guys
Cab someone tell me what the fixation is with gutting catalytic converters? I understand that everyone wants a HI-PO engine and a great sounding ride, but I think that taking this approach is a blatant disregard of clean air regulations. If there are trucks that are required to have cats, then keep them! Summit racing, as well as others, sell HI-PO low restriction cats for well under 100 bucks. I dont mean to start a controversy here, but why cant hi performance coexist [somewhat] with emission regulations? At the very least, a HIGH flow cat is better than NO cat. How much HP are we really losing by running such a setup??
I dont know about others, but I just dont see the point in expending all that effort to GUT a cat when there is a low cost, legal alternative that might potentially offer the same performance benefits as running NO cat! As always, this is just my .02. Comments?
regards
Ben

 

The fixation with gutting cats comes from two factors: In some states, there is NO emission checking, (fortunately I live in one of those states...) and the other reason is that it is free. In states where they check, its kind of dumb, but here, why not? It's free performance. I know one person that has gutted the cat on every vehicle he has ever owned. Oh well, to each his own I guess.

 

We always remove every cat on our rigs on the ranch. The shields like to snag dry grass. We had one fire started like that, and remove every one now. Its the first thing we do when it gets home from the dealership. 97 F350 200 miles, pull the box, gut the cat and put on a flatbed, and bull pusher.
Ive always pulled the cats on my older rigs, but dont see the need on the newer ones. I too live in a state without inspections. Tree huggers stay away!!!!!


Tony Warren
Nebraska

 

It is definitely cheaper to gut the cat than to buy a new one. I have heard that running a good high flow cat will not take away any horsepower or create any restriction in the exhaust. So there's no disadvantage for being clean. That said, I just gutted the front cat on my '87 because it was plugged. I am looking to swap the 302 in favor of a 351 or a variant thereof. With that new engine will come a complete true dual exhaust with dual catalytic converters. I figure the cleaner our vehicles run now, the less of a need for stricter laws in the future. My 2 cents....

 

I appreciate the feedback guys. Where I live (New Jersey), it is getting increasingly difficult to pass an emission test. It is ridiculous the things that they require! Luckily, I have pre 75 vehicles so I am exempt from runnig cats! However, I still fail miserably--go figure I can see the point about the cat heat shields starting fires however, I dont think that warrants taking them off just for that. EPN has a good point:

I figure the cleaner our vehicles run now, the less of a need for stricter laws in the future. My 2 cents....

This is definitely food for thought! Think about it: high performance does NOT mean emission non-compliance. I would think that we can all build a Hi-PO mill and make it somewhat environmentally friendly. Dont get me wrong guys, Im NOT a tree hugger by any means; I just think that everyone should do their part to help propagate a cleaner world. To purposely disregard emission standards and to purposely disable said controls, will ultimately make these laws tougher for us all. It only a matter of time before we are ALL affected by the EPA regulations. Lets keep our trucks loud and fast; but let us also do it the CLEAN way!
regards
Ben

 

Ford_Nut-
Most Ford owners cut their cats because they want a louder sound from their truck. Heck 87-96 Fords you could run strait pipe after the cat and it is hardly noticeable. Compare any 88-98 Chevy WITH the cat and strait pipe/glasspack/Flowmaster/etc. and you will hear the difference. I cut my cat out on my 90 Bronco w/ 351W to see what it sounded like. It sounded much better, but I welded it back in because like you I do give a damn about the environment. Anyway I agree with what you had to say, but thought I would ad another reason as to why people cut the cat out.