ARH quality?

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BRAPPPP

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Can anyone comment on the quality of American Racing Headers Cats? I've been running their 1 7/8 headers with catted Y pipe. I'm about to add a Roush super charger and heard that I should be concerned about my Cats because they are very poor quality compared to kooks or magna flow. Has anyone else had a problem with their cats in a boosted setup? Apparently there have been two reports of guys with ARH cats that clogged up and caused motor damage that I was told.
 

JimIII@JDM

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Can anyone comment on the quality of American Racing Headers Cats? I've been running their 1 7/8 headers with catted Y pipe. I'm about to add a Roush super charger and heard that I should be concerned about my Cats because they are very poor quality compared to kooks or magna flow. Has anyone else had a problem with their cats in a boosted setup? Apparently there have been two reports of guys with ARH cats that clogged up and caused motor damage that I was told.

The cats have been known to come apart and clog in the Y section and/or damage your muffler. I've seen two trucks where this was evident and 1 truck was Roushcharged and it lead to a failed motor.

ARH uses a spun metallic converter that will not support much more than 500 HP. It will come loose or unravel and then plug up the exhaust.

Also earlier this week we had to put a new set of Kooks Green Cats on customers 2010 Roushcharged Raptor with Stainless Works full exhaust. The cats were completely blown out but on their way out damaged the rear 02's and muffler. However he was luck enough to not have the cat material clog up in the Y pipe, it blew out.
 
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BRAPPPP

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The cats have been known to come apart and clog in the Y section and/or damage your muffler. I've seen two trucks where this was evident and 1 truck was Roushcharged and it lead to a failed motor.



ARH uses a spun metallic converter that will not support much more than 500 HP. It will come loose or unravel and then plug up the exhaust.



Also earlier this week we had to put a new set of Kooks Green Cats on customers 2010 Roushcharged Raptor with Stainless Works full exhaust. The cats were completely blown out but on their way out damaged the rear 02's and muffler. However he was luck enough to not have the cat material clog up in the Y pipe, it blew out.


Is this apparent with 500 rwhp or less? I called up ARH and they said I "should" be fine, but idk how much I believe that.
 

JimIII@JDM

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Is this apparent with 500 rwhp or less? I called up ARH and they said I "should" be fine, but idk how much I believe that.

Well you don't want it to become a problem so I would remove the cats. You can have an exhaust put a straight pipe in place or I would recommend putting a set of Kooks Green cats in. They are better constructed for high power levels and are emissions legal. They use a honeycomb style center which would turn to dust and blow out with out causing any damage.
 

Steelhead

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Oh wow! Is this a common thing to happen Jim? or are there certain circumstances that would cause the cats to fail? Ever happen to SW headers with cats? As you know I am running a Roush SC and have plans for a tune from you, and headers are in the plans.
 
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BRAPPPP

BRAPPPP

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Oh wow! Is this a common thing to happen Jim? or are there certain circumstances that would cause the cats to fail? Ever happen to SW headers with cats? As you know I am running a Roush SC and have plans for a tune from you, and headers are in the plans.

JDM told me that Kooks are top quality. I would go with those and they also said their Green Cats are great too and you shouldnt have problems with that setup.
 

SARaptor

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cant speak for the raptor, but had american racing headers on a couple of Z06's and quality was always top notch.
 

Evil Twins

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The header itself and building quality is very good with ARH. I prefer Kook's but I know plenty with Stainless works and American Racing, all happy customers with the exception of the cats that ARH uses. Most usually fail quickly and you end up having somebody weld in a chunk of straight pipe to make a cobbled up mess when you should have just ordered catless midpipes from the get-go!
 

ROCKETW19

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cant speak for the raptor, but had american racing headers on a couple of Z06's and quality was always top notch.

agreed I have them on a CTSV 670 RWHP zero problems. on the CTSV fourm there is guys with 700-800 RWHP same set up no issue but they are not going thru hills and 4X4ing either.
the honey comb style sounds like safest bet to me. are the cats to keep it quiet or ? why not straight pipe?
 
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BRAPPPP

BRAPPPP

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agreed I have them on a CTSV 670 RWHP zero problems. on the CTSV fourm there is guys with 700-800 RWHP same set up no issue but they are not going thru hills and 4X4ing either.
the honey comb style sounds like safest bet to me. are the cats to keep it quiet or ? why not straight pipe?
Straight pipe is way too loud and raw for me. I put cats back in and it is still too loud. I was gonna weld my stock resonator in before the muffler but I'm not sure if that will tame it enough. I want a more sporty sound and less raw metal sound. Any suggestions ?

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