Replacing Catalytic Converter Question...

[ant_knee]

I have a stock 2002 V6. I had a series of "check engine lights", which I had fixed, but now got a new one and repair shop tells me I need new catalytic converters. Apparently the previous problems caused my cats to burn up. Its gonna cost a lot, because I think they want to replace the whole Y pipe and all 4 converter. My question is: Can I have a new pipe fabricated by a shop and replace the 4 stock cats with 2 aftermarket cats instead? Any experience or knowledge anyone wants to share is welcome. I searched around, but only seems to find info from people wanting to switch to dual exhaust. I don't want to swap to dual, just want to fix the problem as cheap as possible so it runs right and I can sell it soon.

 

[kramer]

well what i did when my cats went bad is i just bought an off road h pipe from mac and some mil eliminators and put it in myself , the h pipe was 170 dollars , the mil eliminators were 70 dollars for both of them , and that got rid of the engine light , but it was still to loud so i bought 2 summit turbo mufflers for like 30 dollars a piece , and theyll cost an additional 68 dollars to have welded on and hung , that was the cheapest route i could find , just by replacing the cats your lookin at like 400 dollars and then it doesnt really do much for the value of the car like an off road system would , i mean if your fixin to sell i would defiantly toss them cats , cause you really dont need them , and an offroad system will give you way more top end , and you dont have to go to cat-backs , just dump it at the rear axle , ive had people mistake my car for a v8 because of my setup , some have even said it sounds better , they were gonna charge me 500 dollars to change my cats when it wasnt even the problem , the problem was that water from the air conditioner had made the pipe right before the flange connector brittle and it ended up breaking , and i couldnt see it , but it was a huge crack and it as super loud , the offroad h pipes wont do that , especially a brand new one , i believe their aluminum , so ya they also add less wait and their super easy to put in