So you're saying this is not a cat of any sort?


( Link to Ebay listing if the photo doesn\'t work )

So all that the California (and MD, ME, and a few other Northeast states) in 2000 got was a "pre-muffler" that would do nothing to affect emissions?

Here are 3 photos from the 2000 service manual showing the exhaust system from the manifolds back:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/xterra/tech/EngineCats.gif
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/xterra/tech/FedExhaust.gif
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/xterra/tech/CalExhaust.gif

I do note that they don't refer to the part in question as a catalyst, just a "front tube" for both Fed and Cal versions, but if it doesn't do something for emissions, I don't understand its purpose.

Either way, the SLR headers displace the important part, the "secondary" cats or whatever they are can be done away with no problem, but that doesn't get us anywhere.

Brent