First of all, can it be done yourself or is this a job for the performance shop? How much money will I be talking? Secondly, will it change my sound? If so, how much? Louder...softer? Thanks.

 

if you are going to gut the cats it will NOT be softer. Do not know if a performance shop would do this, maybe? Why not just get some high flows?

 

unless you are in a non emmissions state, i would not mess with them. If you are in a state that doesnt have emissions, take them off.

 

Gutted cats sound like hell. If you're wanting to rid yourself of the cats, pick up a set of good headers/y-pipe and cat-back.

 

If you don't have emissions or you don't care you could probably do it yourself. They don't sound that bad, I had mine gutted before I put on the LT's a Y. All you need is jack/stands/ramps, a hammer, a big screwdriver/prybar, flashlight and vaccuum cleaner.

 

What exactly are you aiming for, the extra 1-2HP or loudness?

 

I straight-piped an old cat. convertor that blew itself out over time. Looks JUST LIKE a regular cat. convertor on the outside, and is the identical length to my good cat. convertor, that way I just swap them out when emissions time comes.

 

Don't do it. It can really make your car sound like azz and you won't gain any power either.

 

If you have a later car with O2 sensors behind the cats, then you'll have to get a pair of O2 foolers for another $90 whether you go ORY or gutted. (casper electronics)

On other (POS) cars with clogged cats, I've tried what others recommned with driving a rod thru em and such. Every car seemed to get phantom rattles, and I think it was chunks of the cat rattling in the muffler.

Personally, if I were going to gut a cat, I'd remove the Y pipe, use a high speed wheel to cut the floorboard side off. Wear a mask and do a wet cut to avoid cancer. Gut it properly, be sure it's totally empty, and weld the top back on. Also looks emissions legal to the casual observer.

I see 2 benefits to doing this. One, no more worries about losing performance beyond 100K because of clogging. Two, depending on where the cat is, you can get better maintenance access and lower underhood temps.

I don't see why a properly gutted cat would sound any different than a pre-74 non cat car. Last I checked, 60's musclecars sounded pretty damn good. Good luck!

 

i have a '93 six speed z that has a gutted cat and flowmaster exhaust and i think its one of the best sounds i've ever heard. people will give you crap about a Flowmaster muffler, but you cant beat the sound of one. the gutted cat only has one flaw to me, it gives it this slight hissing sounds when going WOT ... nothing real noticable unless you want to hear it...but thats the only thing i dont like about it. if i had it to do all over again, i'd just place an off-road pipe for the cat.

 

Gutting the car makes it a bit louder but raspier. Adfter doing it, i then changed it to a straight pipe and it sounds way better.

 

Because 60's muscle cars didn't have cats at all. The "canister" of the cat is made out of very thin metal, that transmits sounds through it very easily. The honeycomb catalyst in the "canister" of the cat is (on top of it's normal duties) a sound deadening material that keeps you from hearing all the god-awful noises that you will with a gutted cat. Think of the sound of a cut-out, being blasted through a coke can. Not a very pleasant noise. Believe me, before I put on my headers/y-pipe/ORP I had a gutted cat, so I speak from experience. Like I said before, the only thing you'd gain from gutting the cats on your stock y-pipe would be 1-2 hp, an SES Light, and a nasty noise similar to an exhaust leak.

 

I replaced my cat with a DMH electric cut-out.. It makes the hooker cat-back a litle louder, (With the cutout closed of course) but thats all i noticed.

 

My gutted cat has no leaks or any noises that sound like leaks.

 

i gutted mine and took of my muffer and it sounds great. its more of a real preformance sound rather than that baller sound from a flowey. i like it people are like **** that sounds wicked until i tell thim then they sometimes think im lame and ther all oh i dont like it, but imo thats just because there lame assses and they think im cheap or somethign, i like it and id never by flowmaster, *** that. ou can do it with the handle end of a shovel or a crowbar. and then just start it up and it wil blow all the sit out. i did nine kuz i melted i all together and my ca was plugged up and im realy happy with it.