My 02 GLE was performing very poorly from what was obviously exhaust restrictions of some kind. The inevitable P0430 code came so I gutted both precats thinking I'd eventually put some headers on. Nothing changed for about 500 miles, but since then my gas mileage has jumped 2-3 mpgs for the past couple thousand miles. I was considering headers anyway as I was not getting very good mileage.

Is there any downside to just leaving the cats gutted and going with it as is? I would rather not part with the cabbage at this point for the car considering I have 3 colleges to pay for starting right around the corner and the car has 173k miles. I'd throw on some o2 sims to get rid of the codes, but I'd love to be able to get another 50k miles out of it without having to put much into it. It still has some performance issues when it's hot outside, so I'll probably replace the MAF sometime soon. But everything else is great.

 

the only downside is polution , you have no cats now...otherwise all is fine....
wish I went that way and not dealing with aftermarkets crap , apart from I can't think of tommorow with no good air and enviroment for my kids........

 

Actually, he still has a main cat downstream, so does still have a cat.


I don't even think you'll need sims at this point.
If I were you, I'd look into the popular pre-cat replacements that have been brought up lately. Seems better than have gutted anything.

 

Just came from doing that , 2 Magnaflow precats ... the whole procedure was dissapointing , too much hassle getting everything aligned and put toghther .... NOTHING mathes the factory robust precats (at least as a tube...).......

 

The thread I read wasn't from Magnaflow, hmm, I didn't know they made such an item. The threads I read made it seem very easy and affordable.

 

I've done some searching and am not sure which aftermarket precats you're referring to, but would be open to anything more economical at this point.... although, OBX headers are pretty affordable but I'm not sure I want to mess with the install (I'm not as skilled as many on here are) and the cattman's are quite a bit more.

 

This is sort of where I was basing my opinion. Also, in recent threads (posts in threads, not threads on the actual subject) I have eard of more and more companies (can't think off the top of my head) making these things.
http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...ght=Old+vs+new

 

OK, I do recall seeing that thread at one point.... I think when I first started to notice performance issues I knew were coming from the exhaust. That might be an option, but the cost for two of them is still about $150 more than the OBX headers, so not sure if that makes sense for me or not. I may have to revisit the DIY guide for those headers. I just don't trust myself enough yet on a job that requires work arounds. I'm not experienced enough to believe I won't screw it up.