Removing Catalytic converter??

[xtek0]

Hey everyone Im not a long time poster and I like working on my car when I have time.

I have a custom muffler on my car from eBay and I have clamps holding everything up. The Catalytic converter gets me though, If i take it off will i have a increase in boost/performance? Will it sound better?

If i do take it off I dont really have any extra piping can i just gut the converter and put it back on??

[Chris Crash]

I'm pretty sure that's illegal. Check with a local inspection station to see if you can pass emissions with no cat.

[EEngineer]

2 words:

BAD IDEA

['_']

It will be louder and raspier, not necessarily sound better. Just leave it on or get a high-flow cat. You won't be gaining much by taking it out.

[cmjohnson]

If the converter is healthy, it poses almost NO flow restriction anyway. You won't get a noticeable performance boost by bypassing a GOOD cat.

I just had a flow test done on my V6 '92 LE and restriction was under 3 percent. Negligible.

Removing and not replacing a catalytic convereter with another one is a FELONY. You really don't want to
do it, and if you do, the vehicle is no longer legal for operation on the streets.

CJ

[camrtm3]

Oddly the only way to take off the cat and not have to worry about it is when the car reaches 25 years of age. At that point the car is historic and makes the situation completely different. PA has some differnet laws on the definition of a historic car, but for all the other satates the definition is 25 years. Also louder is not better....can get you in trouble with the law on noise pollution, and disturbing the peace.

[shajbot]

Originally Posted by camrtm3

Oddly the only way to take off the cat and not have to worry about it is when the car reaches 25 years of age. At that point the car is historic and makes the situation completely different. PA has some differnet laws on the definition of a historic car, but for all the other satates the definition is 25 years. Also louder is not better....can get you in trouble with the law on noise pollution, and disturbing the peace.

Do you know what they'd do..? Impound on the spot or something?

[EEngineer]

Originally Posted by shajbot

Do you know what they'd do..? Impound on the spot or something?

they'll give you a $500+ ticket AND make an appointment for an inspection to make sure you put one on in like 10 days or something

[camrtm3]

To be honest, it the penalty is different for each state. I just learned that stuff from my neighbor how rebuild old classic cars.

[kocho]

Originally Posted by xtek0

Hey everyone Im not a long time poster and I like working on my car when I have time.

I have a custom muffler on my car from eBay and I have clamps holding everything up. The Catalytic converter gets me though, If i take it off will i have a increase in boost/performance? Will it sound better?

If i do take it off I dont really have any extra piping can i just gut the converter and put it back on??

How do you like the smell off your exhaust when the car is cold in the morning? Would you want to breathe this yourself? Not only it is illegal, it is *wrong* to remove the converter or drive with a bad one. I choke every time I drive behind one of these old clunker "historic" cars or passs by a lawn mower in action. Even if it had a small performance boost, I would never take the cat out of a street car...

[Luckynumber5]

^ but... if the car is cold the cat isn't working

The increase in power really isn't worth it to be honest, and unlike the crappy EGR systems the American Toyota manufacturers put on our Camry's the cat actually does help the environment.

[kocho]

Originally Posted by Luckynumber5

^ but... if the car is cold the cat isn't working

That's my point - without a cat the car will be as stinky and polluting all the time. To see how it feels sniff the exhaust when cold

[Luckynumber5]

Ohhh I see, I misread your post yeah cold Toyotas smell bad