Is it worth it to take off my cat or at least rip out the insides, and do i have one or two on my 97 Z?

 

I did it to my '01 WS6 ... gutted the cats.

I hated the sound, and saw no gains at the track, so I put my stock cats back on.

LT1's may be different though.

 

dont gut them.....replace them with straight 3 inch pipe instead

 

On a 97, you cant just replace with a 3" off-road pipe, he has 2 cats on the y-pipe. You would be better off just buying an off-road y-pipe or find a used 93-95 y-pipe and put an off-road pipe in place of the cat on it. For the cost of an off-road y-pipe, and the minumum gain from it (about 5rwhp) I would say just wait till you do headers. 93-95's have it easy with one cat.

 

Not sure of the rules in your state, but in CA the cops can perform a roadside inspection...if they don't see a cat, I believe it can be a $10K fine!