Hope that got your attention. So heres the real problem. I have a flowmaster cat-back kit on my 97 f150. I dont know when it was put on, it was there when i got the truck. My worries are that the cats have gone bad becuase there are two holes in one of my tips. I know for sure that its either just badly plated chrome on the tips or that cats are bad. Somebody help. Oh yah, if i do end up replacing the cats, do you think anyone would notice if i just left them off and put some pipe where theyre supposed to be? It ought to make it louder, and not to mention no need to dish out $300 for new cats - each.


Drew

 

Damn, I thought you were serious. I have had problems with squirels getting into my breather box on my daily driver. I took one from So. Cal to Tennesse . . .

 

How would holes in your tips cause you to think your cats are going bad??
Chrome tips are known to rust out over time...

Stopped up cats will usually be noisy sounding or your power will be significantly reduced and your truck won't be able to rev out.

 

When cats get old they stop cleaning to exhaust of the hydrocarbons and sometimes can put an acid into the exhaust. I don't know if that is the cause, but I tihnk its the tips rusting anyways. Does anyone have a good idea to replace them? They are welded on to the pipes, and I dont have a welder any more.

Drew

 

I see, but if that were the case then everything from your cats back would be eaten away as well.

You can always just get tips and clamp them on or get tips with built-in clamps on the end. You'll probably need longer tips since you'll have to cut off the old ones... definitely go with stainless steel ones, they'll last a loooong time.

 

Sounds like you just got cheap tips. If you do have bad cats, go with high-flow ones, not pipe. That'll throw a code I believe, and is probalby illegal. There's little difference between a larger diameter high-flow cat and a straight pipe, and your car won't stink.

 

Ford parts are a ripoff. You can get high flow aftermarket CATs for about $50. I ordered my 3" on wednesday for $49.95. CATCO, Eastern, and Carsound/ Magniflow are all about the same.

 

I've never found a squirrle in my truck's airbox....but I have found dogfood, catfood and various seeds in it along with some dark brown "seeds". After I've had my rig parcked for a few weeks or so. Never found any hair or fur that I can remember.

Under the hood one time when a friend asked how the dog food got there (penny sized chunks). I have him some shpiel about about the engine being so powerful that if I parcked faceing the other way(which faced the general direction of the dog food) that when I'd start it up it'd facume the dogfood out of pan, so naturally I had to back in to keep that from happening....

Makes me glad someone invented the airfilter....

 

I would be willing to bet that your cats are fine. Water is a byproduct of the combustion engine, that and all the stuff you throw up from the road. Get good quality tips and you will be fine.

Removing the cats is against Federal Law. I doubt you will gain any performance, if anything you will have trouble with the OBD-II system. The catalytic converters on vehicles now are MUCH different than the ones that came from the 70's!