This may sound like a noob question to some of you but....and before you tell me to search, I SEARCHED! I even went through alot of the posts that came up.

I want to try and squeeze a little more horsepower and try to bring my spool times down. One of the suggestions was to gut out the catalytic converter. My car is OBD 2 and there is a sensor in the cat just after it.

What kind of consequences am I looking at if I gut the cat out? Will I throw a CEL? If yes, How can I run with no cat and not throw CEL's
Thanks

Jon

 

From most of the stories that I've read, you will throw a CEL if you gut out your catalytic converter and sometimes even if you install a high-flow catalytic converter. Of course, this is from the reading I've done here on H-T, so don't quote me on it.

Gutting the catalytic converter does improve airflow a bit which constitutes to more power. BUT, if you do throw a CEL because of the O2 sensor, sometimes your gas mileage will go down and your car may run like crap. Again, from extensive reading here on H-T.

 

From what ive read, if the voltage reading on the secondary 02 Sensor is within a certain percentage difference than the primary O2 your okay. But if it close to the same value as the primary O2, the ECU will think "Oh **** Im not running a Catalytic Converter" and throws a CEL and makes the car run like ****.

Anyone care to enlighten more on this...

JOn

 

You may try a high-flow cat, and that'll be okay. Gutting your cat will probably keep you from passing inspection though (any o2 related CEL will), depending on the county you're in. Also any modification to your exhaust system is also illegal in a lot of counties (cat-backs are fine, but you can't modify o2 sensors, cats, switch from obdII to obdI, etc)

 

Not worried about passing inspection as this car is registered in a city that doesnt require emmissions. IT GREAT!!!

Has anyone ever successfully ran without a cat, without throwing codes, and without switching to OBD 1 from OBD 2

Jon

 

Just get an o2 simulator. I have a test pipe and have not thrown a code in over a year. I believe casper electronics used to sell them, but not sure on the spelling. Hope this helps