2.3 shooting flames!!??

[mongo]

it shot flames after you removed the cats because the engine was running rich for whatever reason. with cats in place, the excess hydrocarbons are burnt off there. without them, the raw fuel in the pipes is just waiting for a spark to ignite it (such as that from advanced timing on deceleration).

a properly tuned engine wont shoot flames without the cat. there is another issue.

see

hes right