As far as they know, the cats are legal. There is no way to track them since they dont have serial numbers or VIN numbers.

Its not really up to the recycler to make sure people aren't breaking the law. Besides, say I own a 99 4Runner and roll the thing, then part it out. If I can sell the cat for $50 legally, why not?

The problem lies with people stealing them and being dishonest douchebags about it. Humanity boggles the mind.

 

I believe a friend told me locally that you can get 14-18 bucks per cat at the salvage yard here. If they could steal 3 an hour that would make a decent living, in a thieves eyes..

 

wow! almost 6k for an ounce of Rhodium. that's ridiculous. Do you think it's easy to extract those metals from the cat???

 

I think the factory cats are worth more than $100 at the wrecking yards. Aftermarket high-flow Catco cats from Summit only cost about $50.

 

When I worked at Toyota, someone came in with their '05 Tacoma where someone had cut their cat off from the manifold back. This was in the parking lot of a horse race track (River Downs) so the customer had to replace a cat AND the manifold.

 

Easy to extract (for analysis), combination of HCl and HNO3 (aquaregia) or via fusion with litharge. You gotta have a good hot furnace for the fusion, then you get to breathe nice lead fumes. There are probably other ways, but not the type of method you woould want to carry out in your garage over the weekend.

difficult to purify though, you need refinery equipment. Some people are into this business, but it is costly to do it right. right now is the time to do it though, with the price of PGM's where they are (PGM=platinum group metals)

 

I have heard of this happening around where I live (Eugene, Oregon)
I have found a guy under my truck once before with a recipro saw, but he found nothing to cut out. Thanks to flowmaster for not installing a cat converter, I owe 'em one.

 

So - Is that guy at least sing saprano for the rest of his life, now?

 

This is good news! I got a pile Cats sitting around, never knew they were worth anything.

 

From what I hear of Cali,it's probably the DMV.

 

or better yet eating through a straw.. I would severly hurt someone if I saw them doing anything to my truck.. besides looking and admiring!