Thinking of going cat..........less
Thread Starter
Former Vendor
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 18,666
Likes: 395
From: Tampa FL
St. Jude Donor '07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12'-'13-'14-'15
Thinking of going cat..........less
What are the benefits and drawbacks of removing the cats? I am thinking about it but do not want to hurt performace or anything else. Any help and opinions are greatly appreciated.
Also NC does OBDII testing. Will O2 sims get me by if they only hook into the computer? Thanks
Also NC does OBDII testing. Will O2 sims get me by if they only hook into the computer? Thanks
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 16,730
Likes: 1
From: Redacted
Re: Thinking of going cat..........less (ccajun4real)
Well, I'm against the catless thing - they are good for the air. That's why they put them on the cars. It's illegal and the odor of unburnt fuel is a downside of taking them off, even if you don't feel like taking responsibility for your contribution to the smog. You don't have all that many performance mods, so the potential of 5hp doesn't seem like that good of a tradeoff. You may in fact lose power unless you have the car dyno-tuned afterward.
There's other things you can do first that will net you more gains than tossing the cats.
Gear swap would be the first thing. That'll definitely put more oomph under your go pedal than defeating the cats.
Then how about some headers and hi-flow cats? A good cam/heads combo? Supercharger, or just some NOx for occasional cheap thrills? NOx is cheap and has a lot of bang for the buck and you leave the smog controls intact for normal daily driving.
LPE can make a Corvette haul serious booty - with the cats on. Ponder that one for a while.
There's other things you can do first that will net you more gains than tossing the cats.
Gear swap would be the first thing. That'll definitely put more oomph under your go pedal than defeating the cats.
Then how about some headers and hi-flow cats? A good cam/heads combo? Supercharger, or just some NOx for occasional cheap thrills? NOx is cheap and has a lot of bang for the buck and you leave the smog controls intact for normal daily driving.
LPE can make a Corvette haul serious booty - with the cats on. Ponder that one for a while.
Racer
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 405
Likes: 1
From: Dallas
Re: Thinking of going cat..........less (larrysb)
Without cats, I have a terrible resonsonance at 1400 rpm, and smell so bad I have to put the HVAC on recirculate every time I come to a stop. Gains on even a heavily modified car are minimal.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,306
Likes: 5
Re: Thinking of going cat..........less (larrysb)
There's other things you can do first that will net you more gains than tossing the cats.
Gear swap would be the first thing. That'll definitely put more oomph under your go pedal than defeating the cats.
Then how about some headers and hi-flow cats? A good cam/heads combo? Supercharger, or just some NOx for occasional cheap thrills? NOx is cheap and has a lot of bang for the buck and you leave the smog controls intact for normal daily driving.
LPE can make a Corvette haul serious booty - with the cats on. Ponder that one for a while.
Gear swap would be the first thing. That'll definitely put more oomph under your go pedal than defeating the cats.
Then how about some headers and hi-flow cats? A good cam/heads combo? Supercharger, or just some NOx for occasional cheap thrills? NOx is cheap and has a lot of bang for the buck and you leave the smog controls intact for normal daily driving.
LPE can make a Corvette haul serious booty - with the cats on. Ponder that one for a while.
Racer
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 360
Likes: 0
From: Newport Beach CA
Re: Thinking of going cat..........less (ccajun4real)
Go ahead and lose them. I did, the car sounds alot better ( I think) and if you tune for it I know it can, help performance. Minimal but I did it just for the sound. As today I just put Flowmasters on a 1970 el camino I bought despite the fact that the Dynomax make more power. I would have paid double for the sound of the Flowmasters.
So it depends on what you want, if you are only doing it for performance I wouldn't bother. But if you want it to sound better, do it! :cheers:
So it depends on what you want, if you are only doing it for performance I wouldn't bother. But if you want it to sound better, do it! :cheers:
