My 1990 XJS V12 still has its original catalytic converters and they will not pass emissions. I have already purchased new ones and now am in the process of removing the old ones.

It was easy enough to remove the nuts from the down pipes but it does not look like there is enough room for the pipes to drop down. I can only move them a short amount before they hit the steering rack.

Is it necessary to drop the steering rack to get enough clearance for the down pipes? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Mark

 

Well, I spent the day working on the exhaust system and I can report that it is not necessary to drop the rack to get the down pipes out of the car.

The trick is to remove the heat shields and turn the steering to the left and right as needed to provide enough clearance for the pipes to be wiggled out.

I was able to install the new cats on the passenger side today. Tomorrow I will work on the drivers side.

As I stated in my previous post, the '90 still had its original cats. Once they were off I could inspect their condition.

The picture below shows the passenger side;



You can see that the honeycomb from the rear pipe was completely missing. Using my video bore scope I was able to look down to the first cat and see that much of it was blocked by the missing honeycomb.

The drivers side honeycomb was intact the but shaking the cats produced a rattling sound like a maraca. Pieces of the catalyst fell out of the pipe.

Its no wonder the car would not pass emissions. Once the new cats are installed I expect an improvement in performance and hopefully a pass on the emission test.

I will update this thread once I have more to report.

Mark

 

where did you find the new cats ?

 

I bought them from RockAuto.com. They have both the front and rear cats for the HE XJS's.

Mark