Removing catt's and putting in stright pipe questions

[Southenrfirewood]

I am thinking about removing the catts and replacing them with stright pipe. what will that sound like with the stock muffler? Iv been heavily involved with truck pulls and im looking for some more power. Iv got this F-150 I havent been able to pull hahhahhaha

 

[scotts90ranger]

Don't bother, Ranger cats are properly sized for the engines, not to mention on a '98 you will get several codes for doing that. I ran the stock 2.3L cat behind a 2.3L Turbo pushing 50% more power than stock and it ran just fine...

 

[Southenrfirewood]

Would it sound good and you don't think it would give it anymore pop? The shop that said they would do it told me they have a dummy sensor I guess that will keep it from getting a code

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Oh how I grow tired of this topic....

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57083

Removing catalytic converters will not yield you any more power/torque whatever....plain and simple as long as the cat is functioning properly.

You should tell this shop that it is illegal as hell to remove functioning emissions components....

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Is this one of those trick threads. It is illegal to remove the cat/s. It is a federal law the cat must be there on any vehicle that came stock with one. You can however gut it it dont have to work just be there for a visual. Unless you need to pass emissions the epa wants to test all vehicles new and old nation wide. Vote obama that will happen.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So lets recap...

Removing the cat is a violation of federal law, which could result in big fines and/or a trip to the big house with bars on the windows.

It is NOT a performance increase anyway. Unless maybe you are building a top-fuel dragster. The only possible way it could improve performance is if your cat is clogged up - and even at that you would be farther ahead to REPLACE the cat.

In fact, some vehicles actually run worse when you remove restriction from the exhaust. My F-150 is a prime example: My exhaust rotted through by the muffler and it took a couple days of running around (I had needed to use the truck at the time) with no muffler (and no exhaust past the cat) before I could get a new muffler and tailpipe on it. Performance did not increase, but the noise it made did. And my fuel economy went DOWN by 2 mpg. I tossed a Flowmaster 40 series on it and had a local shop bend up some 2.5" pipe to go out the side in front of the back tire and even with that low restriction exhaust, it was enough to make my fuel economy go back where it was.

I also know of a guy who had a plugged up cat on an F-250 who tried punching out the cat instead of spending the money to replace it... He lost 3 mpg (from 10 mpg down to 7 mpg - yea, it was a 460 motor). He also started having a major problem with backfires - enough that it split his exhaust - the expensive stainless one he had. Needless to say, it has a new cat now - he says it was an expensive mistake and if he ever sees the person who recommended punching the cat out and "it woln't hurt anything" he will punch them in the nose.

 

[--weezl--]

it's a waste of time, waste of money, and if i'm not mistaken, an issue that has gotten several people banned off of this forum...

it's one of those "we don't put up with blatant disregard for the environment" type issues

and to rebut to what lil blue said about the top fuel dragster, honestly, if the cats were sized properly, i don't see them causing any harm to them... though with how precisely they are designed, i doubt there is much unburnt fuel coming out the exhaust

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

it's one of those "we don't put up with blatant disregard for the environment" type issues

This is the main reason that I try to obey this law, I want to leave some breathable air for my children. I know that there are major corporations and countries spewing out way more pollutants than all the drivers in North America but I have to try.

i doubt there is much unburnt fuel coming out the exhaust

Best power comes from richer than stoichemetric[sp].

Richard

 

[shane96ranger]

 

[--weezl--]

i doubt this will get locked... no one is arguing, the op hasn't posted back up claiming he doesn't care...

 

[Bondo]

Is this one of those trick threads. It is illegal to remove the cat/s. It is a federal law the cat must be there on any vehicle that came stock with one. You can however gut it it dont have to work just be there for a visual. Unless you need to pass emissions the epa wants to test all vehicles new and old nation wide. Vote obama that will happen.

The cats do have to work, so gutting them is just as bad as removing them. If someone lives in a state that does emissions testing theres no sense trying to get around running a functioning cat. Maine doesnt test for emissions, so its more lenient up here. My firewood buggy BII has no cats, but is only run in the woods for 10 miles a year.

You are aware catalytic converters became government-mandated equipment in 1972 during the Nixon administration, right? Hell, the EPA was Nixons idea, so I dont see why Obama is mentioned in this.

 

[shane96ranger]

i doubt this will get locked... no one is arguing, the op hasn't posted back up claiming he doesn't care...

Per the link Sasquatch posted:

Threads or posts advising removal of the catalytic converter may be locked or removed.

I guess may suggests it might not be. I originally read it as a fo' sho' thing.

 

[--weezl--]

yeah, until i read you italisizing the may, i didn't even notice that word in samsquanch's post

 

[dhinch279]

Just in case...

 

[AgPete139]

Bottom line rulings:

• Keep the catalytic converter.
• You will not gain additional power (even with the "shop's dummy sensor".
• It will not sound any better. Straight pipes are too raspy and you'll sound like Riced Honda.

End thread.