has anyone removed the cat. under the middle of car? and left the stock y-pipe .. maybe same effect of perf. y-pipe??? and has there been a better or same h.p. gain? louder maybe?

 

do you mean replacing the cat wiht a straight pipe? A few have done so. But, I doubt you would gain a whole lot by just doing that and staying with the stock y-pipe. Now, if you get an aftermarket y-pipe and then remove the cat, you may see some more gains

 

but its illegal to remove the cat

 

The stock exhaust is fairly restrictive, so removing the cat might increase some power, however, it might only give 5 wheel horse power.

 

Only if you're caught :P

You can remove it if it's damaged, has more than 50k miles, or is older than 5 yrs *and* needs replacement.

You can make the *need replacement* by using a crowbar and making a hole in your cat "oops, did I hit a pothole?" lol

 

so is the y-pipe, and clear corners, etc....

 

Well many conflicting stories about removing the Cat and putting a straight pipe. Some people say with the stock Y and a straight pipe, the car pulls HARD on top end. Like VERY noticible. Some claim around 10-15hp since the cat is mainly for emmision and sort of lowers gas mileage also.

But then again other people is does nothing, and if you have a aftermarket y-pipe and a straight pipe, you mess up the sensors in the y-pipe.

Dont know what the hell to do or who to believe.

 

well, the main restriction in the exhaust is the stock y-pipe. Unless that is freed up, replacing the cat will not do a whole lot. The stock cat is not really that restrictive. I don't think I noticed a huge difference in going from the stock cat to the RT cat....

 

I have heard from a good source that the order of biggest power gain in the exhaust area are:

Y-pipe
Cat-back
Cat

Also to the guy who said the clear corners are illegal, that's not true, the legality issue arises when one puts different colored bulbs in clear location. The law is one Amber and white lights in the front of the vehicle and red, amber and white lights in the rear.

Thank you, drive through!!

 

wouldn't the car make a lot of smoke if there is no cat and just a straight pipe?

 

why? the cat is only causing a chemical catalyst reaction that is essentially cleaning harmful chemicals from the exhaust fumes. The amount of exhaust gas should not be affected.

 

No, he's correct only if the lense itself is not DOT or SAE approved. Not many aftermarket lenses are DOT approved so it is essentially illegal.