Replacing Catalytic Converter for maintaining performance

has anyone ever considered the fact that if you have to run a converter,after 20 years it might be pretty clogged up? i wonder how many of the cars on this site have a partially plugged converter? it's bad enough with a good one, the restriction on an original one is probably horrible. there are aftermarket bolt up replacments from catco i believe, summit racing carries them,they out flow the factory converter and are smog legal. this problem is probably more common on the carbed cars because the mixture is not as accurate. you might be able to pick up more horsepower then you think by replacing it,just by it's age alone. just a thought i figured i would throw out here. :)

Well what I've thought about for a long time is putting in a section of piping where the converter is and then when inspection time rolles around putting in the stockk cat. I'm sure that no cat is better then a high flowing cat.

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Originally Posted by lostforawhile

has anyone ever considered the fact that if you have to run a converter,after 20 years it might be pretty clogged up? i wonder how many of the cars on this site have a partially plugged converter? it's bad enough with a good one, the restriction on an original one is probably horrible. there are aftermarket bolt up replacments from catco i believe, summit racing carries them,they out flow the factory converter and are smog legal. this problem is probably more common on the carbed cars because the mixture is not as accurate. you might be able to pick up more horsepower then you think by replacing it,just by it's age alone. just a thought i figured i would throw out here. :)

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Cat's are suppose to be good for the life of the car...LOL...Bull-shiat...It's always a good idea to replace the Cat on a older car...Helps out a lot...nice'n'clean and free to flow.....

yea back in the eighties,life of most cars was about 100000 miles, most people didn't expect these cars to last nearly this long :lol:

yea its probably about time to do mine

Aint got one! :)

i noticed a difference when i removed, er, misplaced mine... lol

Here where I live, we have to go through clean air testing. I guess these cars won't pass if you remove your CC will they? I know that I probably need to replace my exhaust pipe as well as the CC. What do you think I am looking at price wise?

James

check with summit racing,you can order one really reasonable

Should you see light through it if its still good? Or somewhat good (stock cat)

yeah, you should be able to look through it. maybe not get a clear image, but at least see some light.

Of course, you can look straight through mine **COUGH**

The best place to get Cat's is eBay. You can get a great universal high flow cat for under $50, versus the $150-200 stock replacement, or aftermarket bolt-on.

i'm asking for welder for christmas. i was intending on doing some mods to my cat. like hollowing it or something. maybe weld up an aftermarket high flow since it seems to be clogged. i dunno, they said it was when i got the cat back exhaust. i wanted to weld up 2 mufflers at the end. would that make it a bit quieter with a header and cat removed with 2 glass packs before the muffler. thats all i have right now. i thought some mufflers like flowmasters or something a bit quieter with high flow still.

i'm getting one when i replace my exhaust. i have to finalize my plans first, but i want to get this 6 grand in bodywork out of the way first.

i noticed a bit of power, and more agressive exhaust note when getting a 2.25 high flow cat. basically i heard more bees :( but its all for the cause

i put a high flow pacesetter cat in my 3G a long time ago, and it definately made a difference, plus a better sound, but I already had the cat-back too.

on my lude, I replaced the cat with a resonator and I noticed no sound difference with the stock exhaust, but a noticeable power increase. when I put a cat-back on it, I can almost hear a rasp, but it's hardly there.