So I bought an MSM a few weeks ago.

It is equipped with a full FM exhaust and downpipe. I am taking it to the dyno to retune and get a sense of the general potential of this setup but I have no idea about the health of the ceramic core cat on the downpipe. I purchased an ebay catless downpipe and a metal spun core Magnaflow cat because they were both really cheap with the intention of installing the cat and swapping downpipes, but if there is only a negligible difference in power/spool I may forego the work since due to some of the logistics of bringing parts to swap at the dyno shop, I would have to build a jig to install the cat beforehand to maintain fitment of the pipe when the swap occurs.

Is it worth my time to install said higher quality performance cat in place of the FM piece?

 

probably not. and definitely not on your setup

 

Not on that turbo.

That exhaust has been on the car since 2006. If it was going to fail, it would have done so already. :P

And if you're going to swap, i wouldn't put a cat back on it, unless you need it in your state.

 

Fair enough. I take it you have no interest in that pm I sent?

I wouldn't, if it weren't for the terrible awful boost creep I would get....

 

lol the volvo?

nah. thanks tho

 

Then i'd just not change it at all while you still have this turbo.

 

I'm going to dissent and advise you to at least check the cat if you've been running on a potentially rich non-OEM tune. When I pulled the HP Magnaflow ceramic cat on my Red Car, it was melted. Test pipe going in.

 

It's not that rich.

 

probably a good idea - it takes all of like 4 minutes to do that anyway

 

It is at the beck of the downpipe, so checking the leading side is not possible without cutting it out. At that point I would replace it anyway since I was in there already...