Hello everyone,
Over time, I've received several sport cat inquiries since releasing our 200 cell HJS sport cats. For this reason, I thought this information can be helpful to the message board members, when choosing your aftermarket sport cats.

If you are considering a new aftermarket sport cat, its wise to determine what is actually inside the aftermarket sport cat can/housing. This way you know exactly what you're getting. Is it made of precious metals? Is it made from ceramic material? There is a big difference. Inside the sport cat can/housing there's a "matrix core". The matrix core reduces the harmful emissions, which come out from the exhaust muffler which are; nitric oxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. The matrix core then converts these harmful gases into inert gases consisting of, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor H2O.

Ceramic and precious metal catalysts differ in their performance and cost.

Performance:
Precious metal catalysts are much more active, selective, and stable than ceramic catalysts. They will lower the energy barriers between reactants, which speeds up the reaction rate. Ceramic catalysts also lowers exhaust gas temperature within the matrix core.

Cost:
Ceramic catalysts are less expensive than precious metal catalysts.

Here are some other differences between ceramic and precious metal catalysts:

Composition:
Ceramic catalysts have active elements dispersed throughout their crystal structure. Precious metal catalysts are often made from platinum group metals, such as platinum, palladium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, and ruthenium. When using precious metals, this type of sport cat is simply, more expensive than a ceramic catalyst.

Automotive use:
Ceramic honeycomb catalytic converters are often encased in a metal can/housing and attached to the exhaust pipe of a vehicle. The ceramic honeycomb supports a metal catalyst, that has been wash-coated onto it.

A precious metal catalyst is more effective than a ceramic catalyst, as precious metals like platinum, palladium, and rhodium exhibit significantly higher catalytic activity, meaning they can accelerate chemical reactions more efficiently, leading to better overall performance in most high-end sports car applications. A properly designed aftermarket sport cat that utilizes factory OEM level (or more) of precious metals, almost always eliminates the triggering of the check engine light.

Key points to consider:
Higher catalytic activity.
Precious metals have a much higher ability to initiate and speed up chemical reactions compared to ceramic materials.

Wide application:
Due to their effectiveness, precious metals are commonly used in catalytic converters in high performance sports car vehicles, where they play a key role in reducing harmful emissions.

Ceramic as a support:
While not as active as precious metals, ceramic materials are often used as a support structure, for less useage of precious metal catalysts, providing an acceptable stable base, for the active metal particles to be dispersed on.

However, some factors can influence the choice of catalyst:

Cost:
Precious metals are significantly more expensive than ceramic materials, making it a costlier option.

Specific application:
Depending on the reaction and operating conditions, a well-designed ceramic catalyst might be sufficient for certain applications where high activity is not a primary concern.

Its important to have a "large size" can/housing for the catalyst "matrix core", similar size (NOT SMALLER) to the OEM factory catalyst housing size. The catalyst core is located inside the housing. The larger the housing, the easier for the gases to flow through the exhaust manifold and through the 200 cell catalyst, then exit from the exhaust muffler. When the aftermarket catalyst housing is a smaller size, compared to OEM factory catalyst can/housing, this type of setup severely impedes the exhaust air flow, similar to a bottlenecking situation. A smaller size catalyst housing and smaller size core, restricts the exhaust flow which is counterproductive to your goals in achieving maximum free flow exhaust. With a smaller catalytic housing the aftermarket sport cat is not any better or any more efficient than your original factory 600 cell catalytic converter. Possibly worse. There will be no performance gain, if the housing is smaller than the OEM catalytic converter housing.

You might be thinking, why do some aftermarket sport cats have a much smaller catalytic can/housing for its matrix core. Its done to cut corners and reduce the the need to have very expensive precious metals, inside the matrix core. This makes the aftermarket sport cat less expensive and more appealing to the consumer. This is a big mistake for the consumer and his/her sports car.

The mentioned factors are critical for tuned sports cars having ECU tuning and performance supercharger pulleys installed. The more air and fuel pumped into the engine, the more exhaust gases flow out from the exhaust pipes, making it critical for the exhaust gases to be maximum free flow and non-restrictive.

A poorly designed/manufactured sport cat can cause havoc to your cars engine ECU resulting in various fault codes and the check engine light being triggered on your car's dashboard.

Our proprietary design HJS SuperSprint 200 cell sport cats do not trigger the CEL on your car's dashboard. The O2 sensors are not triggered from the SuperSprint sport cats.

https://hjs-motorsport.de/en/products/motorsport#


Very common question asked is, how much additional horsepower will my sports cat gain with the use of 200 cell HJS SprintSprint sport cats. On average there will be approximately 20 horsepower gain for the V8 motor. There can be more horsepower if the car has the performance supercharger pulleys installed.

Lastly, SuperSprint 200 cell HJS sport cats have zero raspy tone and no droning sound.

I hope this information was helpful, for you to decide and choose the best aftermarket sport cats for your F Type sports car needs.

If you have any questions please feel to contact me.
robert.c@supersprint.com

Thank you.
Roberto.

SuperSprint Italy, premium exhaust design & development since 1955

 

What are the advantages of these cats vs. the OEM cats? Why would I want to change to these?