mattkimsey
I've compiled a list to recap this thread:
Just gut the stocker...its free! btw my neighbor has his gutted and he passed the emissions test with flying colors, he said his 5.0 passed with better numbers than his stock '02 f150.
Punching out cats.
- Thread starter CManT1914
- Start date
CManT1914 said:
It's required by the state. But in rural areas where pollution isn't a problem, they do not require emissions testing. But in Houston they do and for a while surrounding areas (Spring, Woodlands, Pearland) didn't have to do emessions, but new law says they do. I would just go with the Hi-flow cats, I haven't had any problems thus far.
Scorpion91GT
New Member
MHO...get an X-Pipe with Hi-Flow cats...my buddie had his done and he only lost 3 hp on dyno. To me, losing 3 horses and never have to sweat getting an inspection sticker every year is definitly worth it.
Well for now I will probably gut my stock one, cus I am so broke it hurts my ass to sit on my wallet. 
How would I go about doing this without having to cut them open and weld them back shut? Can I shove a pipe or some sort down there and just bash the crap out of them until they come out? 
How would I go about doing this without having to cut them open and weld them back shut? Can I shove a pipe or some sort down there and just bash the crap out of them until they come out? 
NeVeRLiFt
Founding Member
CManT1914 said:Well for now I will probably gut my stock one, cus I am so broke it hurts my ass to sit on my wallet.
Its like a plastic beehive inside the cat, so take a long narrow something and work on jamming it through and punch it out.
Goodluck
I don't know about the rest of you, but I gutted my stock pipe and it sounded like $hit! The thing gauge hollow cats makes it sound like you've got an exhaust leak all of the time and the amplified drone will drive you nuts. I really wouldn't recommend it if I were you. I love the sound of my O/R X-pipe I’ve put on since. If you are dead set on gutting aftermarket Cats, why not just pick up a pair of cheap crappy ones on EBay and knock those out. I think I saw a pair call "Fat Catz" that were next to nothing. It's a ricer cat, but it looks like a high flow Bassani from the outside. 
tunedin302
I AM the law!!!
CmanT1914 - Where the hell did you find a picture of a cat with one ear that is about to have a heart attack? That is the scariest cat picture I have ever seen!
tunedin302 said:
LOL, I was just surfin the net and I found a funny pictures site and saw it, the actual pic is a lot bigger, but I resized it for my avatar. You like?
Nope, only the front set. If I remeber correctly, you've got to cut the rear set off and weld them back on to get to them...CManT1914 said:
...did I mention that gutted cats sound like $hit?
NeVeRLiFt
Founding Member
Gutting your cat's will make your car louder... if you think it sounds like **** then you must have some bad mufflers 
The muffler controls the tone and sound your exhaust makes. The cats just sorta quieting it down. Sorta like putting your hand over your mouth and trying to hollar or breath.
Every car I have owned has ran better and gotten better MPG after removing or gutting the cats.
The muffler controls the tone and sound your exhaust makes. The cats just sorta quieting it down. Sorta like putting your hand over your mouth and trying to hollar or breath.
Every car I have owned has ran better and gotten better MPG after removing or gutting the cats.
Louder....YesNeVeRLiFt said:Gutting your cat's will make your car louder... if you think it sounds like **** then you must have some bad mufflers
The muffler controls the tone and sound your exhaust makes. The cats just sorta quieting it down. Sorta like putting your hand over your mouth and trying to hollar or breath.
Every car I have owned has ran better and gotten better MPG after removing or gutting the cats.
Better....NO!
As I stated before....gutting the cats amplifies the exhaust not, but also amplifies that oh so annoying sound of each exhaust pulse as it exits the collector (mimicking that of an exhaust leak) and also increases the oh so famous drone created when making exhaust modifications. The Cats on the stock system aren't just there for smog protection, they're also there to act as resonators to keep drone to a minimum. Getting rid of them increases the resonance volume. It’s got nothing to do with you after cat system. Even removing the Cats on a stock system increases the drone. It’s not speculation, just plain old fact. One way of reducing this is to replace the stock H-pipe with a larger diameter O/R unit. It won’t do much for the drone, but it will at least cure the tiny sound otherwise produced by hollow cats. An O/R X-pipe does a better job still of controlling noise, not by reducing it, but by moving the exhaust reverberation further up in RPM, to the point where it’s mostly drowned out at highway speeds.
Also, mufflers have very little to do with an exhaust systems "tone". They're able to alter or muffle volume slightly, but exhaust tone is only able to be changed by a few limiting factors.
1. Changes in the engine whether it be displacement, cam, head, etc
2. Change in exhaust pipe diameter
3. Changes in exhaust over all length
4. Changes in crossover location
Besides, I said nothing of gutting cats hurting power production or fuel economy. Reducing backpressure to an extent will do nothing but help in these matters. But is still sounds like @ss compared to a proper O/R midpipe!
