I recently got and installed a new catalytic converter for my 08 Fit with manual transmission. Since I'm in California, I had to get a Caliornia legal CAT, which was a Walker 82893. It is listed as a direct fit and fit into place nicely.

I had some trouble putting the new CAT on so I removed the exhaust manifold to make things a bit easier. I put 3 new gaskets, engine to manifold, manifold to CAT, CAT to exhaust since those are the 3 areas I touched.

After everything was put back to place, I went for a test drive and noticed right away that the car has a slightly louder and deeper sounding idle. The acceleration also made the sound deeper and louder until about 25 mph, which became unnoticeable.

After the car was all warmed up, idling it at the stop light, I noticed that there is a lot of rattling going on. The coins I have in my driver side door handle was rattling and can be felt on the steering wheel.

I feel like I secured all the bolts properly (10 of them) and installed everything back as it was. Can replacing the CAT really cause rattling issues?

 

Oh my. Those wrinkle bends hurts my eyes! Look at those sloppy welds too!

Sorry can't help on the rattling but maybe those bends aren't helping the exhaust flow. Maybe that's why it's noisier?

 

Yeah, sloppy jobs but it was a semi-direct fit. I could live with it being slightly louder since it is a different CAT. Just wondering what can cause rattling from touching the exhaust manifold and CAT. Odd....

 

Solved the issue by reinstalling the original CAT back in place. It seems like the bend in the pipe is not accurate to OEM standards and was hitting up against a black bar (sway bar?). Picture shows where the pipe was hitting the sway bar.

Anyways, the Walker 82893 is not a direct fit and the seller accepted the return for a full refund. Anybody here know a good part number that will work? Direct fit would be preferred rathering than having to weld a new CAT.

Thanks!

 

You'll need to look up/SEARCH for California-approved parts, but generically, I've had the best luck with Magnaflow exhaust parts.


Walker & Flowmaster, not so much.

 

Drive it to Neveda, have one welded on, then drive back.