What to do with a catalytic converter?

I have the whole exhaust off my Yugo laying around. I don't think it is good enough for anyone to use it but I don't think I can sell it to a junkyard or anything because of the rules on scrapping cats. What the hell can I do with it?

I've lived in two states with yards happy to take scrap cats, provided they can get a copy of your ID....

Scrappy man pays good money for those around here.

I sold my Yugo cat to Omnisource, $5 a pound, if you provide ID and a thumbprint. It was 5 lbs IIRC.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Omnisource, $5 a pound, if you provide ID and a thumbprint.

If you can get that for the Yugo, that's a pretty good deal.

Otherwise, that's not much considering the amount of precious metals that are on bricks. Especially post Tier2/LEVII.

Different locales have different rules, but where I live the recycler will take a copy of your ID and the cat and give you cash money. In and out, just have to dodge the bums turning in bags of cans for beer money.

a few years ago i sold the cat from my '94 PGT on eBay for $200.

The scrap guys used to give us $40 for cat cores. I'm sure they are worth more now. As long as it is not hollow, they can scavenge the precious metals inside for a profit. Junk yards can take in used cats, they just can't sell them. Unless you have a good relation with that junkyard, then they just sell you "an exhaust system"

I called today to see about scrapping the cats from the truck I'm parting out and the one that came off the D when I moved to headers, and they won't take them without documentation from someplace that did the work for you (replaced the cat on the car with another) or that you scrapped the vehicle it came off of. They outright said it made things nearly impossible for people like us who do our own work. Most of it was apparently due to very recent local and state legislation here in KY (which is kind of stupid since we have NO emissions testing...)

Cone_Junky wrote: The scrap guys used to give us $40 for cat cores. I'm sure they are worth more now. As long as it is not hollow, they can scavenge the precious metals inside for a profit. Junk yards can take in used cats, they just can't sell them. Unless you have a good relation with that junkyard, then they just sell you "an exhaust system"

$40 for the raw metal is pretty good, even with today's prices.

A typical catalyst is about 50 cu in (some bigger, some smaller, but that's pretty close).

Palladium is currently about $650/oz Platinum is about $1600/oz Rhodium about $1300/oz.

With those prices, a loading of about 50g/cuft (yea, wierd units, but that's what is used), it would be more than $40 in those metals. For the Yugo, I'm pretty sure they didn't use that much- not in the 80's.

Try to get cash for the brick, and recycle the metal that is on them. The ceramic is not worth anything.

Ashyukun wrote: I called today to see about scrapping the cats from the truck I'm parting out and the one that came off the D when I moved to headers, and they won't take them without documentation from someplace that did the work for you (replaced the cat on the car with another) or that you scrapped the vehicle it came off of. They outright said it made things nearly impossible for people like us who do our own work. Most of it was apparently due to very recent local and state legislation here in KY (which is kind of stupid since we have NO emissions testing...)

That's a theft issue, not an emissions testing issue.

alfadriver wrote:

Ashyukun wrote: I called today to see about scrapping the cats from the truck I'm parting out and the one that came off the D when I moved to headers, and they won't take them without documentation from someplace that did the work for you (replaced the cat on the car with another) or that you scrapped the vehicle it came off of. They outright said it made things nearly impossible for people like us who do our own work. Most of it was apparently due to very recent local and state legislation here in KY (which is kind of stupid since we have NO emissions testing...)

That's a theft issue, not an emissions testing issue.

I just ran into that as well. The law states you must have proof of ownership including but not limited to a receipt or bill of sale. The law says nothing about notes from repair shops. I bought the damn car, I have a receipt.

Put it on ebay for scrap. I've put a bunch on and usually get an average of $100 each

an example(not mine)--

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SCRAP-CATALYTIC-CONVERTERS-APPROX-10LBS-116-PLATINUM-PALLADIUM-RHODIUM-RECOVERY-/150926226141?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2323e772dd

Hmm, I just take them to the scrap yard with all my other scrap metal. They don't seem to care.

I scrap the converters seperately because they bring quite a bit more. Never ran into any issues here in middle TN...they just get a copy of your ID.

BUT

after seeing a couple of other posts I'm trying ebay next!

In reply to 93EXCivic:

Put it in a box with a 4 speed Yugo trans and ship it to me:)

I've had them pulled from eBay in the past, even when selling them explicitly for scrap. How do you guys get by with it?

Derick Freese wrote: I've had them pulled from eBay in the past, even when selling them explicitly for scrap. How do you guys get by with it?

Did you cut the flanges off?

Cut the flanges, list it in the right category, and state in the ad that it is not to be used, scrap only. If you use turbo lister, it automatically fills in the correct, Ebay friendly verbiage for you.

www.nasioc.com

Screen name: Bugface

He buys all mine. Tell him what you have and he PM's you a price. It's that simple. My Subaru cats fetch about $75.

That ebay ad gives me hope. But what's this "#116 Platinum" stuff about, do I need that sort of info or can I just state where mine came from? I replaced the factory H-pipe on my Mustang so there's a pair of cats that I can cut loose but I don't know much about them like what their made out of, etc.

in MA i got $125 for my M3's cat section, i cut off and kept the rest of tubing for future stuff. there was a guy that drove all around to different shops to buy old cats, i think we got $200 for a pair of v12 bmw cats.

Hmmm. Searching for 'scrap catalytic converter' on eBay comes up with a LOT of stuff... which means I've got to decide what to do with mine.

After finding out about all the new rules (which I'm fine with in terms of preventing theft- but seriously, I can show them the truck I'm parting out, I should be able to sell the damn cat off it to the scrap yard even if I'm not actually scrapping the whole truck Ahem. Sorry.) I stopped by the exhaust place near my place where I've had work done and have a bit of a rapport with the mechanics (roll up to any shop in a DeLorean, and they're pretty much guaranteed to want to talk shop with you . I told them what I'd encountered, and after chatting for a while, they finally decided that they could probably buy the cats from me.

I've got two: the big, flat sucker from the '89 K1500 truck I'm parting out (pretty much identical to this one) and the much smaller but older ('83) one from the DeLorean- its original one from when I ahem upgraded to a much higher flowing system. They said to come back tomorrow, and they'd buy them for $35 ($20 for the truck one, $15 for the D's cat).

On one hand, simply being rid of the things would be nice. On the other- if that auction is any indication, I can get at least half again as much for just the truck cat, and might be able to sell the old DeLorean one to another owner to 'recover the precious elements' from inside and find its way back onto a car.

Try this link

I sold an older BMW catalytic converter to them last year for $180 and they paid shipping. Take a picture of the converter and email it to them with the car model information and they will give you a quote.

GVX19 wrote: In reply to 93EXCivic: Put it in a box with a 4 speed Yugo trans and ship it to me:)

Do you need a Yugo catalytic converter? I have no idea if it is good or not but I will sell to you cheap if you need it.