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| As Extraordinary as Everyone Else  |
I’m not a chemical engineer but I know that many Porsches have their cats built into the cars headers. It makes it virtually impossible to reach unless the car is up on a lift… ------------------ Eddie Our Founding Fathers were men who understood that the right thing is not necessarily the written thing. -kkina | |||
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Member |
That would be my thought as well. I doubt crackheads etc would drive 50 miles or some distance to find a "preferred dealer". If you make it hard for them to sell I imagine they would stop. | |||
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thin skin can't win |
I can't buy Sudafed without a background check and cross examination but stolen converters swap hands easily. It ain't that hard to fix, just takes some backbone at the state level. You only have integrity once. - imprezaguy02 | |||
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| Internet Guru |
It would seem the car manufacturers could engineer a solution to simply cutting the cat out of the exhaust...maybe make it inaccessible from underneath. | |||
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| Thank you Very little  |
During the gas crisis an engineer developed a carb for cars that would reduce emissions and get 100 mpg, end the energy crisis. Scuttlebutt is that Oil Sheiks/Barons paid him off not to produce it, car companies as well 
Eliminate the ICE engine, eliminate the problem and expense. | |||
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| Big Stack |
Everyone knows what metals are extracted from Cats. Restrict the trade in them to known sources, and have some sort of licensing. What's driving this theft is that some skel can take a Sawssall to some random cars exhaust system, take the cat, walk to a scrap dealer, and get cash for it. Make that process more difficult, and think a couple steps down the chain in preventing the skels from circumventing the restrictions, and this will become to much of a PITA, and it will stop.
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| His diet consists of black coffee, and sarcasm.  |
A cordless recip saw makes a great deal of noise. I think it more likely thieves use a chain cutter.  Takes longer, especially with stainless steel, but is quieter. As for the question posed by the OP, I don't think a catalytic reaction can be started, while still maintaining a manageable cat size, without the platinum, palladium and more recently (actually not that recent, more like 25 years) rhodium. | |||
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Political Cynic |
If you want to take the hit on pollution you could eliminate the converters entirely Or boobytrap them | |||
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Man of few words |
The thieving assholes stole my catalytic converter off my Honda CRV a year ago. It was my 2nd vehicle and I was in the process of selling it to my nephew. They got him while he was at work all night. I lucked out and got a new one on eBay for $50 or so and a local shop charged me about $100 to install it. I think the people who buy the converters in bulk should be held accountable. They know damn well when the piece of shit thief comes in with a pile of cats that they didn't just have them in their garage. | |||
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Member |
No doubt there are scumbag thieves that steal cats and they ought to have their hands cut off for it. But the assumptions that anyone who sells “bulk” cats or cats cut off with a sawzall is a thief are laughable. I bought junk and converted to scrap for many years as a side job, hundreds of cars included. Guess how I removed every one of my legally obtained cats... yup a sawzall. Also I didn’t sell my cats to the same yard that bought all the rest of my metal because they didn’t pay enough. I would save them up and make a trip to the city a couple times per year, usually with literally a truck bed full of cats. During these years I got to know many other guys who were doing the same thing. Were the yards buying some stolen cats, probably but I would bet the majority of them were legal. ----------------------------------- | |||
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| Get my pies outta the oven!  |
There are shields and cages that can be installed over the catalytic converter that will discourage most sawzall thieves because it becomes too much work and takes too long which is key to how they operate. They have to get in and out fast usually before they’re caught. I’ve seen ones that are like a solid cover of thick sheet metal and ones that are more like a cage or web of steel cable. | |||
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| 7.62mm Crusader |
Nope. Even the Church truck which they hit last year was right on top of a residential area. The trains run right behind it all and I believe they waited on a train to run their battery saw. One of the Church Members said they didnt even clean up after themselves and left sawzall blades laying in the parking lot. | |||
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| 7.62mm Crusader |
Horse shit. I bet within a 12 mile distance running north to south, there have been 40 to 60, or more stolen from peoples vehicles and businesses. You may have your share of legally acquired cats but I assure you, you have competitors who dont get them legally. This is a nation wide problem and requires fixing. Either take the value away from the converters by design or catch and lock up the thieves. Make them sacrafice by earning and paying back for damages. | |||
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| 7.62mm Crusader |
I have seen a large section of a rebar steel cage they cut the end out of. Those darn things are made from 1/2" rebar. I cant recall how many cuts they made but they left the cut away section on the ground. I didn't ask about the 3 they got last week. Will ask about that this morning. | |||
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| Get my pies outta the oven! |
Well that's rebar I'm talking about thick steel cable, they won't be cutting that very easily or quickly | |||
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Member |
It's a huge problem here. The neighbor across the street had theirs jacked a couple of days ago. Not long ago some guy caught one in the act, shot him, tied him to the bumper and dragged him to a field. He is in jail of course. | |||
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Raptorman |
All they have to do is put a hard plate under the car like Toyota will do on a Prius if you request it. ____________________________ Eeewwww, don't touch it! Here, poke at it with this stick. | |||
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| Save today, so you can buy tomorrow |
RVs stored in public storage are being hit nationwide. Easy target because of the height. Easy to crawl underneath. With a reciprocating saw, the thieves are in and out in a matter of couple of minutes. There are few members from an RV forum where I am a member who were victimized. A friend of mine who lives in West Covina, CA almost got his catalytic converter stolen. His mom yelled to couple of guys when she saw them under my friend's car. They took off in a hurry and left the alligator jack, with his car still lifted. Police came over and took the jack as evidence. _______________________ P228 - West German | |||
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| Man of few words |
LOL "the majority of them were legal." LOL Catalytic converter theft | |||
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| Member |
If your going to quote me, quote the entire sentence. I clearly said “I would bet the majority of them were legal”. And that opinion, obvious by the words I would bet, comes from someone who has many years of experience and knows many more with 10 plus years of the same. ----------------------------------- | |||
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