I assume it means the catalytic converter is in "back" of something. But, why is that important? My expectation is that it is something to do with increasing the flow. A quick, clear description would be appreciated.

Thanks...

 

I will try to answer this as best I can, but I'm no expert (so take it with a grain of salt).

A lot of cars (mostly Japanese) require a certain amount of back pressure to properly operate. If you don't maintain that back pressure, you can actually LOSE horsepower.

I had a 3000GT in the early 90's and jacked with it too much. I had the remove a lot from the exhaust system. It totally killed the performance.

I'm just assuming that a cat back system has to do something with a system with back pressure.

Again, I may be TOTALLY WRONG.....this is just a stab in the dark.

 

A Cat-back exhaust (Cat is short for Catalytic converter) means that the exhaust system connects to the catalytic converters and runs all the way to the back of the car. Most exhaust systems are cat-backs since it is illegal to remove your catalytic converters on a street driven car because of pollution.

 

Its when the neighbors cat starts hissing and scratching at you, you yell "CAT BACK!" and it backs away!!!




Actually, it means from the catalytic converter back (exhaust)...so if an exhaust is cat-back, it replaces all piping from the Catalytic converter back to the tips...


Right? hahaha

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ what he said. . .lol.

 

So basically.......I was WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY OFF!!!

 

In addition, most of the single pipe exhaust systems for our car are actually Y-pipe back because you get a midpipe and muffler section. All true duals sold for our car are true cat-backs.

 

What is the performance advantage of an aftermarket Y-pipe vs. a dual exhast ( cat-back) system on a G35 Sedan?