Honda's engineers worked hard to make the F20C not only a powerful motor but also one that put out relatively low emissions. They went through the pain to make sure that the S2000 was certified as a Low Emissions Vehicle. In fact, that philosphy extends to all of Honda's products whereby the company does its best to minimize the negative impacts of its vehicles on the environment. By running the S2000 without a cat, you show disrespect, and disregard for all the hard work that those engineers put in, into making the car an LEV vehicle at the expense of gaining a few measly horsepower.

Every little thing makes a difference. Yes mowers and trimmers and other such lawn equipment don't have catalytic converters, but then again, they aren't run for as long a period of time as vehicles in a given time period, and their engines don't produce as much emissions as a regular road car would. In the summer I use my mower for 1 hour , once a week. I drive my car about 1-2 hours on average every day; justifying the use of a test pipe because lawn equipment doesn't come with a cat is not valid.

 

Well put Vishnus. Honda had an environmental philosophy put into action long before the first ricer put a fart cannon on their CRX.

And regarding lawn mowing there are alternatives such as electric mowers or just watering you grass just enough to keep it stable thus necessitating less mowing. For homes under construction soon-to-be owners you can choose low maintenance options like Buffalo grass.

 

Or, you can mow the lawn in the evening as recommended here when air quality is crappy in the summer.

 

And who are you to judge? Here is the how you can spot a liberal: A liberal not only imposes his or her view on you, they try to change YOU. They preach about intolerance and their PC values and always stick up for the little man but when it comes down to something that THEY think is wrong, they try to directly change YOU. They love to make fun of a non-liberal for bad choices, but typically do not want to fess up when they are wrong or are being hypocritical.

If you don't like something, don't participate in it. However, if someone is running catless at your local club meet, don't you dare say anything to them about it. It is their choice and you have no right to impose your views on anybody else, no matter what you think is right.

Such idealists

This is one thing that really bugs me about college: there are all these protests and hippie PC B.S flyers posted all around about "environment meetings" and "anti-bush rallies" and crap like that. Even the professors actively engage their liberal agenda during class. I'm so sick of it. But do I try to change them? Nope! It's their right as an American to do what they want (despite how annoying it may be), and I will never try to change someone else for their views. I wish the liberals were as considerate towards other people's opinions, however much they try to fake that they do.

 

I still don't get why a group of people are reprimanding those in this thread with testpipes when they themselves are not doing everything in their power to quell emissions and make environmental issues a priority. I know several crunchy, vegetarian, Green Party, evironment-first people and believe me when I say... to those that are genuinely interested in these issues, you're really no better than I am. It's laughable that you think we're on different levels here.

If you really want to make a difference in the world, I can provide you with plenty of links to organizations that are actually being pro-active in their quest to clean up the world. Otherwise, stop wasting your time here. The number of S2000s running around with a testpipe is a mere drop in the bucket (ocean) of the world's environmental problem. If you wanna "get serious" about this while still doing little to no work except typing on your keyboard, go over to the Mustang and Camaro forums where those guys are removing their cat(s) for H pipes in exponentially larger numbers than here (after you sell your S2000, of course because the Greenies aren't going to accept you into their club with a two-seat sports car) and preach to them.

 

Your attitude is part of the problem....it's all too easy for every individual or business to rationalize that their emissions are just a "drop in the bucket", but collectively they add up to a material impact.

The failure in your logic is that Honda produced a low emissions vehicle, and you illegally made it a high emissions vehicle. Sure, my motorcycle pollutes more than a typical car, but I didn't disable any emissions systems nor do I ride it on public roads.

I'm not an environmental activist by any stretch of the imagination, but the least I can do is leave OEM emissions equipment in place so as no to create totally unnecessary pollution for a couple of extra HP...IMO, cat removal is a really selfish thing to do.

 

i speed and i have a testpipe. i know both are "wrong" but i personally dont view them as a big deal

 

...*sigh*...







This is about MY rationalization? Are you kidding me? Could you illustrate my point any more beautifully?

 

 

One of the more amusing issues discussed in this thread involves the the morality aspect of driving without a cat. I assume that most everyone would agree that driving an s2k without a cat may produce exhaust gases that might be somewhat more harmful to the environment if produced in massive volumes on a daily basis. However, based on the limited number of s2k sports cars produced to date coupled with the small percentage of owners electing to remove the cat, any increase in the amounts of harmful exhaust gases is so insignificant that the level of impact is no doubt immeasuable.

If I recall correctly, someone justified the non-use of cats on race cars racing on private property but refused to accept drivers using them on public streets. I am not a racing fan per se but I believe a strong argument can be made the the number of race cars racing on private tracks far exceeds the number of sk2 cars with no cats that are driven on public streets. I am curious whether the drivers of the open wheel championship racing series which has annual racing events on public streets in the cities of Long Beach, Las Vegas, and beginnng next year in Phoenix are viewed as using poor judgment or are exhibiting a flaw in their morals as proposed in a prior post.

Imposing a morality aspect into this discussion is without simply absurd. First, who can define morality in terms that are acceptable to all? IMO, morality is merely a concept created by men as they began to form relilgions and societies, the primary focus of which appears to be establishing a concept to control the masses. In many societies existing today, religious concepts of morality are commonly the foundation for many of the laws enacted by the governments of respective nations whose people worship different religions. Therefore, even throughout the world, religious principals differ and so do concepts of morality.

Specific to the focus of this thread, morality is definitely a non issue since the use of test pipes has been outlawed in virtually all local and state jurisdictions. As such, a strong argument exists that the decision of those s2k drivers to use test pipes in lieu of cats are allowed solely due to the failure of enforcement of the ordinances by the local police, and state emission testing centers.

Why morality even being mentioned in this thread? Use of a straight pipe or not, IMO I believe everyone's morality has been compromised at least once during their lives. It could have occurred by commiting criminal conduct in violation of laws pertainign to the use of illegal drugs or non criminal conduct by smoking cigarettes in a public restaurant knowing that the second hand smoke kills others. Is calling in sick to take the day off from work, cheating on your wife or girlfreind, or justifying additional deductions that are unsupportable to minimize one's taxes involve moral issues? And, lastly, does speeding, which is a criminal offence represent a flaw in one's morals to obey the laws of the community?

Anyone who owns an S2000 and contends that he/she has not once exceeded the posted speed limit by at least 20 mph is one that considers lying to be moral act or does not consider obeying laws to be a moral issue. It is no different with the use of test pipes.

Everyone is entitled to make their own decisions and the live with the consequences. Even though another's decision to use a test pipe may violate a particular ordinance, I do not believe anyone has the right to judge such person's morality. If you have a problem with someone using a test pipe, then call the authorities and request enforcement. If the odds of being caught or arrested were high, most everyone would not speed and cats would suddenly reappear on most s2k used for street driving.