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V OLUME 35, N O . 8
M ARCH 2011
®
BRAKE . EXHAUST . CHASSIS & MORE
R-1234yf – One Year Closer...Page 30
Shop Cleanliness .....................Page 32
Spring Checkup.......................Page 38
Underbody converter for 2003-04 2WD and
4WD Honda Element with 2.4-liter engine
Lonnie Williams installs a CATCO Direct-Fit
catalytic converter on a 2001 Hyundai
Elantra.
Bill Kaminski holds an exhaust
manifold used in the production
of a manifold/converter.
(From left) Andy Proimos, Gus Proimos
and Bill Kaminski discuss the
importance of being a leading catalyticconverter supplier to California, since
that technology has helped them
produce better converters for the rest of
CATCOʼs customer base.
By Jim Wilder
Undercar Digest Editor
P
roviding shops and technicians
with catalytic converters that
keep the malfunction indicator
lamp (MIL) off is the main priority
of the team members at CATCO
Catalytic Converters. That priority
goes hand in hand with the
promise to provide the technical
and customer-service support to
keep shops informed and profitable, said Andy Proimos, president.
“Much of what we’ve learned in
order to be one of the first companies to meet emission-controls requirements for California has also
helped us make a superior product
for the rest of the country,” he
said. “We use many of those technologies when designing catalytic
converters for all the states that require U.S. EPA aftermarket catalytic converters. CATCO also
produces a substantial number of
applications for original equipment when it comes to industrial,
marine and agricultural equipment.”
“Today’s vehicles continue to be
more complex, making it harder to
keep the light off,” said Gus
Proimos, vice president. He noted
that although CATCO’s 6000 and
6500 Series catalytic converters
meet all U.S. EPA requirements,
more and more shop operators
and technicians prefer the higher
loadings and designs of CATCO’s
Direct-Fits and 2500 Series universal catalytic converters.
“The Direct-Fits and 2500s use
much of the same technologies and
similar formulations of our OE and
California converters,” Andy
Proimos said. “By choosing these
applications, the shops can avoid
the risk of comebacks and a dissatisfied customer. In today’s busy
world customers are concerned
about price, but they are even
Pablo Gomez works on an
exhaust flange. CATCO has
its own plasma cutter to
make flanges for short
production runs.
Gary Williams makes a fixture for a converter.
more concerned about value – and
having their car or truck in good
working order. Although our
Direct-Fits and 2500 Series units
cost a little more, they are still
competitively priced while offering insurance against comebacks,
even for vehicles known to have
engine-light problems. Many
shops and WDs also prefer these
units in order to reduce their inventory levels.”
Bill Kaminski, vice president of
product development/quality control, noted that keeping up to date
on emission-controls diagnostics is
a must for every general-repair
and undercar shop.
“Shops that continue to stay
ahead of the curve in emissions diagnostics are the ones that will remain successful,” he said. “It’s
important that each shop have at
least one diagnostician well versed
in using a scan tool in order to
know whether it’s truly the cat-
alytic converter that is bad. That
means that they have to have a
good scan tool with scope capabilities – not just a code reader.”
Kaminski spends many of his
working hours in Detroit learning
about the latest U.S. EPA regulations and in California to keep informed on California Air
Resources Board (CARB) information. At the same time, Corey
Smith, CATCO’s training director,
spends most of his working hours
on the road, conducting emissionscontrol classes for technicians
sponsored by warehouse distributors and jobbers. He also conducts
seminars at a number of trade
shows and will be taking part in
the emissions seminars at
Showpower on March 18 and 19.
CATCO’s engineering department is continually looking at new
vehicles just off the showroom
floor to have designs already in
the works when the emissions
warranties on these vehicles expire
and aftermarket units are required.
In many instances, CATCO will
work closely with shop operators
who have vehicles that are just out
of warranty and for which replacement converters are not yet available.
“Instead of having them ship us
the OE converter, we actually
work with them so they can send
us the car,” Andy said. “We want
to evaluate the entire emissioncontrol system and engine to make
sure we know everything there is
to know to make the right aftermarket replacement unit. We’ll
make the converter for that particular vehicle and conduct all the
necessary tests to make sure the
converter works as it should. The
car gets sent back with a new converter, and we now have a prototype ready for production when
necessary.”
Plant manager Jeff Lichner
CATCO uses 409 stainless in the
production of most of its catalytic
converters and 304 stainless for units
that require it.
noted that CATCO has the capability to make these new units, sometimes in less than a day. A plasma
cutter even enables the facility to
make its own exhaust flanges for
short-run productions.
CATCO uses 409 stainless in
nearly all its catalytic-converter
productions runs –
choosing 304
stainless on specific applications
that require the
premium steel,
Lichner said.
“This is just
one of the reasons we can
offer virtually
100% order
fill,” Andy
Proimos
said.
Having
the right
converter is
a must,
Kaminski
said. CATCO
offers extensive coverage in U.S.
EPA-regulated catalytic converters, including 1,273 Direct-Fits, including pre-cat assemblies and
underbody Direct-Fits, and 195
universals, he said.
For California CATCO offers
499 part numbers for OBD-II
Direct-Fits. For the California preOBD-II passenger-car classification
Al Whitworth, pipe specialist, removes a converter pipe from a
CNC bender.
1 (PC1: one catalyst per vehicle or
one catalyst per engine bank) there
are 254 Direct-Fits and 30 universals. For PC2 (more than one converter per engine bank or two
converters back to back) there are
106 Direct-Fits and 19 universals.
In the truck categories of T1 and
T2 there are 133 Direct-Fits and 34
universal converters.
Kaminski noted that manufacturers are introducing more vehicles that use
exhaust-manifold/catalytic-converter
Exhaust manifold/converter for 2004-05
Mitsubishi Endeavor AWD with 3.8-liter
engine
designs. As a result, more and
more shops are making the transition to install more direct-fit units
instead of universal units that require welding and sometimes
bending difficult pipe configura-
tions. “The use of direct-fits gets
that vehicle on and off the lift
more quickly, and we all know
how important it is to keep vehicles flowing in and out of the
bays,” he said.
Sue Eisfelder, customer-service
supervisor, noted that technical
support for shops and distributors
is available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
central standard time Monday
through Friday.
“Our entire support staff is very
knowledgeable and ready to help
them through
any problem
they may
have,
whether
it concerns a
specific application or
they need diagnostic help. In addition,
Debra Kazmucha, our marketing director, has redesigned our
Web site (www.catcoglobal.com)
with complete catalog listings,
product information and educational tools such as a troubleshooting pamphlet and diagnostic
manual titled Solutions that covers
catalytic-converter problems, replacement and questions. We also
offer posters and other point-ofpurchase items to help shops explain catalytic-converter
information to motorists.”
More and more vehicles are using exhaust
manifold/catalytic converters such as these. Each
unit goes through vigorous quality checks.
As many Undercar Digest readers know, Massachusetts had
adopted CARB rules for 1995 and
newer vehicles, and rumors persist
that other sections of the Northeast
will follow suit. Kaminski noted
that those regulations are still
being evaluated and updated, because unlike California,
Massachusetts has a number of
OBD-I and OBD-II vehicles that
were built to meet U.S. EPA standards and those catalytic-converter configurations do not always
match California converter configurations and California enginefamily numbers. CATCO is in
contact with officials at the commonwealth’s Vehicle Check
Department, the Department of
Environmental Protection and the
local U.S. EPA office to keep
abreast of the situation. Kaminski
noted that he has just learned from
the Department of Environmental
Protection’s deputy director,
Christine Kirby, that the announcement published in the
Massachusetts Vehicle Check Web
site last summer is incorrect and
the inspection update of summer
2010 is not being enforced.
“Regardless of what decisions
Massachusetts makes, we’re ready
to provide them with the best coverage available,” Andy said. “Bill
and other team members made it
possible for CATCO to offer
California superior catalytic-con-
(From left) Sue Eisfelder, customerservice supervisor, visits with
customer-service team members
Ann Prince and Karen Watson.
Jeff Lichner
verter coverage, so we are well
poised to do the same there. We’ve
already come up with solutions to
many of their questions.”
CATCO is also answering the
requests from shop owners who
service diesel pickups and the
popular diesel-powered Sprinter
vans and trucks offered by
Mercedes Benz and Dodge. Andy
said CATCO will offer diesel-particulate-trap coverage for these vehicles by this summer.
“We’ve stayed on top of the
emission-controls aftermarket because we know our customers depend on us,” Andy said. “We have
the products they need to succeed,
and it all stems from the fact that
our team members are such hard
workers and are devoted to tackling any needs our customers
have.” UD
CATCOʼs redesigned
user-friendly
Web site
4410 W. 37th Ave.
Hobart, IN 46342
www.catcoglobal.com
219-947-1664