That's not how I meant to come across at all. I did at the time think it was legal in my state. once he showed it was not. I explained how down here it is common practice, even by law enfocment officers, which is why I thought it was OK. However I did also explain how I'm not going to worry about it, and I'm certainly not running out to put them back on. If I get pulled over by a cop that actually know his head from his butt, and I do get a ticket then I will accept it, pay it and go about my day.
it's not the police you need to worry about. believe it or not, half of them don't know the majority of the laws/regs that they try to enforce. this is not meant to be derogatory towards police, it just is what it is.
it's the epa you need to worry about. sooner or later, the state will start doing some form of checks. be it mobile inspection stations, roadside sniffers(and yes, these can and will be able to tell that there is no cat just by how much of which gases your car is producing), or even state police forming a special unit, such as they have for commercial vehicles here in nj.
tigger is correct too........although there was a day that i did all of that stupid stuff, i learned better, not by getting caught(never did), but rather by learning how and why a car runs. by learning how a computer controls the various engine management systems, and why it does things that it does. this is why people that i used to call for help all the time now call me.
i really wasn't trying to "rail" on ya, and although it's well documented on this very bbs how much i loath audis, that is still a beautiful car. it would totally suck to see such a beauty get impounded for something as stupid as a missing catalytic converter.
incidentally, i just put a new cat on a passat 1.8 today. it only has 98k on it, and the catalyst was seriously broken apart and mostly missing inside.
i'm working on a cylinder head right now on an 03 a4 quattro. it had a wiped out exhaust cam, the woodruff key, which is integral to the cam drive gear on this setup was about to break off, and about half the valves were bent from the broken timing belt. i have front end of this car apart in order to get at the timing belt. this one only has 118k miles on it. this is the first one of these i've done....and it will be the last. i truly believe german engineers are sadists. there can be no other answer for the stuff they do.
i got another question for ya now........you don't have a "CEL" shining in your face all the time from the removal of the cat(s)? the obd2 system has upstream and downstream o2's. it should be tripping codes like mad without cats.
and in all seriousness, i'd be feel fairly safe to say that if you logged your mileage for the next 3 months, and checked your 1/4 mile times, top speed etc., then installed the factory performance cat, you'd see no decrease in performance, and most likely an increase in mileage, as now the computers will control the systems much better.
