Hey all its been a long while since I've posted here. I got a few maybe newbie type of questions and wanted some opinions/help. Here is my problem.....I live in West Los Angeles and about a month ago I go out to my rig and notice Toyota bolts on the ground and I'm like WTF....well upon inspection my CAT had been stolen. (On this note my cat is actually illegal to resell here because it was put on in New Mexico and that type of cat is also no longer on the gov't list of approved aftermarket exhaust.)

Fast forward a few weeks.....after dealing with shop and insurance, I get a recommendation for a spot here to replace the cat and they welded it on this time which is great cause f***ers will have to saw through it. As I am driving it home a few hours later my wife noticed that lots of heat and hot air was blowing into the passenger side of the truck near where the new cat was put on. Is this normal to have a large amount of heat escape into the truck and feel like the heater is on?

My other question is about my smog test results. It passes fine as far as exhaust levels, however the smog guy told me my engine timing was a bit off and I was wondering how hard will it be to adjust the timing. He said I needed to be closer to 10-12 range and I was firing at about 14-15. Also is this something I can do myself or with help from someone with a timing gun or am I going to have to drop $$$$ at a shop?

Any help, links ,etc would be appreciated. TIA.

 

1) a well working cat generates lots of heat to clean up exhaust gas. the problem with aftermaarket systems is they dont have large heat shields so heat radiates up and sometimes warms up cabin. so its normal, you can spend a few or bucks and fab up a shield or just live with the heat.

2) your 3.0 v6 correct timing is 10*btc. yes its super ez to adjust timing as long as you have a timing light/gun. 5 min job at best. lowering you timing from 15 to 10 theoretically should lower engine temperatures that might help that heatting issue question #1

 

If only I could pass smog at 14 woo-hoo lots of power.
Hot cat happy cat.
Up to a point though, but at that point doubt you would pass smog check