Anyone know off hand if both the flanges on the front and rear of the cat are the same, also are they in line with one another as in a straight shot? I gotta make what you guys call a test pipe, figure if its a straight shot, I wont have to take the whole car to a shop to have any bends made.

Also are the flanges standard 2 bolt, and what size? I know the Y-pipe seams to have a weird O-ring shape gasket in there or some thing.

 

Same flanges. Straight shot IMHO. Flange orientation? One might be rotated. Std 2 bolt.

But you have to get the right size, decided on what type of pipe dim (o.d or I.d )

Would be best just to have the shop take off the cat and do it that way. If they have the cat, it would only take them 20 min to make an emissions illegal straight pipe for you. IMHO, these things really don't do anything.

 

they make the car loud and annoying

 

and they only cost about 10$ in parts to make as opposed to at least 30$ for a replacement cat

 

Wow, only 30 bux for a cat? I just don't wanna spend money on a new cat, and this will guarontee never have a clogged cat come up.

And yes, removing a cat will give you some power back, there is NO doubt about that, can you feal it, maybe not...

 

A properly operating cat has little or no difference in power output.

 

I can show you a 10 HP gain in a larger motor by removing a cat ONLY. Trust me, you stick a behive in your exhaust system, its gonna restrict, maybe not a ton, but it will definatly do some.

Hey, if a cat made no difference, everyone would have them on their hotrods so they wouldnt polute the crap outta everything, but they dont cause we all know they rob power, higher HP motors, higher HP losses. 190HP maxima might go up to 192HP, and if someone on this board can feal 2 HP, let me know :-)

 

Hot Rod guys don't have them because they don't have to. Would you? I don't think all those 400hp Porsche Turbo and 350hp M3/M5 guys have a problem with cats.

So for your "2 hp" you are going to "pollute the crap outta everything"?

Or is it not required in your area? It's a pretty big fine if you are caught. Even bigger fine if the shop that's doing it gets caught.

 

I am not doing it for the power gain (As I mentioned previously a few times) I am doing it cause I dont wanna spend XXX on a replacement cat when I don't have to. I live in Michigan, if your not speeding, racing, blowing through lights (cept in Dowtown Detroit), or cause a car accident, your not breakin the law :-) If some cop wants to get down on his hands and knees and look at my 13 year old car to see if I have removed my cat, well, I would be amazed, they hardly like to pull over shorter cars cause the dont like to bend over! Trust me, I know the laws, I know shops are "not allowed to remove cats" I know the fines, etc. You just gotta know where to go. Kinda like these CAI kits you guys are running, I guess they all come with a 3" silicone coupler for your 2.5" Throttle body. I guess the guys selling these kits don't know where to find reducers.... its all about who you know, and what you know to get away with things, or do things right.

Oh, and Hotrodders do in fact have to wory about emmissions just like the rest of you guys in states that require testing. I guarontee you that any hard core one will have a bolt in cat instead of a welded in cat so they can pull it out and put a pipe in its place when not emmisions testing.

 

I noticed a difference when I took off my cat, The car seemed to accelerate easier. It didn't really increase noise that much but it did allow some goofy little resonances (however you spell it lol) to show up, its not that bad though. I've had some friends in my car and they said I was just being **** and it doesn't really sound much different, still. (and yes I had a functional cat).

Damon, I think Jeff is talking about hot rodders like mmeeeeeeee (68 Mooostang... No Tabs, Front Plate, or Emissions required, among other things that I forget about. Hell there are soo few restrictions sometimes it seems like it would be legal to go do a burnout in front of the police station with the thing ). Every state is different though.

 

Considering what I consider hot rods is pre-70's stuff, they don't have emission requirements. Eh, if you want a straight pipe, go ahead.

 

flanges are the same, and they are rotated. front of cat has 2 bolts and rear has 2 studs. it is a straight shot through.

just get you a hi-flow cat and not even worry about. i have noticed that my car has a little more throttle response than before. overall i highly recommend getting one.