Catalytic converters -- part 2

I thought that I was done with one catalytic converter. I was wrong. When I fitted it to the car, I realized that the threaded nipple for the thermocouple was in the wrong place. Because space is really tight at the back of the car, the cat had to be installed at a very specific orientation. Turns out I welded in the fitting 120 degrees from where it needed to be. Oops. I wish I would have realized this before welding it in place. I well, out with the grinder to make a small modification. I cut the fitting back out and put in the correct place. I then had to weld a patch to fill in the old hole. My welds are no stacks of dimes, but I think they'll do.



Here's how the new cat looks compared with the old. Because the new cats are oval, and the old one offset, the main challenge is how to orient the new ones so nothing touches anything else.



Here's the dry fit that I should have done earlier. It fits pretty well so on to cat #2.



Doing the work on the other converter was pretty straightforward. However, I had to be much more careful with the orientation to make sure everything fits.



After a bit of final welding, new exhaust donuts and tightening bolts 1/8th turn at a time, everything was back together. I started the car and the first thing I notice is that the exhaust note is different. The car used to have a really deep rumble at idle and now it's not quite as deep. Just as I'm about to head out for a test drive, it started to rain. Guess my drive down to E@RTC will be the test drive.