I'm going to gut my cats, but I'm pretty sure they're welded to the pipe. Do I have to cut them off?

I'd also love to find piping to go in their place, but am not sure where to get it.

I have a '96 Z28.

 

Why? Very little HP loss due to the cats, and hollowing them out will make the exhaust sound "hollow" and bad. The resulting flow disruption from the sudden enlargement in the exhaust will probably hurt flow more than it helps it.

 

lol don't do it, the smell alone is horriffic, not to mention the sound.

 

Might be illegal, too, depending on where you are located. Easy to gut, but probably not much benefit. I had one burn itself out on a '95 LT1- sounded pretty bad, like an exhaust leak. A 'puffing' or ticking noise.

 

Never hurts to check around though, it's not exactly legal where I live but I lucked out. I was able to get a muffler shop to cut out my cat and weld in a straight piece of pipe, $50 cash, no receipt. Don't know how it is where you're at, but they don't test emissions up here, thank GOD.

 

If you're going to, it's really easy. Unbolt the flange, drop the cat down enough to have the hole clear, take a long pipe (green sign post works great), stick it in the end. Then take a sledge and bang the hell out of it. Do this til there's no resistance, then turn the car on, rev it to blow out the chunks of ceramic. I did this about 7 years ago and no regrets. I did notice SOTP power increase, and I personally loved the sound...but I am now going with a high flow cat, because of emissions testing.

 

where i live emissions only reguard to cars year 95 and above. my cat has a rattle in the honeycomb so i am planning to just cut it out. i have heard mostly bad things weather it be sound or preformance.