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can't afford the new replacements just yet ....thinking about gutting them in the meantime...94LT1 A4...will I get an CHECK ENGINE LITE......do I need O2 sim. for now......P.S. might put pipe thru cats for better flow
I highly recommend replacing the cats with a piece of pipe custom bent for each side (with a 02 sensor provision) - as oppsed to just gutting the cats or running a pip throught the cats..
I had first gutted the cats.. and the sound inside the car was horrible.. the big empty cavities cause resonance that sounds like an exhaust leak inside the car and also caused some fuel control issues with the ECM due to weird backpressure pulses.. This was on a 1993 LT1 A4
The problem with putting a pipe inside the converters is you shrink the effective size of the exhuast diameter which restricts airflow more than the original cats did! Besides the custom bent pipes only ran me around 160 bucks, made the car sound and perform better than stock with cats and with gutted cats.. hope that helps..
Same exact thing happened to my 96 lt1... ended up getting ceramic longtubes from exotic muscle, and a corsa catback. Got the precat o2's screwed into bungs that were on the longtubes and o2 simms for the postcat o2's. and the cats are now replaced with nice plain ole pipe... SOUNDS HELLA mean.. and the ride is peppy again... Ended up alos having to get 2 new O@ sensors for the precat ones as those were trashed. Car runs nice as hell now :party:
You won't need a O2 SIM for that third sensor on a 94 LT1. It is monitored by the PCM but it will not set a fault code if it is eliminated. I have a 95 and my third O2 is completely removed. You must keep the 2 primary O2 sensors near their original location.
QUOTE----[You won't need a O2 SIM for that third sensor on a 94 LT1. It is monitored by the PCM but it will not set a fault code if it is eliminated. I have a 95 and my third O2 is completely removed. You must keep the 2 primary O2 sensors near their original locationUOTE---] what if I cut off cat and leave o2 in place on passenger side and straight pipe to exhaust ....where is the front o2 located on drivers ?????????????
On my car and it should be the same on your car. The drivers side O2 is located just behind the main cat body in between the body of the cat and the exhaust manifold flange. If you remove the cat you can place that O2 anywhere on your replacement pipe as long as your O2 cable can reach it.
redcorvettedave - you could go that route if you can butt weld the two pipes togeather.. but normally you would slide one pipe into another - either over or into.. if you keep the bent elbow it will need to go into the elbow which will make your pipe diameter smaller.. I would just get custom pipes done.. its quick, cheap and easy..
I gutted my cats and haven't heard any resonance, not sure why, seems like everyone that has done so has heard... guess I'll see in time.
However, I didn't have to add the O2 sim? Damn...
Since your cats are bad anyway, guess you could gut them and if you don't like them, it didn't cost you anything but some time, then you can check into other ways to cure the problem...