Catalytic Converter rebuild advice

[Gator]

Folks,

I've been nursing the cats on my baby (2000 996 w/Trip and 105k miles) for the six months or so. I've been getting errors PO0420 and PO430 more and more regularly over this period. It's pretty much to the point now where I get them as soon as the car has been driven enough to fail the self-testing. Sadly there have been no other errors along with these (that might point to a less expensive fix). I have a PSTII, so I've been able to really monitor things.

Do, I'm looking at replacing the Cats. As I am outside the extended warranty window, my first move was to check pricing on the OEM Cats. Naturally, I am agast at the price of these critters. And I need two of them....

During my research, I came across a company based out of Chicago, SmithCat. They rebuild Cats. I have spoken with them at length. The process is: you send them your Cats, they cut them open, clean them in a dip, stick in a new cartridge, weld it back up (using stainless weld), and test it. 2 year warranty. $519 for each Cat.

My question: anyone heard of these folks, have experience with them?

The price seems reasonable, so this isn't a price question. Simply put: I am seeking any references on these folks.

Here is their site:

http://www.smithcat.com/index.htm

Thanks,

Glenn

[Cloudsurfer]

Given how cheaply you can find low mileage cats from dismantled cars, that strikes me as a much simpler option. Call Oklahoma Foreign and talk to Gary.

[Gator]

Yeah, I did that last night. $350 for the pair. Warrantied not to throw the errors. So, I pulled the trigger. We'll see. Thx, GA

[PAULSPEED]

Good job. I would also would have checked around local race

shops. I know for a fact that TRG Racing has a bunch of

stock 997 cats sitting on a pallet on a rack.

Paul

[Gator]

I got the Cats in from Oklahoma Foreign on Friday. Was too busy this weekend but was able to put them in today. After extensive test drives a review of my PSTII outputs indicate that Readiness status is perfect and no errors in evidence. I'll continue to monitor. A couple of notes:

1. Oklahoma sent me a very nice looking set of Cats. Very clean. Even the bracket and cuffs were included but, most importantly, the studs facing the headers were in great shape. All I needed to do was pop over to my local auto shop and purchase new flange nuts (M8 x 1.25) and was good to go. (btw, even if the nuts were included, I would have replaced them.) all in all, I'm very pleased with my purchase from Oklahoma.

2. I found the job to be very straightforward. I believe you'll find it to be a 2-3 hour leasurely job. I didn't bother to put the car on my lift. Nor even raise it with a jack. I had great access to the Cats by removing the bumper and heat shield panels on the rear and sides. You'll also need to remove the air filter cannister so you can disconnect the sensor cables.

btw, I removed the Cats without removing the mufflers but this made the nuts on the Cat/header connection flange a little trickly to access. I found that using a 6 point socket for a sure grip, a u-joint to get the right angle, and appropriate sized extensions did the trick.

The one tool I found very handy was a crowfoot type socket that I had picked up in anticipation of just replacing the sensors from my local Snap on tool man. Possibly I could have done the job without it but it made loosening the sensors very easy. The socket type/part number is SWR2.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?search=true&item_ID=74621&PartNo=SWR2&group_id=1448&supersede=&store=snapon-store&tool=all

GA