I am looking at pulling the cats and just going with an x-pipe to the mufflers. Is this a difficult procedure? What do you do with the pipe that comes off the heads to the cats? Can you just cap it off?
Removing the stock H and swapping in an X pipe is pretty easy. If you havent done this kind of stuff before though, you might wanna have a wrenching buddy come do it with you. You might have exhaust bolts that are stuck, etc.
pb blaster, or any kind of penetrating oil, will be your best friend, along with long extensions and a wobble end. air tools if you have them.
with the smog tube, it's cut off in the area where it attaches to the mid pipe. a piece of i think coolant hose with clamps is used to connect the smog tube to the new mid pipe. i'm not sure what type of hose is used, but it has a thick wall to it, and of course is heat resistent. first thing that comes to mind is a small coolant hose.