Crawford cats, G35 Sedan ...
10-05-2005, 07:01 PM
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Crawford cats, G35 Sedan ...
2005 G35 Sedan. Crawford Cats. Nightmare.
Bought some (like new) Crawford cats from a forum member (very nice guy) a week ago and installed them last night. I'm lucky enough to have a dad that's owned his own shop since 1963 and still has an 8 bay garage with a couple lifts. That makes most of my mods easy, and installation wise, this one was no different.
Unpacked the cats and was very surprised to find that they looked brand new. They didn't even smell like exhaust fumes and had NO heat wear on the outside. Took about 2.5 hours to study my exhaust system, remove stock cats, and install the Crawford's. Before letting the car off the rack we started the G up and gave her a few light revs. My dad stayed under the car to listen for any leaks and didn't find anything. I didn't notice much of a sound change to the car. Maybe a slightly lower tone, but it sounded really nice. I was excited. After a few more minutes of running and inspection I took the G for a ride. Got her on the road and did a few hard accelerations and was introduced to a very loud rattle coming from under the car. It was so bad it shook my feet. I quickly turned around and put it back on the lift. My father and I inspected the install and gave the entire system (front to back) a few taps from the rubber mallet. Couldn't hear a single thing so we double checked all the bolts to make sure they were tight. Clearance was a little slim on the drivers side near the floor board heat shield but it looked ok.
This time my father drove it and he got on it as soon as he pulled out of the bay. Much to my dismay, a cloud of white smoke came from the exhaust pipes as he floored it. I also got to hear the rattle that I heard while driving from outside the car! This time is seemed even louder. Not to mention the exhaust sounded like crap now (read lawn mower). He did the same thing I did and quickly turned around and put it back on the lift. Grabbed the pipes with gloves and shook them and could not find anything loose. My dad ended up seeing some really bad scratches (read gouges) in the body/frame on the drivers side, but nothing too bad on the heat shield.
Turns out the cats are thrown up against the body under hard acceleration when the engine twist. We checked engine movement while standing still giving it a bunch of gas and it was normal. No broken mounts. Off with the cats since they obviously didn't fit. What do we discover while taking the drivers side off? The ceramic honeycomb inside is broken and falling out of the front side of the pipe! That explains the white “smoke!” Great, the cat is ruined.
I feel like crap. I've spent two nights trying to add the would be simple mod to my brand new car and it appears that I am stuck with a $500 pile of junk.
I have a call in to Crawford to see what I can get done.
Before I get flamed with "did you do this?" and "did you do that?"... Let me assure you that with my father and I both working on the car, there were no mistakes made. It looks like the cats just aren't made to fit a 2005 G35 Sedan. Before posting I did a search on the forums and it looks like many people have had to reshape the heat shields to make these things fit. I don't think you should have to reshape anything to make a cat fit. You can design the bends to take care of all clearance issues.
Bought some (like new) Crawford cats from a forum member (very nice guy) a week ago and installed them last night. I'm lucky enough to have a dad that's owned his own shop since 1963 and still has an 8 bay garage with a couple lifts. That makes most of my mods easy, and installation wise, this one was no different.
Unpacked the cats and was very surprised to find that they looked brand new. They didn't even smell like exhaust fumes and had NO heat wear on the outside. Took about 2.5 hours to study my exhaust system, remove stock cats, and install the Crawford's. Before letting the car off the rack we started the G up and gave her a few light revs. My dad stayed under the car to listen for any leaks and didn't find anything. I didn't notice much of a sound change to the car. Maybe a slightly lower tone, but it sounded really nice. I was excited. After a few more minutes of running and inspection I took the G for a ride. Got her on the road and did a few hard accelerations and was introduced to a very loud rattle coming from under the car. It was so bad it shook my feet. I quickly turned around and put it back on the lift. My father and I inspected the install and gave the entire system (front to back) a few taps from the rubber mallet. Couldn't hear a single thing so we double checked all the bolts to make sure they were tight. Clearance was a little slim on the drivers side near the floor board heat shield but it looked ok.
This time my father drove it and he got on it as soon as he pulled out of the bay. Much to my dismay, a cloud of white smoke came from the exhaust pipes as he floored it. I also got to hear the rattle that I heard while driving from outside the car! This time is seemed even louder. Not to mention the exhaust sounded like crap now (read lawn mower). He did the same thing I did and quickly turned around and put it back on the lift. Grabbed the pipes with gloves and shook them and could not find anything loose. My dad ended up seeing some really bad scratches (read gouges) in the body/frame on the drivers side, but nothing too bad on the heat shield.
Turns out the cats are thrown up against the body under hard acceleration when the engine twist. We checked engine movement while standing still giving it a bunch of gas and it was normal. No broken mounts. Off with the cats since they obviously didn't fit. What do we discover while taking the drivers side off? The ceramic honeycomb inside is broken and falling out of the front side of the pipe! That explains the white “smoke!” Great, the cat is ruined.
I feel like crap. I've spent two nights trying to add the would be simple mod to my brand new car and it appears that I am stuck with a $500 pile of junk.
I have a call in to Crawford to see what I can get done.
Before I get flamed with "did you do this?" and "did you do that?"... Let me assure you that with my father and I both working on the car, there were no mistakes made. It looks like the cats just aren't made to fit a 2005 G35 Sedan. Before posting I did a search on the forums and it looks like many people have had to reshape the heat shields to make these things fit. I don't think you should have to reshape anything to make a cat fit. You can design the bends to take care of all clearance issues.
10-05-2005, 07:45 PM
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Call Doug Stewart at Crawford first thing monday morning. He'll help you out. They spell service with a capital S. I've had my Crawford Cats since March of '04. It was a 45 minute install, and no issues. Again, call Doug, he'll take care of you.
Lou
Lou
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10-24-2005, 07:58 AM
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The nightmare continues ...
I received a new cat from Doug on Friday. I took the G up to my fathers shop on Sunday and spent another 4 hours installing this new cat.
IT STILL DOES NOT FIT!
The stock cats have around 2 inches of clearance from the frame. Crawford's cat's have less than a half inch at the welds on the cat heat shield. Not to mention that towards the front of the cat, next to where the header meats the cat, there is about a quarter inch of clearance. I had to take a hammer to my floor pan to make room for it. I was hoping that this would solve the problem and the tight fit at the cat heat shield would not be an issue. NOTE: I removed the small heat shield under my car where the bulk of the car sits. This does NOT help.
NO GO
Under any acceleration other than "grandma like", my feet will be met with a wonderful rattle where the cat is slammed into the frame as the engine twist.
I think this cat probably works great for the 350Z and maybe even the G35 coupe. Otherwise, people would be all over this forum complaining about it. However, this design does NOT work for a 2005 Sedan 5AT. There is a TON of room towards the transmission that could be used to provide the space needed for this cat.
The saga continues ...
I've contacted Crawford, AGAIN to see what we can do about this.
I received a new cat from Doug on Friday. I took the G up to my fathers shop on Sunday and spent another 4 hours installing this new cat.
IT STILL DOES NOT FIT!
The stock cats have around 2 inches of clearance from the frame. Crawford's cat's have less than a half inch at the welds on the cat heat shield. Not to mention that towards the front of the cat, next to where the header meats the cat, there is about a quarter inch of clearance. I had to take a hammer to my floor pan to make room for it. I was hoping that this would solve the problem and the tight fit at the cat heat shield would not be an issue. NOTE: I removed the small heat shield under my car where the bulk of the car sits. This does NOT help.
NO GO
Under any acceleration other than "grandma like", my feet will be met with a wonderful rattle where the cat is slammed into the frame as the engine twist.
I think this cat probably works great for the 350Z and maybe even the G35 coupe. Otherwise, people would be all over this forum complaining about it. However, this design does NOT work for a 2005 Sedan 5AT. There is a TON of room towards the transmission that could be used to provide the space needed for this cat.
The saga continues ...
I've contacted Crawford, AGAIN to see what we can do about this.
10-25-2005, 09:22 AM
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I shouldn't have to buy another part to make something work. I also shouldn't have to take a hammer to my floor pan to make one fit. Especially one that could be designed to fit in the first place.
But it's a good suggestion for someone willing to do that.
But it's a good suggestion for someone willing to do that.
10-25-2005, 10:38 AM
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Originally Posted by jasonsfa98
I shouldn't have to buy another part to make something work. I also shouldn't have to take a hammer to my floor pan to make one fit. Especially one that could be designed to fit in the first place.
But it's a good suggestion for someone willing to do that.
But it's a good suggestion for someone willing to do that.
If not... you are lucky you even got a replacement
10-25-2005, 10:42 AM
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Originally Posted by jasonsfa98
Apparently they were. Because I called Crawford Z Car before I purchased and asked them. They said "yes."
10-25-2005, 09:18 PM
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I have an '05 6MT sedan and I have the Crawford cats. Absolutely no problems. However, they did the install so I have no idea what they did to make them fit...
10-31-2005, 05:37 AM
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Well ... At first the guy at Crawford was certain that something was wrong with my car. But being that it's only a few months old, we highly doubt it. I even put the car up on the rack at my fathers shop and took a couple dozen pictures. Nothing is wrong down there.
He did send me a new cat, but it still had the same problem.
ZXiMan, the production date on my car is 02/05, what is yours? He is looking for someone that has a production date on an 05 as new as mine to see if someone has done it before. I know yours is an MT, but it still may help.
As of right now, I am driving around in a G35 that sounds like a 79 Pinto when ever I accelerate hard or make sharp right turns.
I hope they figure something out to correct this situation.
He did send me a new cat, but it still had the same problem.
ZXiMan, the production date on my car is 02/05, what is yours? He is looking for someone that has a production date on an 05 as new as mine to see if someone has done it before. I know yours is an MT, but it still may help.
As of right now, I am driving around in a G35 that sounds like a 79 Pinto when ever I accelerate hard or make sharp right turns.
I hope they figure something out to correct this situation.
10-31-2005, 03:01 PM
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Jason,
Man, I feel (most) of your pain. I got a set of used kinetix cats from a g coupe, whom got them used from a 350z, who himself got them used from another z.
My experience has been much the same as yours. Removed the stock cats. Installed the new ones. Cranked it up and no leaks. When I left the shop where I did the work, I felt the same vibration through the floor. I recalled reading here, and at g35driver, that several people had heat shield rubbing issues. I took the heat shields off, and I still had the same louad @$$ rattle. I took it to an exhaust place to see if they could fabricate some kind of mount between the cats and the stock cat brace(no mounting points on the kinetix), but they couldn't do it. Instead, they used a good ol' hammer and crowbar to "introduce" a bit of room between the driver's side cat and the underside of the vehicle. Since then, the rattle is gone, but now I have the heat shield rattle on the same side(I had them reinstall the heat shields at the same time). Unfortunately, there's no room for play in the heat sheild.
So at this point I can either remove the heat shield, which I don't want to do, or go back to stock, which I also don't want to do. Right now, I'm loving the sound of the exhaust more than I'm bothered by the heat shield rattle. That may change in the future.
Keep us updated.
Man, I feel (most) of your pain. I got a set of used kinetix cats from a g coupe, whom got them used from a 350z, who himself got them used from another z.
My experience has been much the same as yours. Removed the stock cats. Installed the new ones. Cranked it up and no leaks. When I left the shop where I did the work, I felt the same vibration through the floor. I recalled reading here, and at g35driver, that several people had heat shield rubbing issues. I took the heat shields off, and I still had the same louad @$$ rattle. I took it to an exhaust place to see if they could fabricate some kind of mount between the cats and the stock cat brace(no mounting points on the kinetix), but they couldn't do it. Instead, they used a good ol' hammer and crowbar to "introduce" a bit of room between the driver's side cat and the underside of the vehicle. Since then, the rattle is gone, but now I have the heat shield rattle on the same side(I had them reinstall the heat shields at the same time). Unfortunately, there's no room for play in the heat sheild.
So at this point I can either remove the heat shield, which I don't want to do, or go back to stock, which I also don't want to do. Right now, I'm loving the sound of the exhaust more than I'm bothered by the heat shield rattle. That may change in the future.
Keep us updated.
10-31-2005, 03:03 PM
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Originally Posted by Nano
where these cats ever designed to go on a sedan?
If not... you are lucky you even got a replacement
If not... you are lucky you even got a replacement