Cat vs No cat. Clio 3 RS (203)

[gSiris93]

Hello boys and girls,

I have some questions exhaust related. I´m going to install a full exhaust system, the exhaust manifold is going to be the one from the R3 rally car, and the rest of the line is a TUV aprooved. The thing is that i´m looking to get good performance for this little engine, but where I live (Spain) is ilegal to not have the cat installed and the cops can pull you over and give you some ticket plus in the anual inspection the car will not pass.

So, my question is ¿I´m going to lose a lot of power if a put my OEM cat with the R3 manifold and the TUV aprooved line?

Also, I´m plannig to do a remap to get rid of the famous flat spot. I hope this exhaust and the remap will help and add some extra HP.

Thanks in advance!!

Here is a picture of my little boy

 

[Sean197]

Are you allowed to fit a sports cat? If so that would be a good compromise.

 

[gSiris93]

Are you allowed to fit a sports cat? If so that would be a good compromise.

Well, I looked for one of this but the workshop told me that there is the same problem. It's not legal. I will double check with them, but the restrictions here in Spain are like a pain in the ass. Don't know if there is some Spanish people here to clarify this thing.

 

[Marsch]

There are sport cats available that have ECE approvals (E-number) and therefore should be legal.

Just an example: https://www.bar-tek-tuning.com/sport-cat-universal-200-cells-ece

 

[Abdulla Ali Al Ali]

The ideal combination I believe will be Sport Cat (200 cells) + mid section silencer + the rest of your preference performance exhaust system for your case

 

[NickD]

In my recent experience, the biggest issue is the pre-cat in the standard manifold. I am told that the race cars had these cut open, the core removed and then welded up again. If the standard main cat is in good condition, it should not represent a massive issue. As well, the standard air box is less than ideal.

 

[Abdulla Ali Al Ali]

The question is if you want to have extra power, then sport cat is the max you need to consider & silencer to reduce the exhaust sound (plus inside noise level!).

If your place are so restricted, then just drop in a base map and you should still be able to enjoy the squeezed extra hp over stock.

 

[gSiris93]

Hello folks!

So as I did this post a couple of weeks ago, I´m going to put an update in case this will be interesting for someone.

I finally went to pick up the exhaust manifold.

And after a chat with the workshop who made the complete exhaust, we finally decided to leave the OEM cat and the OEM mid section silencer (they told me that the OEM silencer is the best). The final silencer is an aftermarket one, TUV aproved (spanish TUV).





Don´t know the exact hp that is making now, but after a quick drive through a mountain road that I use to drive, I´m pretty sure that I´ve gained some hp even with the OEM cat and the central silencer. Plus the sound now is mental compare to the other crapy exhaust that I had (sounds more like a race car in high rpm ).

For the moment I will leave exhaust system like this (with the OEM cat and not a 200 cell one). In the near future I will need to do some remap to adjust everything (the told me to do it whithout the cat, so we will see the numbers then)

In any case, I hope that this is helpfull for the rest of the Clio 197/200 owners!

 

[gSiris93]

In my recent experience, the biggest issue is the pre-cat in the standard manifold. I am told that the race cars had these cut open, the core removed and then welded up again. If the standard main cat is in good condition, it should not represent a massive issue. As well, the standard air box is less than ideal.

When I went for the car a couple of days ago, I looked for the old manifold and I noticed that some of the old owners of the car did this to the manifold. It was empty on the inside of the precat. I remember your coment when I saw this haha.

 

[RSRowe]

That manifold is really nice.

 

[turkie172]

Without the flexi joint and the engine movement are you expecting stress on the exhast system causing cracks normally thats used on cup cars with solid engine mounts, but nice manifold.

 

[bedoef]

Hello folks!

So as I did this post a couple of weeks ago, I´m going to put an update in case this will be interesting for someone.

I finally went to pick up the exhaust manifold.
View attachment 148910
And after a chat with the workshop who made the complete exhaust, we finally decided to leave the OEM cat and the OEM mid section silencer (they told me that the OEM silencer is the best). The final silencer is an aftermarket one, TUV aproved (spanish TUV).


View attachment 148911


Don´t know the exact hp that is making now, but after a quick drive through a mountain road that I use to drive, I´m pretty sure that I´ve gained some hp even with the OEM cat and the central silencer. Plus the sound now is mental compare to the other crapy exhaust that I had (sounds more like a race car in high rpm ).

For the moment I will leave exhaust system like this (with the OEM cat and not a 200 cell one). In the near future I will need to do some remap to adjust everything (the told me to do it whithout the cat, so we will see the numbers then)

In any case, I hope that this is helpfull for the rest of the Clio 197/200 owners!

That looks like the PMS header! Who made this for you, looks like a great kit!

 

[suj]

Without the flexi joint and the engine movement are you expecting stress on the exhast system causing cracks normally thats used on cup cars with solid engine mounts, but nice manifold.

It looks like it has springs (not in the pic, but you can see the tabs) to help with the movement / expansion.

 

[gSiris93]

Without the flexi joint and the engine movement are you expecting stress on the exhast system causing cracks normally thats used on cup cars with solid engine mounts, but nice manifold.

I knew that this problem could come in the future, so they installed a flexi between the cat and the manifold to help with the movement of the engine. I hope this works!!

 

[gSiris93]

That looks like the PMS header! Who made this for you, looks like a great kit!

They made it in france, in a company called "Da Luz". I just drove the car for like 100km (around 60 miles) and it´s really great!