I began Cattman Performance with the JetHot Y-pipe, it was my first product because no one else sold anything like it.

After a while, I decided to offer a stainless steel pipe to overcome some of the shortcomings that were inherent to the mild steel design. We've tinkered with that design to the point where I'm real pleased with the outcome. The new quiet flex is a real winner, and the quality and merge angle of the 2-1 collector is a work of art. Compare it with the incredibly crude swaged-metal dump collector that a competitor stamps out for their Y-pipe and you'll really appreciate what I mean. Now my stainless steel pipes are available for every Maxima and engine from 1989-2000, the only performance supplier to cover the entire gen3-gen5 span in any material, much less stainless.

Stainless is clearly the superior material in high-vibration and high temp exhaust applications, and TIG-welding is far stronger than the MIG-welding used for most mild steel fabrication.

Now the design is mature, the beauty of the stainless pipes is that they go out and all I hear back is the occaisional testimonial. I've sold well over a hundred, and not a single one has come back to me with a broken weld or metal fatigue (actually most of the JetHot issues are metal fatigue, not failed welds), or corrosion issue, or...

You get the idea. The JetHot pipes may be a good value, and I'll miss having a product to offer head to head with the Stillen (and I would still insist that the JetHot pipe is superior), but my interest is more in offering a high quality pipe that doesn't cause me any customer issues because they steal what is most valuable to me -- time and the customer's good will. I don't get that many complaints about my JetHot pipes, but they make up the vast majority of customer issues I do deal with, so who needs the headache. I've got to admit that I cannot make a pipe that represents that level of quality out of mild steel or for $335. And neither can anyone else.

So that's it, the end of an era, the Cattman JetHot pipe is being phased out. Obviously, I will continue to provide customer support for previous sales.

I'll also note that I expect the increased volume in S/S pipes will allow some moderate price reduction, but right now the best deal is the group deal for $400 running through October 13. I've already reached the threshold of 10 units and those are shipping already, so this is an open sale for $400 through the deadline, shipped immediately subject to availability. All orders taken through 10/13 will be fulfilled at this price, even if backordered. Check out the group sales forum for further information.

For those who don't want to stretch for the s/s but would still prefer a JetHot pipe to the alternative, I'll have 4 gen4 JetHot pipes that I'll sell for $300/each.

I'll just add that I apologize in a way for not keeping up with the forums anymore. As most know, I've got a day job and the time just didn't permit running Cattman and monitoring the forums and listserves -- not that I don't care what's going on, and I know that Cattman Performance takes a beating sometimes when I'm not around to defend myself, but that's just where the priorities have to be. Thanks to all my loyal customers, these last few months have been fantastic!

Brian C. Catts