Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Catalytic converter removal

No welding! This is a very easy job. The exhaust comes off in 20 mins or so, and I'd remove the whole thing as there is some hammering involved to chisel the cat material out of their chambers. You could remove the headers and leave the rear pipes on, but I ran into a little difficulty separating the two pipe sections at the joint rear of the cats as there is some type of sealant in there that acts like a glue. So I'd pull the whole system off the car to spare it from bumps and scratches. Once separated, it's smooth sailing.

Oh and BTW, someone mentioned the mufflers are straight through like cherry bombs. They aren't straight through, they have baffles inside.

Greetings!

I am thinking about the CAT surgery on my M3W. There was mention about some sort of glue in the joint between the header and the muffler. What method was uses to separate the two parts?

Also, I went ahead and took a photo of the baffle(s)

http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac352/emiguy/M3Wbaffle_zps2b54dba8.jpg

Interesting to see it.

BTW, I love how you have colour coded your Spaniel to match the seats. That shows real commitment.

And, welcome to the forum.

Great looking King Charles!

Thanks! I got the car to match the pooch!

Makes me think of one of my friends who took his yellow labrador down to the BMW dealer when he was ordering a new car and told the salesman he'd need carpet which matched the dog.

I tapped around the joint with a small ball peen hammer and gently opened up the joint just enough to break the seal (not much is needed) with a small flat head screw driver and a lot of finesse. After that, it was a matter of wiggling the two pieces back and forth for a minute while pulling them in opposite directions. It will give way, it's not that much sealant. Also, I didn't feel the need to re-seal the joint when I put it back together. It doesn't leak at all after it's re clamped, but I guess that's a matter of personal preference.

We just did my father in laws M3W the other night.

Thanks for the advice!

My CAT operation went well. (just a couple of broken rubber mounts)

Initial observation: moderate increase in volume and bit more of a resonate bass note.

There seems to be no loss in power, but it sounds like it has more!

.... no wonder the engine feels restricted!

As we've read, a big V-Twin likes a very free-flowing exhaust and the stock items are anything but unfortunately. Perfectly reasonable of course, given the legislation that MMC have to dance around, but not best for performance. There are actually more than one of these baffles in each pipe on the 'current' model (mine's a June 13 and I can see two by looking up the pipe), so the chances of anything flowing freely along the length is out of the question.

I met a chap at the Autosport show who had one of the very first customer cars and he unfortunately suffered exhaust fractures on both original pipes (the thin-walled ones I assume). They were pretty loud and the performance was fab, he said, but since fitting the current spec replacements, it's all gone comparatively 'slow and quiet'. I don't think we will need to look very far to find out how to pick up those lost 35 dobbins in my view.....

That Stage 1 setup can't come fast enough