I lived up north and bought my Z from an out of state dealer and when it came time to get it inspected, the inspection place said i didnt have cats and that it needed cats to be able to pass inspection and registered. car came with a stillen exhaust on it, so apparently they cut into the exhaust and installed some cats. i cannot go over any kind of bump or hump bithout banging the crap out of them. are they even supposed to be there? is there a problem here. in the picture below they are seen almost touching the ground.

 

Ever heard of "emissions" ? All cars 95 and older are required to pass the tail pipe emissions test. 96+ are OBD-II. The only way around catalytic converters, is to register the car in an emissions exempt county (if your state even has one), or use flanges for test pipes.

Long story short, you should have installed cats yourself, then you could have welded in FLANGES to swap in test pipes. Technically you still can, if you know what you are doing.

My 280zxt setup:

 

Well I'm in Florida now and don't need tailpipe test down here. Which ironically is where the car originally came from. I should be able to cut them out now and just use straight pipes..? My issue is should the cats be sitting that low the ground that they scrape and bang on everything. Speed bumps are out of the question. Does anyone else have cats and experience this problem? I'd like to see some under car pics of the set ups you all have to compare the positioning of my cats. Anyone have shots of the stock setup? I assume that has cats in it..

 

NismoPick:

Happy New Year 2012!

What catalytic converter manufacturer do you recommend for a 1982 non turbo 280ZX? Where I can buy it?

On the other hand, if a 1982 non turbo 280ZX lack of the catalytic converter, is it supposed that sensor light located in the analog dash be on or activated?


280ZXfan

 

Magnaflow & Flowmaster are the usual top choices, but any OBD-II compliant stainless-steel cat will work. I bought an off-name-brand one for my Geo Metro last year on ebay for something like $30. I have a Magnaflow 2.5" SS on my 280zxt (see above pic).

As for the sensor light... question just answered in your other thread ( https://www.zdriver.com/forums/280zx-s130-forums-77/1982-280zx-non-turbo-dash-sensor-yellow-light-34230/ )

 

Thanks for your fast responses for both questions!

 

Looks like you stole the show 280 :P