Removing the Catalytic Converter

nyrican52884 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 07, 2007 9:06 pm

Has anybody removed their catalytic converter? I was thinking of doing it but I find that the oxygen sensors are in the way. I was thinking of sawing off the cat at the pipes, and then I would put a sleeve and a pipe to connect the two ends. The only thing is that since the oxygen sensor is there, I don't think that there would be enough room to put a sleeve there.

The other thing would be to go to a muffler shop and have them weld on a straight pipe, but if I wanted to put it back on to sell it I would then have to have somebody weld it back on.

By the way, there are no emissions testing in Florida so I don't have to worry about it. I had somebody take the cat off of my S-10 and put a new exhaust and the only problem was a backfire every now and then.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 07, 2007 9:47 pm

Well I don't know if they change the exhaust but my '02 has 3 cat's.My state(south dakota) doesn't have emmisions either but when you go to our local exhaust shop they have a big sign saying if you want us to remove your cat's it will be $2500 plus labor.$2500 for the federal fine they can get for removing a maditory emmision equipment.You can remove the whole system and then take it to a shop to have one fabbed up without cat's.

nyrican52884 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:36 pm

Mine only has 2 catalytic converters.

When I got the exhaust done on my S-10, the guy only charged me an extra $50 to remove the cat.

what about making a mount for the oxygen sensor in a new pipe?

nyrican52884 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:24 pm

I just thought of something. Would removing the catalytic converters cause a check engine light to come on? Also would it effect the engine running too rich or too lean? I figured if there was no cat the engine might lean out because it senses too much exhaust, but if I take the oxygen sensor out and test the outside air it might start to run the engine too rich. Would the computer do this?

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:40 pm

nyrican52884 wrote:

I just thought of something. Would removing the catalytic converters cause a check engine light to come on? Also would it effect the engine running too rich or too lean? I figured if there was no cat the engine might lean out because it senses too much exhaust, but if I take the oxygen sensor out and test the outside air it might start to run the engine too rich. Would the computer do this?

I will,you can get a little gadget from JEGS that plugs into the O2 sensor connector(in place of the O2 sensor) to fool the computer ,don't know if the still sell them(haven't seen them for a few years now)and they were like $150(?) for one.

nyrican52884 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 08, 2007 8:03 pm

So I found these things called MIL eliminators. They are supposed to eliminate the check engine light. Basically it bypasses the O2 sensor. What do you think? There are a couple types, one is a wire and the other looks like an extension. Some sites say that the extension just reduces the amount of exhaust that goes into the sensor, thus reducing the emissions that the O2 sensor picks up.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/02-Senso ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MIL-elim ... dZViewItem

I also found this which seems to be the best thing. It is a microcontroller based sensor, and it can actually eliminate the O2 sensor completely.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 720&rd=1,1

jcphoto20 · **Joined:** Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:36 am **Posts:** 507

do us all a favor and dont take your converter off or encourage others to do so, its just stupid, and inconsiderate.

do your part to keep the air as clean as possible, instead of taking deliberate efforts to do the opposite.

i certainly hope the forum moderators don't support this type of activity.

nyrican52884 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2007 10:49 am

jcphoto20 wrote:

do us all a favor and dont take your converter off or encourage others to do so, its just stupid, and inconsiderate.

do your part to keep the air as clean as possible, instead of taking deliberate efforts to do the opposite.

i certainly hope the forum moderators don't support this type of activity.

If we lived anywhere else (Europe, South America, etc.) we wouldn't even be having this conversation

SS-Virus · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:15 pm

nyrican52884 wrote:

jcphoto20 wrote:

do us all a favor and dont take your converter off or encourage others to do so, its just stupid, and inconsiderate.

do your part to keep the air as clean as possible, instead of taking deliberate efforts to do the opposite.

i certainly hope the forum moderators don't support this type of activity.

If we lived anywhere else (Europe, South America, etc.) we wouldn't even be having this conversation

Or in the Middle East, I removed mine, and installed the O2 sensors in the collectors that made only for me :wink:

jcphoto20 · **Joined:** Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:36 am **Posts:** 507

[quote="nyrican52884"][quote="jcphoto20"]do us all a favor and dont take your converter off or encourage others to do so, its just stupid, and inconsiderate.

do your part to keep the air as clean as possible, instead of taking deliberate efforts to do the opposite.

i certainly hope the forum moderators don't support this type of activity.[/quote]

If we lived anywhere else (Europe, South America, etc.) we wouldn't even be having this conversation[/quote]

but you dont live somewhere else. you are breaking the law and hurting OUR air. why doesnt someone else tell him?

Burchie · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2007 5:57 pm

jcphoto20 wrote:

do us all a favor and dont take your converter off or encourage others to do so, its just stupid, and inconsiderate.

do your part to keep the air as clean as possible, instead of taking deliberate efforts to do the opposite.

i certainly hope the forum moderators don't support this type of activity.

JC.... personally I agree with you. Professionally, the board can't tell people what to do. We can only control the way people act or conduct themselves.

nyrican52884.... But I would be VERY careful about what I post on here. You don't know who is reading this. I could work for the EPA, and be coping all your information right now to give to my fellow agents in FL. This board gets a lot of traffic every day.

Neatus · **Posted:** Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:21 pm

How bout you buy some free flow cats. Check Jeepin Als site.

jcphoto20 · **Joined:** Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:36 am **Posts:** 507

yes please look into some hi perf cats if you must modify them

i dont really care which side of the earth you are on, if you take them off, you are a frickin blankity blank blank. Ill keep my own words to fill in the blanks. im sure all of you can make up your own for this guy that doesnt care at all what you think.

its totally idiotic of you to feel any other way about it. or to even contemplate criticizing me for telling you to not do that.

i cant believe they even leave this thread on here

SavageSS27 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:31 am

Honestly, i think people take this whole catalytic converter thing a little too seriously. Cars are a small percentage of the huge amounts of emissions that get dumped into the atmosphere every day. Most come from the power plants that provide you with the electricity to post your opinion on this board. The way i see it, if one guy wants to take his cats off and risk a ticket, so be it, who are you or i to tell him otherwise? The way i see it, this particular thread is about how to get a little more punch out of his engine. If he wants to spend the money, let him, besides, there's nothing stating that he's not driving this truck strictly off-road, where it's perfectly legal to have a cat-less exhaust, or no exhaust at all.

Sport · **Posted:** Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:53 pm

As he stated before he lives in FL, there are no Emissions laws.

But I would recommend a free flow cat, minimize your impact as they say.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 04, 2007 2:04 pm

SavageSS27 wrote:

Honestly, i think people take this whole catalytic converter thing a little too seriously. Cars are a small percentage of the huge amounts of emissions that get dumped into the atmosphere every day. Most come from the power plants that provide you with the electricity to post your opinion on this board. The way i see it, if one guy wants to take his cats off and risk a ticket, so be it, who are you or i to tell him otherwise? The way i see it, this particular thread is about how to get a little more punch out of his engine. If he wants to spend the money, let him, besides, there's nothing stating that he's not driving this truck strictly off-road, where it's perfectly legal to have a cat-less exhaust, or no exhaust at all.

Also a properly tuned engine doesn't need catalytic coverters.Back in '98 did alot of work to a '86 Suburban,put in a 454(alot of engine work done,500hp) with a Holly 750 that stated right on the side of it "Not For Use In California"(I was stationed at Camp Pendleton).With just headers on it we took it to get emission tested,had to pay the guy off for the visual inspection but it passed sniffer test,even passed smog for a '99 model year vehicle.So a properly tuned/taken cared of engine does not only give better performance but pollutes less.

jcphoto20 · **Joined:** Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:36 am **Posts:** 507

a properly tuned/taken cared of engine does not only give better performance but pollutes less.

yes that part of your statement is very accurate.

but at the same time, i hardly think that a car with no cat can pass new emissions standards or be as clean as it would be with it on. properly functioning of course. why wouldnt you want it to be as clean as possible?

im fully aware that the whole green housegas/ozone thing has very little to do with anyone driving, since only a very small percentage of greenhouse gasses is emitted by vehicles, im just sayin.

Hood297 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:42 pm

TJKJ i also have 3 cat's. 2 on each side after the headers, and one once their connected... my question is, If i remove the third (biggest one) will it effect much? I want to keep the 2 smaller ones, but is the third one even a cat or just a resonator? I didnt notice an 02 sensor after it...

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:54 pm

Hood297 wrote:

TJKJ i also have 3 cat's. 2 on each side after the headers, and one once their connected... my question is, If i remove the third (biggest one) will it effect much? I want to keep the 2 smaller ones, but is the third one even a cat or just a resonator? I didnt notice an 02 sensor after it...

My best guess is it is the "last chance" cat,just to make sure all the unburned fuel is burned before it exits the tailpipe.If you notice the 2 upstream cat's are really small and probally are not that effective,maybe that's why the redesigned the exhaust for the later models.Since it is past all the o2 sensors it won't effect how the engine runs(not saying you should remove it though).

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

I don't think removing a cat is going to help you with the 3.7. The problem is the exhaust manifold doesn't scavenge very well. In my opinion a better muffler, and headers would actually help get more power out of it. You don't want to open it up so much that you lose low end torque though. I also don't quite understand your air intake setup. I would think a drop in would work better because of the colder air than having a cone in the box with the top open. Hotter air will make the computer retard the timing and run richer. Also, getting your computer flashed will help a lot. Quite a few things to consider before messing with the catalytic converter.

PS.
I saw a sign in a custom exhaust shop once. It said "Yes, we will remove your catalytic converter. The price is $2500 + Parts + Labor."

Removing the Catalytic Converter

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