A fight to protect my catalytic converter

[JEM]

Originally Posted by ShuttlePilot

I'll share the thought process we've had in industrial facilities about preventing theft/break ins at unattended locations.

#1 best method of protection is to make your location more time consuming to steal from as compared to your neighbor. The thieves will move on after scouting it out.

#2 The best invention that has ever been invented for thieves is this. It's cheap, hides in a backpack and cuts through metal like butter. Plan your protection to defend against it.

- Eric

1) Yeah, make it inconvenient and/or painful, we've got several cameras around the house and a big-ass and very visible IR flood next to the one over the driveway. I've got one on the chimney too, looking down the cul-de-sac, but it's not working right now. Gotta figure that out.

2) Getting to the TOP of the exhaust pipe with an angle grinder might be a challenge. Need a good Diablo metal blade in a Sawzall.

3) I have one of those Bauer angle grinders, I leave it at the rental property at the other end of the state for little jobs I need to do when down there. Cheap and built well enough, but not very powerful. It'd work well on thieves, it'd struggle with stainless exhaust pipe. For serious cat removal you need DeWalt, Milwaukee, Makita, or at least Ryobi

[Offroading_is_Fun]

Not just a problem up in WA... A week or so ago, same thing happened to one of my parents cars in a historically-zero-crime neighborhood (About the only crime we had was the lawyer across the street left his bag of laptops open and in plain sight... his window was smashed and they were gone the next morning.)

Came around at 5PM, Amazon delivery guy was in their way... Drove around the block for Amazon to leave before jacking the car up by the drivers door (What, can't even use the lifting point....? C'mon?!). Start-to-finish less than 5 mins.

Turns out Livermore PD (Where the stolen plate on their car was from) was more interested than Oakland PD, and that the guys who did it chose to target a 20 year old and 250K mile odyssey rather than the ford ranger 20 yards away on the other side of the street (No jacking required...).

[BCam]

I notice that Facebook Marketplace is full of ads for catalytic converters, like this one that states "we buy all types of catalytic converters and pay cash on the spot". Possible LE sting ads?

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...Anull%7D%22%7D

[bdd]

Reaize this is an issue. Has been in all cities for years and years. Google how to protect them. Frankly, my current vehicles, even though lifted are all land rovers and no one seems to bother them, but others that live in urban places have problems. Just another reason to never live near a city.

[arctictraveller]

I'VE GOT IT! Boywonders idea has been my favorite so far, but I have been trying to think of an effective, easy, low cost, simple way that won't add additional heat to the floor and it came to me. Razor wire........Wrap some of that around the converter and the pipe on either side and any thief is going to abandon ship before he runs out of blood. The stuff is cheap, it won't obstruct air flow over or around the converter, and it will be easy to (very carefully) wrap it around the converter and secure with a couple hose clamps on the pipe. The stuff is very effective, so much so that some places don't allow it. I managed a building with several break ins from the roof and I tried to put razor wire around the perimeter, but the city made me remove it, it was too dangerous for the poor criminal. If someone bleeds out under the van, you might need a lawyer pretty quickly, but never the less, I've added this to the project list.

[kccourtney]

I'm so impressed with the longevity of this thread.

Seems to me it wouldn't be too difficult to modify the cat so it could be easily removed and reinstalled when needed (smog check). It could be replaced with a section of straight pipe that is also removable. You wouldn't score any environmental points but you might even get a bump in performance.

[N147JK]

Originally Posted by kccourtney

I'm so impressed with the longevity of this thread.

Seems to me it wouldn't be too difficult to modify the cat so it could be easily removed and reinstalled when needed (smog check). It could be replaced with a section of straight pipe that is also removable. You wouldn't score any environmental points but you might even get a bump in performance.

But would this work? For example, is the engine tuned to run most efficiently with the converter in place? What about sensors and potential ECU problems?

[simplesez]

Originally Posted by N147JK

But would this work? For example, is the engine tuned to run most efficiently with the converter in place? What about sensors and potential ECU problems?

No. It is an overly simplistic approach that results in a check engine light, non compliance, and a stinky exhaust.

People do it all over the place but a poster from California should know it is illegal for a shop to do it and you will not pass emissions.

This topic is debated all over the internet. Beyond the debate, the rules are the rules.

[Scalf77]

A Catalytic converter theft caught on camera in Portland Nice to see that a new law is going into place in January. I'm not sure what the laws are in Washington, it won't help Portland much if they can just go over the bridge and sell in another state.

-greg

[Otter]

You’re right, Greg. Here in Portland, we’ll get some protection come Jan 1, 2022. But unless Washington State passes something similar, we’ll be supplying all the crooks selling converters in Washington. Hoping for them to smarten up!

https://www.recyclingtoday.com/artic...tic-converter/