So, my bone-stock '87 Sammy makes a rattling sound under hard acceleration (isn't it ALL hard acceleration with the 1.3?)  Anyway, it sounded like a loose heatshield, but on further examination, it appears to be coming from the cat.  I can kind of duplicate the sound by thumping on the cat with my fist.

When I got the thing it needed a new exhaust from the cat on back, so I took it to my local guy.  Since this is a daily driver, I opted for a side-out exhaust, right in front of the left rear wheel.  Bad for rock climbing, I know.  But this is a DD, and I was literally getting tired of (from) the exhaust coming in thru the rear window flap.

He welded a muffler directly to the back end of the factory cat, then artfully bent a pipe over the frame and out the side.

So now it seems I need to replace the cat.  I doesn't look like there's enough straight headpipe to patch in a cheap universal cat.  Am I stuck with buying a headpipe/cat assembly?  Maybe should I do it anyway, since they took the rusted outer pipe off the original?

Or does someone make a cheap really short universal cat?

This is being done on a tight budget, and things dear to me are being sold to finance it, so please no "You should buy a header and a 3" stainless cat-back system" suggestions.

Thanks

Well, since you didn't fill out your Bio I don't know where you
live, so I will tell you that California requires a new special cat
that is some how magically worth twice what a non Cal cat is
worth, I had a new on put on my pickup for $100, and a year
later on on the Suzuki was $235, so if you can get one from
say Arizona where they are cheep, do it, as far as short, they
come in different sizes to fit most applications, but the exhaust
guy will worry about the fitting

Wild

FYI, to keep exhaust fumes out, your exhaust needs to have a bend to the outside like the picture below.  Most new owners/tinkerers make the mistake of running the exhaust straight out the back without the 90 degree bends.  No need to run it out the side like you did.

X2 about where you are. If you were close in SoCal, I have a stock cat with head pipe That I took off mine when I put on the header. You can have free if you pick it up. I'm in Big Bear.

I'm in Pittsburgh, PA.  49 state cat is all I need.  I can find them on line as cheap as $45, but I don't know if it'll work.

Will work fine. If I ever need a new cat, I'm going to buy one out of state while on vacation. The engine wont know the difference and how is the smog guy going to know when it was put on.

California requires all cats be OBDII complaint now !!!!

Yes, for new replacements, existing working cats are still
legal to use until a replacement is needed

And how can they tell when it was replaced? Answer is they can't. They just can't sell you one here.

Wait,  you need an ODBC II compatible cat on a non-odbc II vehicle?

Will work fine. If I ever need a new cat, I'm going to buy one out of state while on vacation. The engine wont know the difference and how is the smog guy going to know when it was put on.

They can tell rather easily when they do the visual inspection, very few of the aftermarket cats have the same appearance of a stock or approved replacement cat and the condition will not match the rest of the exhaust. Luckily here in NY we can use a aftermarket cat after 8 years or 80K miles as long as it passes the sniffer test.

It's a 24 year old car.The cat has already been replaced a few times. How they going to be able to say when? It already looks different than the rest of the exhaust. It has passed smog a couple of times since they changed the law. An OBDII cat doesn't work any better on an OBDI car. Like I said before , all they can do is restrict the sale of OBDI cats in  and into the state. So far all they have checked me for at the state line was produce.

LOL, Good Ol'e Yermo inspection station

It's a 24 year old car.The cat has already been replaced a few times.  So far all they have checked me for at the state line was produce.

LOL, yeah they wouldnt get pissy bout that(forgot the age thing, LOL), you might be a evil terrorist bringing in a out of state orange or something.....

bonestock sammi right? the 1300cc carb engine?

waht I did is remove the cat and install a new one, and changed the whole exhaust as well. you can do a side-exhaust with at least an 18-24" resonator, 2" 1.75 or 2 diameter, and stick it out on the left side, almost at front of the rear left tire. make sure that they are mandrel-bent, not crush-bent.

I just used a galvanized reso and welded pipings.

in my opinion, change everything at once instead of troubleshooting- It might come out cheaper than doing trials.

here's what we did on my sammi before I swapped engines.

to avoid scraping the pipes during trails and treks, I made it go through the body and chassis.




sticks out just after the door. note that it's a LWB  so on a SWB it might be nearer the rear left tire.


hope this helps