Cat / De-Cat X reg ford focus......

[miniblob]

Right - problems with this 'cheap' run around for the mrs are pointing at a blocked cat, (massively down on power and doesn't rev past 4k now!), so assuming that checks out to be the case, I'm wondering about a de-cat!?!?!?

Its an X reg (year 2000), 2.0 16v - I'm not looking for performance gains as such, just back to standard performance would be nice!!!
I've seen cheap de-cat pipes on ebay and I've seen expensive cats on ebay, basically!!!

Questions are:
Is it legal to de-cat a 2000 petrol car - i.e. will it pass an MOT???
Will I need to do anything else/other mods if I delete the cat, or will it just run as it should???

Any answers/opinions/ideas/suggestions are welcome!!!

[capri_rob]

Thought a cat for a run of the mill car was less than £100 from ECP or GSF or suchlike ? - not really a fortune to get it running right - surely you'd have to fooook around with it to get it to run right without a cat in place ?

[harry_p]

Anything after 1992 needs a cat, it will fail an mot if the cat is removed and it will also fail the emissions test.

[miniblob]

I thought that might be the case - I didn't think this car was early enough!!!

I've always assumed/heard that cats are hideously expensive and a quick search the other day brought one up at £250 - however, having just looked - Euro's do one for less than £60!!!

Now all I've got to do is find the time to prove that's the problem and find somewhere better than euros to buy one from!!!
(My last two orders, they sent me the wrong parts, wasted several days plus the time waiting for the funds to be refunded to my account - vowed never to use them again so bought from CP4L who turn out to be the same company and guess what... yep... wasted another week of my life waiting for the part, then waiting for the refund - and they short changed me!!!!)

Cheers guys!!!

[pacerpete]

A car in good running order with a correctly functioning lambda sensor will often pass an emission test WITHOUT a cat. Alas, a car without a cat will fail because it is obviously missing so decat pipes are not really the answer.
I have on many occasions stuck a jack handle into a foooked cat and knocked the core out. The turd runs sweet and looks standard, job jobbed Some cars have O2 sensors after the cat as well as in front, in this instance, removing the cat can cause check engine light issues so may not be an ideal 'fix'

[bss325i]

I have decatted* a 2.0 mk1 focus with no issues.

*as pete says, gut the internals and refit.

[alpina123]

Don't put a pattern cat on they are shite