that one. Pretty rare this way.
Dave thanks for the info, what do they consider Alfa Romeo cat, Foreign Pre-Cat? wish i knew what year and model it came off of as i never see this type of car where I'm from