Since acquring my 1985 - L98 TPI a few months back, I recently went through a, well documented MAF problem and have a resolution on that.

During that time, I was getting excessive fuel going to my catalytic converter and it was causing the whole CAT to "glow" pink/red at night after a 2 minute drive.

Because I panicked and didn't understand what I do now(which isn't all that much) I just Zizz-wheeled the CAT, completely off the car and ran a straight pipe.

My question, since I've been browsing around the Forum and see that a lot of people are recommending a "high-flow" CAT, is this:

Do I really need a Catalytic Converter for my car??
Will it hurt anything to run it without one, except those emissions controllers feelings?

If it's bad, I don't mind putting one back on but if it doesn't bother anything, I'll stay with the straightPipe for now...

thanks in advance,

85_TPI

 

Put the damned thing back on.

Jesus Christ people It's the AIR WE BREATHE!

A highflow cat will clean the air, and not effect your performance one bit.

It' has nothing to do with law, it's got everything to do with doing the right thing.

Why is this so hard?

Back in the 60s, bastet44's mom would go outside in LA and could not breathe cause the air was so toxic with smog.

Thanks to steel mills and cars, the air in Pittsburgh PA was so bad, that at high noon, it was so dark, it looked like sunset.

If you want to enjoy bad air, go to China, they have a lot of it. Then watch your lungs melt.

 

Nothing really hard about this, I just didn't know. That's why I read this forum and if it was that difficult, I wouldn't have taken the time to ask.

Kinda funny though, the post by boceltics17, hit the forum just ahead of mine and I read through it about 15 seconds after I posted mine.

Good info in there and I appreicate that. That's why I really love this forum...

 

I've looked at my CAT and it's one of those Monolith types so I could just put it back on and probably be good...

BTW, What's a "pre-CAT" ??

 

I'm with Bogus 100%.

 

If you remove your cat, without the correct modifications, you can cause irreversible damage. You're looking to squeeze out extra HP, but all you will get is a headache. The stock cat is inherently restrictive, so if you want, change it to the high-flow design. Do not run a "catless" car. Besides it being a federal offense to remove your cat, you're helping to destroy the clean air. If everyone removed their cats, how long would it take before the "brown cloud" was hastened to appear as the norm and not something that appears occasionally.

I used to live in the Phoenix area and in the morning, you could look up at the sky and see nothing but brown. It was disgusting. Anyone with asthma was greatly affected.

I'm all for increasing HP and doing anything and everything to your car, but don't do it at the environment's expense.

 

Precats are 2 little cats located right after the headers, they are pretty restrictive, I first removed them and installed a high/flow cat. Worked real good, huge power improvement with crossover & magnaflows. After reading these posts about the air, I'm going to reinstall a high/flow cat

 

Give me a break...until they get all the mid 80s cars that burn more oil than gas off the roads every Vette out there not running a cat is not going to have .0000000000000000000001% of an impact.

We have no smog in FL and we have no emissions testing either.

 

Now that I'm more "in the know" about this, I'll be happy to replace my CAT.

Thanks to bogus and the rest of you guys who always help clarify things for us newbies!!

I'm learning so much on this forum everyday, it's not even funny, it's just great...

85_TPI

 

This comes back to a comment in the other thread. The smog laws are enacted by the feds, enforced by the states, when required by the feds. FL has a benefit, the constant trade winds keep the air moving, which means, you don't get smog. Add in the regular rains, the localized atmosphere stays reasonably clean.

Don't get cocky, either, if the climate changed, or, the feds required that all states do emissions testing, then you are so screwed.

California's emissions laws are strong, but for good reason. They need to be. The physical lay of the land requires them. LA basin is just that, a valley surrounded by mountains on 3 sides, and ocean on one. The coastal breeze does a nice job of keeping us on the emmediate coast clear, but traps much of the pollutants into the basin.

When the Santa Ana's blow, they cause the smog to plow into the coastal flow and we get nailed.

Without the smog rules, I don't think people could live here in the LA basin anymore. It would be nearly deadly.

I hope that FL keeps its clean air, but with the heat, if you all get too many ozone alert days, thats gonna be the end of that party. It's what happened in Delaware and the rest of the Northeast. Too many days with pollutants too high, and something had to be done. Believe me, the EPA is monitoring the situation.

 

You are very welcome! I am sorry if I get sensitive about this. I just want to have clean air.

 

I used to live in the Phoenix area and in the morning, you could look up at the sky and see nothing but brown. It was disgusting. Anyone with asthma was greatly affected.

Actually, even with the ever-increasing population in Phoenix, the air is not nearly as brown as it used to be. I attribute this to our strict emissions testing (but we can still have LT headers).

 

I have seen that haze. The heat just amplifies the ozone down there. And Pheonix is in something of a valley, too.

 

Not a problem, B.

If I thought it was personal or something, I'd hack-back but I believe I understand where you're coming from and since CATs aren't as problematic as they once were, toolin' with one doesn't appear to be a problem.

I'm glad I kept mine and can just get it welded back into place...

Respecting everyone's viewpoint is something that would go along way for all of us because I feel they have a reason for that conviction(although I may not agree) but I haven't walked in their shoes so I can't really say for sure.

One of the sure things is: We all should want & cherish cleaner air, no matter where we live...

Thanks once again, for all the great input...

85_TPI

 

Bogus,
Then why are you driving gas guzzlers? You should be out there peddling a bike or riding a bus. Give us all a break, eh?

 

Great response! You are very right and most welcome!

 

The technology out today is outstanding. If you installed a modern high flow cat, there MAY be a few HP difference (about the equvalent of the airfoil effect)vs running none at all. The originals I believe are way restrictive.
Heck, even Cartek just tested the C6 and it made more power with the cats than a test pipe. That's progress!

 

I have been an ASE Master Tech for 15 years and have done a lot of emission testing. I have found that fuel injected cars that are running correctly do not blow out the kind of emissions that the older carbureted cars did. The reason the air is such crap is because as human beings we believe in destroying this great earth until it effects our lifestyle before doing something to prevent it, then go we go too far in the other direction. If all the vehicles produced in the world that are only meant for getting from point "a" to point "b" had catalytic converters on them then the air we breathe should clean up in the next couple hundred years( these things don't happen overnight). Planet earth will be around for many million years after we are gone and to think that a few thousand people driving around without cats is going to extend our time on this planet is being very egotistical. The emissions coming from things like factories and the needless use of huge gas guzzling vehicles like H2's just to go to the grocery store or pick up the kids is the real reason we won't last on this planet. When you think about the odds of everything coming together like they have to support life on this planet and how we are ruining it, it makes you lose your faith in mankind. Sure, people respond to the immediate things like 9-11 but very few people can see the "BIG picture"

 

I might want to add that C.AR.B. is always watching what us hot rodders are doing with our cars. The more compliant we are as far as leaving these devices intact, the (hopefully) more lenient they may be (I'm not holding my breath) as far as continuing to allow our modded Corvettes/classics on the road. We need to set an example that we can mod and show concern for the environment!

 

BEST THING TO DO IS......

make a test pipe for the main cat and remove it when going drag racing or autox for the week.then for normal driving put the Biotch back on.i did that to mine.i can feel maybe 10hp up top in rpm but down low for city driving it sucks.especially with no mufflers and no cat and bigger pipe i could use it to get better gas mileage around town and what not. Bogus has good points and so does Surfsun.i have don't like this topic but its always worth a debate.