Greetings all! I am not a trained mechanic and only feel comfortable fixing what is explained in the manual and/or on Youtube. But, my best source of info is this forum. Typically my repairs are to stock specs because that's what's in the manual. But my exhaust rotted away. The cat is the only part still good and in place. Emissions compliance is not required of me here in Ma. I'm considering cutting off the cat and running a straight pipe from the y-pipe to the muffler. I did a quick web search on the wisdom of such and it seems there may be a benefit in so doing. I'd like to know if the experts here can advise if it is a good idea. I hope to avoid a situation where I will have regrets. The engine is the 5.7L. Thanks.
CK5
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Delete Cat question
- Thread starter GaBnn3
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Won’t hurt anything. Personally, I prefer having at least a high flow cat on. Knocks down the odor and keeps some of the rasp out and noise down.
Is it the old OEM "pancake" converter?
Those were, in fact, bad for performance.
I'll second the "put a high flow cat on" thought however, especially if this is a K5 and you run with the rear window down. Even with a well running setup, you will get noxious fumes at times entering the cab that way, a converter does a really good job of mitigating that.
Those were, in fact, bad for performance.
I'll second the "put a high flow cat on" thought however, especially if this is a K5 and you run with the rear window down. Even with a well running setup, you will get noxious fumes at times entering the cab that way, a converter does a really good job of mitigating that.
Agree
Any place not CA will have cats cheap enough to replace. They help and don’t negatively affect the car enough to go without.
Any place not CA will have cats cheap enough to replace. They help and don’t negatively affect the car enough to go without.
I was running without cat, no performance increase from a seat of the pants feeling. Doing a new exhaust because of an engine swap, I will be putting a cat on this time. The exhaust was pretty nasty when it would blow in through the back window, hopefully the cat will help with this. On a pickup you would probably never notice.
i had a 350 tbi that had a few year old replacement pancake cat from the dealer before i got it . then i removed it and also did a 40 series flow master with single in 2 tail pipe out and WOW what a huge jump in the driver seat on power .
for the people who didnt notice any then you must of had a dead or empty pancake cat before you removed it .
as said tho if any thing go newer honeycomb style cat and keep the stink WAY down . i am to the point on my k30 i want to add one .
for the people who didnt notice any then you must of had a dead or empty pancake cat before you removed it .
as said tho if any thing go newer honeycomb style cat and keep the stink WAY down . i am to the point on my k30 i want to add one .
Thank you all very much for the input. Much appreciated.
I'll be going magnaflow when I finally get around to redoing the exhaust, as they gave me solid numbers when I asked.
Fwiw, if you do decide to run a cat, magnaflow says 250-350F on the inlet pipe (not converter body) is what they generally see where placement of the converter will be correct. Pretty easy to determine where that is using a tempilstik "crayon" on the existing pipe.
Fwiw, if you do decide to run a cat, magnaflow says 250-350F on the inlet pipe (not converter body) is what they generally see where placement of the converter will be correct. Pretty easy to determine where that is using a tempilstik "crayon" on the existing pipe.
Barry Ingram
Registered Member
In my experience eliminating the cat provides minimal power gains unless you have lots of cubic inch & good flowing heads , intake.
May cause emission inspection failure depending on local regulations.
May cause emission inspection failure depending on local regulations.
One thing if you do keep your cat/a cat the other emission equipment needs to be there and function. a fuel rich running engine will eventually damage the cat. Most likely melt it and degrade seat of the pants felt performance.
Depends on the vehicle year. Computer or no computer? Fuel injected or carb?
so if i just cutoff all the EGR and SMOG components, i should also remove my CAT so i dont start a fire?
Yes, the cat will get to rich a mixture to convert. This will cause it fail early, probably melt, and plug the exhaust.
I have seen them glow cherry red on the out side. I'm sure the glowing cats could ignite many things near enough.
I have seen them glow cherry red on the out side. I'm sure the glowing cats could ignite many things near enough.
Definitely the factory one, I don't have a lot of first hand with aftermarket cats. I expect they fail also, maybe not as fast.
Have you had any issues with your cats getting hot? Im assuming you dont have any smog stuff cause you sound like you like lots of power and loud exhaust lol no offense. I like power too just dont have moneys yet.
Also not sure how you run yours, if you get long highway runs. Im going to be using this to hunt some, so i def dont wanna pull off highway into the pasture or two track and start a fire.
Might be hard to tell,
Ive heard stories of fires starting from cats, as im a third gen fireman, i dont wana be the guy starts one i know that.
Gonna have to read up more, cause i really like having a quiet truck.
Cat only is like having a flowmaster, so its fairly barky, not quiet
I will admit that I remove more cats than I run, and don't live in an emission area
But never had heat issues on the case on the ones that I have used. I would double shield it if i was driving through the weeds much
I will admit that I remove more cats than I run, and don't live in an emission area
But never had heat issues on the case on the ones that I have used. I would double shield it if i was driving through the weeds much
Good idea on the shielding. I wonder if i can use some of that high temp wrap? not sure if it would trap too much heat aswell just cause it to melt. Ive seen some guys on here wraping exhaust, i might try go back and find out more. I want to run true dual, with cat and muffler on each side, with that though i would definately have to get rid of pancake cat to make room for two magnaflow cats and two flowmasters. but now im considering just running dual mufflers each side if the cat is gonna start a fire.
