Here is a Stainless steel catalytic convertor that is CARB smog legal for your watercooled Vanagon. It will fit either 1.9ltr or 2.1ltr. The catalytic converter comes with a threaded hole for the oxygen sensor for the 2.1. If your van is 1.9 and the oxygen sensor threads into the J pipe, please order the optional plug for the catalytic converter in the dropdown box above. Please make sure the plug is correctly tightened before running the engine! The Magnaflow, California Air Resource Board Executive Order is D-193-105.
For some background - At the beginning of 2009 in California and the beginning of 2021 in Colorado, the California Air Resources Board started requiring a California only catalytic converters and Colorado later followed suit. Funny because they did not make the emissions standards any more stringent than they had been previously. All we can say, is that although we found our other catalytic converters to be okay, we have noticed that emissions do run dramatically cleaner with this unit. Good news for the environment, and if you have a van that you had been struggling with getting through a smog test, you might be surprised how much cleaner it runs with this catalytic converter.
** CARB 2.1Ltr gasket information:
If you have a 2.1Ltr van, 2wd, or 4wd, we highly recommend that you include the 2.1Ltr gasket/hardware kit above. There is no rhyme or reason to which J pipe Volkswagen used while assembling your exhaust. One J pipe will use a gasket to the catalytic converter, and the other will use a donut, and although the catalytic converter flange is flat, if your J pipe takes a donut, you will have to use the donut. This may not look right, but from our experience installing these catalytic converters in our shop, the donut seals just fine.
Please make sure your oxygen sensor is functioning correctly before installing a new catalytic converter. Our shop installs a new oxygen sensor with every convertor we install. Failure to do so may result in the premature failure of the catalytic converter!
For the non-CARB compliant catalytic converter, please click here.
