Gutting out cats?

Hey everyone,

I'm looking at helping out my exhaust, but I'm pretty low on money.

I know of some people that just cut off the mufflers and end it after the resonator... but I was wondering what would happen if I were to just gut my cats out.

I had a friend with an older t-bird (87 I think) who had problems so he ended up gutting the cat out and it ran fine. I know it won't pass emissions (there are certain areas out here I can register my car where I wont have to do emissions testing).

Is this harmful in any way? beneficial in any way? what do you guys think?

IT wouldnt cost much to remove the cats,and add a peice of tube to
take the place of the cats. that way you can slip them back on if need be.
two peice pipe 4 clamps,maybe cost you $10.00 to $15.00.

The cats are that easy to remove? I have no exhaust experience, so I had no idea they could just be unbolted. I thought they were welded on.

So what's the stock diamter, 2"? 2.5"? Exactly how long would I need? This idea seems more appealing now...

Most are. you can buy a cutter made to cut exhaust pipe at auto zone
or a store like them what ever you have in your area,get the clamps
& pipe at the same time.JC WHITNEY would have every thing you need
and the cheapest & you can order from home

Most are what? Welded on or easy to remove?

i had this idea awhile ago, take off the cats and get a high flow res. i was on my way to gettin them off, i had a guy at the body shop who said he would cut out the old cats and weld in some straight pipe. he took one look at my exhuast after we got it on the lift and then he told me he wasnt goin to do it. it would be too hard to weld it up since the cats are a 90* bend and he would have to weld way up right next to the engine, he said he didnt wanna get the cats off and not be able to get a good weld around the new pipe. so it would be hard to weld it up if you have little or no experience with welding. not sure if the cats can be unbolted, maybe you can do it after you unbolt them but then you would have to get the dimensions perfectly or it wouldnt go back in.

and from what i hear, exhuast shops wont take off cats for you either, its illegal and they can get into big trouble for it. not to mention the crappy sound everyone says guttin the cats or replacing them would give your car.

the resognator is the biggest restrictions on our engines, or so i hear. my plan is to pay the $100 for a 18" magnaflow and replace the stock resognator with that. then in the summer when i start working full time i will buy better headers and high flow cats an then pay $200-$300 more for an exhuast shop to well up a better exhuast using the magnaflow resognator i had purchased and got installed earlier. its a long process and allot of work, but then my complete exhuast will be done and i will never have to wory about it again.

Go to SCP and get a pair of SS high flow cats ($65.ea.) and be legal everywhere. They will flow like a straight pipe and any shop will install them. good luck

The high-flow cats arent direct replacements. I'd have to place them somewhere else along the exhaust line, PLUS removing or gutting my existing cats. I'm thinking of gutting out the cats now (I can register my car in a place where I wont be required to do emissions testing) and then later buying the magnaflow resonator.

Gutted cats will sound like *****. Plus the biggest problem on the SC is the necked down resonator.

Leave the cats and have an exhaust shop cut out the resonator and put a y-pipe in there. Should be under $75.00. It won't sound as good as a decent replacement resonator, but it will get rid of that big exhaust restriction.

Note that gutting the cats isn't very easy and would require 70% of the work of just replacing the resonator. Gutting the cats sounds so bad because the chamber for the cat turns into a resonating chamber and causes it to sound buzzy.

Well, replacing the resonator is going to happen real soon, so I'm not worried about the annoying sounds it will make. I'm just looking at freeing as much airflow as possible... for cheap.

gut cats

I gutted mine w/ no regrets, it's easy
e-mail me for details, I just don't have time now to list the steps.

As long as the stock resonator is in place, it won't matter how much you free up air flow upstream. As it will always be limited by the less than 1-7/8 opening at the back side of the stock resenator.

You can cut the cat off. but first buy some pre-bent pipe that you think you need from JC
Hold the pipe up you bought next to the down tube and cat to make sure it will fit.then cut the
cats off and put the pipe on this is the cheapes way that YOU want to do.DIY
IF YOU WANT A BETTER SET UP DO IT LATER
You can get some pipe at a local muffler shop,but dont tell them what you are doing,or buy from JC.

this is cheap,it will help ,not the best,but its cheap,will get you by till you come up with more money.