sunstream453

was sitting in the garage, looking for a possibly bad coil and doing short revs to see if i felt hiccups (to like 4k RPM) and all of a sudden i hear a POP, super loud and weird, followed by a huge puff of white smoke, more like a cloud. so i go back to my exhaust and i find these pieces on the ground, some of them like 20ft away. Theyre still coming too, not sure WTF to think. presently not running the car, obviously, im afraid that i might suck w/e that is back in. There are a lot more pieces too, some of them looking more melted than these

[img=http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/9897/p7231012oc0.jpg]
[img=http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/9897/p7231012oc0.9535668832.jpg]

Merlyn

iTrader: (4)

Yes, that looks to be pieces of cat material

sunstream453

hmmm, maybe ill be getting headers sooner than i thought

n3985

iTrader: (36)

LOL, if you blew through your pre-cats I wonder how much more power you are making

sunstream453

lol, well MR. dyno says 240 so nothing special. is it safe to drive right now? would prefer not to have cat fragments in my cylinders

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

HA same think happened to me. i dont know if thats what came out of mine when it popped...but i had a loud pop and smoke when mine blew..i havent had any issues, but increase performance, because my car was lagging real bad in performance when i got it...my cat was clogged.

i'll be replacing my whole exhaust system real soon

FlawleZ

iTrader: (1)

Seems as though your cat ignited. Maybe from excess heat?

Merlyn

iTrader: (4)

More then likely you blew your cat out (unless you don't have one) because your precats are behind you cat.. and that material would not have passed through your cat.

sunstream453

well i know it was my precat cause i have a test pipe = no main cat.

so is the consensus is that it is still safe to drive?

FlawleZ

iTrader: (1)

I would assume most of what was loose either blew out or is ready to. If there is still anything loose in your exhaust it would be smart to pull it off and dump it out.

I must say though, I've never heard or seen that happen before with stock, untouched precat/cat systems unless there are excessive miles or use on them.

sunstream453

well its got 9x,xxx miles with a LOT of racing included there so im not really surprised. in fact im happy as long as it doesnt get sucked back in

SoonerFan

iTrader: (5)

i wouldnt drive it....you could suck that material in to the cylinders and score the walls

Scottwax

iTrader: (8)

I agree with Sooner on this one.

vernk

and thats why you should be sure to change the filter on your exhaust

sunstream453

yeah, im not sure WTF to do. buying new cats doesnt really seem to be an option, even discounted to daveB levels thats still like 1k for parts. cattman headers are 850 or some other alternative i dont know about. clearly i cant drive the car, i just remembered the problem the sentras had with sucking the cats back in and it seems like it would just be that much easier with pieces falling off.

Scottwax

iTrader: (8)

Look in the 5th gen classifieds, I seem to recall seeing a few full exhaust systems in there.

sunstream453

so do you think i can get an exhaust shop to fab up a pipe to replace the cats? some seem to think they wont for legal reasons but i have no experience with that sort of thing and was hoping someone else did

Scottwax

iTrader: (8)

A good muffler shop should be able to help you out.

AceofSpds

iTrader: (4)

you could take em off and try to knock out the rest of the cat material, otherwise i doubt an exhaust shop would be able to make something bypass them or w/e. Ever try welding cast iron? Its next to impossible.

sunstream453

well ill be calling exhaust shops early in the morning, hopefully they can help me out. the last thing i want here is to replace them with stock precats...

Derrick2k2SE

iTrader: (3)

If you're up to taking them off the car they should be easy to hollow out. That material is very brittle and comes out easily. Just be sure to use a mask so you don't breathe any of it in.

Unless you know the shop they probably won't remove cats. There's a big fine if they get cought and one for you too. I'm not saying don't do it, just be careful.

NisTech

definitely don't drive it or even start it to drive to a shop.
Even if you hollow your precats you will never pass emissions and it would smell pretty nasty if daily driven since you don't even have a main cat. Same story with cattman headers. Some ppl drive like that, including myself on the previous car but would not do that again.
Your decision!