Hi,

One of the common things I hear around here and on other boards is people either gutting or removing their cats altogether. While this is a "free" mod, it ticks me off. I don't want to breath someone else's exhaust fumes and no one else should have to, either!

Air pollution and greenhouse gas release are greatly aggravated when these are removed. And removing them doesn't add that much power. As Lingenfelter shows in his book that the LT1 cats are pretty darn efficient: "In fact our testing shows that the new LT1 catalytic converter costs only about 10 horsepower on a 400 horsepower engine which is a small price to pay for clean air" (Lingenfelter 1996: 128).

In another paragraph, he says, "Our dyno testing has confirmed that the late-model LT1 and LT4 catalytic converters are actually very efficient. On a stock '93 LT1 350 engine, removing the cat improves the top end power only about 4 to 5 horsepower. The stock catalytic converter on our 500 horsepower killer LT5 engines reduces peak horsepower only about 12 to 14 horsepower. This illustrates the efficiency of these catalytic converters." (ibid: 129).

So why is it that the first thing some guys do is rip the cats off so we all get to sniff the nice exhaust?! Do some "free mods" like bypassing the throttle body coolant, (5-7hp!) "gutting" and descreening the MAF, or make yourself a nice homemade ram air.(5-10 HP). But leave the cats on, I don't want to smell your hydrogen sulfide!



Lingenfelter, John, 1996
"John Lingenfelter on Modifying Small-Block Chevy Engines." HP Books, New York.

 

Ticks me off too. But we are in the minority.

Rich Krause

 

First, I am all for clean air.
Now having said that, do you really think my little camaro is as gross a polluter as some of these big business smokestack, river dumping, nasty a** corporate punks who crush old cars so they can pollute more?
Go after the big boys first, your just wasting your time on the small amount of gearheads who chose not to run a cat.
Plenty of tri-fives and older Camaros and mustangs and mopars and anything pre 72 running around out there with no emissions crap whatsoever.

 

so if you only smoke pot but someone else does heroin.......your not doing anything illegal because its just Mj and other people are doing heroin?

 

well apparently it's not concerning alot of people cause not every stat has emissions. glad i live in illinois cause i like having not cats. but then on the other hand there might be some things that you do that i don't like. to each there own.

 

I quit doing drugs after high school but yes I think Mary Jane is allright.
Been there done that, never had a prob with blunt smokers, heroin addicts are completely different story.

 

You'll love the next thread!!! Deal with it I guess!!

 

well i dont give two ****s either way, but i just think its funny how there is always someone else to blame and that anything the "other guy" is doing is worse, so i will use it to make myself feel better

gut your cats.......i dont care. some swedish scientists did a study on how they are causing more pollution than they stop

 

My car lost 19hp after putting cats on... I'm seriously thinking of going back to an off-road y-pipe. If the car is in good tune with a mild cam, a car w/o cats is not as offensive as you're making them out to be - in fact, you might even be able to tell (apart for the car being a bit louder).

FYI, my factory original L79 '67 Corvette 'smells' just fine without power/gas robbing cats, and you can bet it'll stay that way for as long as I live.

 

Like I said, I'm not trying to flame anyone. It's just this: for 4-10 fwhp at the TOP END we have to breathe the stinkin' hydrocarbons, various hydrogen and nitrogen -ates and -ites and other good stuff we all learned in high school chemistry, ALL THE TIME.

For me this isn't what one can "get away with," it's about clean air. How 'bout saving the medical bills from having asthma attacks and emphysema and using the money to buy a supercharger instead?

It seems like removing or "gutting" the cats (like a deer's entrails, I suppose), is some kind of macho thing associated with having a musclecar. Am I wrong? Is it really worthy the pitiful gains? Sure, the pre-70's hot rods don't need them, but how many do you see running around daily? I'm from New Hampshire, we don't have emissions, either, but I leave my cats on...not that I'm a tree-huggin, old growth forest kind a' guy, but because even a malfunctioning cat FRIGGIN STINKS! I wish it could be "to each his own," so that everybody gets to sniff only their own exhaust, but we all live in the same glop of air.

Again, I apologize if this sounds strongly worded, the hyperbole is meant in a tongue-in-cheek way, but the point isn't.

 

i'll take every hp gain i can get.

 

I didn't want to gut my cat...my hammer did

 

I care about the environment too.. I also don't really see a purpose in just gutting the cat on a stock exhaust... heck if the cat back you purchase comes with high flow cats, use them! I don't think you'd lose much if any hp on a bolt on car.

With that said, I custom fabbed my true dual setup and there simply was neither money nor space for the emissions crap. I know, I know, everyone needs to do their small part.. well I'm not. But I do recycle

The way I figure, the small amount of pollution generated buy a few gearheads is negligible in comparison to the trucking industry, manufacturing industry, phosphourous industry, etc.

At a time like this pick the big fights to fight, that ones that make a real difference when you win. Go after the car companies for manufacturing all these stinking SUV's, Avalanches, H2's, whatever... Go after the consumer for buying them..

I think your efforts would be better spent elsewhere. There are bigger fish to fry...

Anyways, I hope what I said doesn't come across the wrong way, I agree completely with most of your sentiments.. I just feel that your efforts are misdirected.

 

I dont like to breathe peoples smoking, the enviroment is already in big trouble, but I really dont think it's a big deal either way.

 

one thing you have to realize, your not going to stop people from doing what they want to do no matter how bad it is for them or the world, when more states get harder on the emissions things will change, in pa its getting harder and harder to pass