Poor man's headers?
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 383
Likes: 1
From: McHenry IL
Poor man's headers?
Well since times are tight, and I just found out my wife is pregnant with our first, it looks like those $1700 headers I was just going to buy this month are going to wait. Also it looks like I burned out my pass. side cat with the blower, and am now throwing engine codes and getting ****ty gas mileage.
So what I have decided is to try and hollow out the stock cats, have my tuner re-tune the car and turn off the O2s. This should take care of the engine light and the car will run fine. My question is how hard will it be to gut the stock cats WITHOUT cutting them open. Is there a straight enough path to those suckers once unbolted to just gut them without having to open the cat metal case and reweld it back together? Anyone have any experience with doing this on a C6? The plan is to run the gutted cats until 2010 when my bank account can recover from everything going on, then get some real nice headers.....
So what I have decided is to try and hollow out the stock cats, have my tuner re-tune the car and turn off the O2s. This should take care of the engine light and the car will run fine. My question is how hard will it be to gut the stock cats WITHOUT cutting them open. Is there a straight enough path to those suckers once unbolted to just gut them without having to open the cat metal case and reweld it back together? Anyone have any experience with doing this on a C6? The plan is to run the gutted cats until 2010 when my bank account can recover from everything going on, then get some real nice headers.....
Racer
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 442
Likes: 0
From: Peoria Arizona
Passing emissions may be tough to do with gutted cats. Just replace the bad cat, this would be easier. And you may have back pressure issues by running hollow cats, I think this may cause a reduction of back pressure and may result in a leaner burning engine and loss of Hp and torque. Now I am no high tech mechanic but this makes sense. The lack of back pressure will cause an increase in air intake, hence the lean burn.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 383
Likes: 1
From: McHenry IL
Passing emissions may be tough to do with gutted cats. Just replace the bad cat, this would be easier. And you may have back pressure issues by running hollow cats, I think this may cause a reduction of back pressure and may result in a leaner burning engine and loss of Hp and torque. Now I am no high tech mechanic but this makes sense. The lack of back pressure will cause an increase in air intake, hence the lean burn.
1. This is only going to be for this year. My car is an 07 and will not need to go through emissions for a few years yet.
2. I am going to have the car completely re-tuned after the gutting of the cats. My local tuner will do it for cheap, and will be able to correct all the a/f mixture issues before I do any real driving with the car. I am well aware of what will happen, I just want to know if anyone has done this on a C6 and how manually to do it?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 2,007
Likes: 1
From: Eastern PA:ECS Paxton Novi 1500(676rwhp,585tq on stock engine),LG headers, 410's, Corsa Sports, ECS Alky Kit
St. Jude Donor '08-'09
Former Vendor
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,774
Likes: 0
From: Loganville GA
I think you can do it without cutting them open, they look fairly straight through.
I did gut a set on a 350z once. I used a long drill bit and drilled through several times, then a hole saw bit, a jack handle and several other tools to push all the crap out of them. probably took several hours each to complete. Also, wear a respirator mask, as their is some nasty stuff in there.
I did gut a set on a 350z once. I used a long drill bit and drilled through several times, then a hole saw bit, a jack handle and several other tools to push all the crap out of them. probably took several hours each to complete. Also, wear a respirator mask, as their is some nasty stuff in there.
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Verdad Gallardo
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 14,098
Likes: 1,605
From: Edmond Oklahoma
You are not going to gain much at all by simply gutting the cats. If you have ever been around a car that has no cats the stink is awful. I would recommend watching the forum and find some used headers and do it right. Save a little bit of $$ here and there for the headers, have some Corvette buds help with the install and your out for half or less of a new set. 
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 383
Likes: 1
From: McHenry IL
My car is blown. So the scaveging issue is not going to apply. I'm just looking for a simple/cheap way to fix the issue for this summer only. I also had a few mustangs with offroad exhausts so u know it's going to stink.
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,596
Likes: 37
From: Orange County CA
If you are just trying to fix your code throwing issue why don't you just retune your car?
This shouldn't give you much (if any) HP improvement. I'm not trying to insult you...but, you do understand how headers work don't you? It is the length of the tube that provides the improvement in HP. The airflow coming out of each cylinder flows in pulses...constantly starting and stopping it's flow (one pulse for each exhaust cycle). With the use of LT headers each cylinder pulse is seperated from the other cylinder pulses so that the constant starting and stopping of flow does not disrupt the flow of the other cylinders. Thy tube length for each cylinder must be slighly greater then the distence that each cylinder pulse travels. That is why there isn't much if any improvement with short tube headers.
If it were me I would leave the cats alone until you are ready to do the complete job.
Good luck with your project.
Charley
This shouldn't give you much (if any) HP improvement. I'm not trying to insult you...but, you do understand how headers work don't you? It is the length of the tube that provides the improvement in HP. The airflow coming out of each cylinder flows in pulses...constantly starting and stopping it's flow (one pulse for each exhaust cycle). With the use of LT headers each cylinder pulse is seperated from the other cylinder pulses so that the constant starting and stopping of flow does not disrupt the flow of the other cylinders. Thy tube length for each cylinder must be slighly greater then the distence that each cylinder pulse travels. That is why there isn't much if any improvement with short tube headers.
If it were me I would leave the cats alone until you are ready to do the complete job.
Good luck with your project.
Charley
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 383
Likes: 1
From: McHenry IL
I looked everywhere, and they are very expensive. Also, please please please understand that I am well aware that there is little to no gain from doing this, and that the car will stink. I also understand that doing this is illegal, but so is adding any type of offroad exhaust which includes all long tube headers that are paired with an offroad X pipe. I simply want to know if anyone has done this to a C6 and if it can be done without having to cut open the cats to do it.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 8,615
Likes: 60
From: Haymarket Virginia
I looked everywhere, and they are very expensive. Also, please please please understand that I am well aware that there is little to no gain from doing this, and that the car will stink. I also understand that doing this is illegal, but so is adding any type of offroad exhaust which includes all long tube headers that are paired with an offroad X pipe. I simply want to know if anyone has done this to a C6 and if it can be done without having to cut open the cats to do it.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,913
Likes: 15
From: El Segundo California
St. Jude Donor '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-12-'13-'14-'15-'16
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,326
Likes: 5
From: louisville "derby city" kentucky
Well since times are tight, and I just found out my wife is pregnant with our first, it looks like those $1700 headers I was just going to buy this month are going to wait. Also it looks like I burned out my pass. side cat with the blower, and am now throwing engine codes and getting ****ty gas mileage.
So what I have decided is to try and hollow out the stock cats, have my tuner re-tune the car and turn off the O2s. This should take care of the engine light and the car will run fine. My question is how hard will it be to gut the stock cats WITHOUT cutting them open. Is there a straight enough path to those suckers once unbolted to just gut them without having to open the cat metal case and reweld it back together? Anyone have any experience with doing this on a C6? The plan is to run the gutted cats until 2010 when my bank account can recover from everything going on, then get some real nice headers.....
So what I have decided is to try and hollow out the stock cats, have my tuner re-tune the car and turn off the O2s. This should take care of the engine light and the car will run fine. My question is how hard will it be to gut the stock cats WITHOUT cutting them open. Is there a straight enough path to those suckers once unbolted to just gut them without having to open the cat metal case and reweld it back together? Anyone have any experience with doing this on a C6? The plan is to run the gutted cats until 2010 when my bank account can recover from everything going on, then get some real nice headers.....
