UPDATE: Went back to liverpool exhaust and they put the car on the hoist and we determined that the hot air is coming from the the header flange (where the cat connects to the header) apparently the itr headers that I have don't meet up 100% with the cat, just as EGB18CT said. Just wondering what the best solution would be...am I right to think that the header flange does not meet 100% as the flange is bigger than the cat's inlet? And if this is the case, would getting a cat with a bigger inlet size solve the problem?