I have always thought that my 1998 5.4 came with a factory setup of 4 cats: 2 pre-cats and 2 cats. When I roll under the truck, it appears this way, but people give me strange looks when I comment about it. Am I mistaken about the setup? If so, what's the other catalytic converter look alike in the factory exhaust setup?

 

anybody know?

 

Lots of vehicles come with dual converters and dual O2 sensors, not just Ford.

 

4 Cats is normal for the newer Fords. (97+). I guess Ford wants to be up there with the lowest pollutant vehicles.

 

So with 4 cats being the normal, if I ever needed to replace them...or wanted to...would I need to put 4 high flows on to be legal? I've heard that to pass visual they have to have the same number and be in the same location as stock ones. Is this true?

 

Yea, from what I've heard, you must have the same # of cats as OEM. I'm not even sure if you can use Aftermarket cats...you might need OEM replacements, and that just means $$$.

 

ahhh...bummer...hey 93, do you use the Rusty Muffler or who would you suggest in CS for a good clean welding job on some tips? The shop I had do my exhaust in Arlington did a pretty bad job on the welding so I have this big blue strip down one of my tips...I'm sure I could polish it out but I really don't want to lol.

did you end up cutting your glasspacks out or did you leave them on? I thought I read that somewhere, but last I remembered you were just trying to blow them out.

 

Yea, I went to Rusty's. He did a great job on mine.

Right now, my glasspack is back on...I have safety inspection coming soon I think. The next time I mess with exhaust is when I dual it.

Does Arlington have Emmissions?

 

Yeah...since it's right in the middle of Dallas/Ft. Worth, we unfortunately do. I'm going to be down here for at least 4 if not 5 years, but I don't know if it would be worth the hassle to remove it and then have to put it all back on when I move back up.

Did your exhuast ever get any louder since right after you sawed off one of your cats? I know you were wanting it too, but wasn't sure. One of my engineering buddies here has glasspacks on an older dakota 5.2 V8. His are actually the first ones that I have actually kind of liked the sound off. The only thing about glasspacks that I really don't care about is that whenever you let off the accelerator, it pops and makes funny noises. That's really what made me go with flows on mine.

You were talking about dualing it, would they just chop off part of the Y-pipe or how would that work?

 

I'll explain for you the way my duals were done, which is how green will be doing his truck too it sounds. The exhaust comes out of each manifold and then comes up next to eachother. Thereis a small crossover at this point where the O2 sensor is mounted to get a goodreading off of BOTH exhaust routes. Then after this within 4-5 inches is the "precat" which also acts as the Y-pipe. In this spacebetween the O2 sensor crossover and the precat is where you chop. Then you can weld ontothe pipes there, and run them back however you would like. The O2 sensor still sends the same reading as before, so you're ok(assuming you don't have OBDII, 96+ vehicles). I personally did glasspacks and 4"x22" tips, which sounds GREAT. Everybody likes it that I talk to. It's LOUD too.

 

Awesome descripton...I do have the OBDII, but thanks for explaining it anyways.

 

After removing the second cat, my truck did get louder....way louder. After putting the glasspack back on, it quieted down...and the glasspack is only 12"

I agree with you on the 'popping' of glasspacks. Not a big fan of it, that's why I'm trying to decide between purple hornies or flows.

If you ever do remove a cat (just for kicks and giggles), your truck will run fine(but louder). The MIL will come on, but that's just the computer telling you that the cats are inefficient or have beend removed. But, there's always the MIL Eliminators.