All of you who say "oh its a bad idea dont do it" please go into more detail about your response. Why is it a bad idea? What are you basing your statements and opinions off? How many of you that are saying not to do it have actually done it? I say gut it. My reasoning is I have had the cat on my car gutted for over 6 years. I have driven it from VA to NC more times then I can count during 4 years of school, which was a 280 mile trip each way, as well as many other long road trips to FL and SC. That drone that people speak of at the front of the car is the F ING MOTOR. When your cruising at 80 assuming the gears are stock and you have a 6pd (and your in 6th) your RPM is at 2k, the motor drones at that RPM level. A gutted cat does not disrupt the flow of exhaust, a functional cat disrupts the flow of exhaust. As i stated earlier, flowmaster mufflers have baffels in the chambers that disrupt the flow of exhaust. I have had a Flowmaster muffler which I got rid of for the Borla XR1, so I know the differance in sound that a gutted cat makes on a Flowmaster muffler, as well as stock, and Borla. In EACH case all it does is make the tone a little raspier, there is no added drone, there is no LOSS in power, and it is by far and away the best FREE MOD you can do it the Camaro. Please someone make an arguement based on facts, and not empty reasons that you cant back up.

 

How can u tell if its clogged?

 

Glowing manifolds and reduced performance would be a couple tell tale signs.

 

I would try and explain but since you are happy with your set-up and anything I might say would not convince you anyways, I'll just say you do it your way, and the rest should try the straight pipe method for a bit less drone and "slightly" improved performance. But with that said, a cat takes away very little performance and many will find the extra gas smell without the cat to be a (little) or (very) annoying. Have a good day snake.

 

That’s what I am asking for, is an explanation of the reasoning behind people who say, "Oh don’t do it bad idea". I have already stated to people that say "oh there’s turbulence in the exhaust look at flowmaster with open chambers" that their mufflers have baffles. Yes, I agree with you that the gas smell is noticeable and for some will be unappealing, but no one has said that as a reason. I can live with it, others might not. No one is giving facts as to why you should or shouldn’t do it. Also, what are you talking about test pipe, are you saying take a piece of exhaust piping and shove it through the cat and have it connect with the intermediate pipe? Please explain. I can’t however agree with your statement that a cat takes away very little performance, that is false. My advice would be gut the cat, and see if you can live with the noise before you go off and buy a straight pipe and spend money when you don’t need to. If whoever started this thread guts it, then decides the noise is too much, then he can get a straight pipe, which by the way will still cause the car to smell like gas as well. If he can’t live with the smell after all that, then he can get a high flow cat, which isn’t going to flow all that much more then the stock one for $230. My point was for people to explain their reasoning and give the person who started the thread some actual facts, not what you have heard from your local mechanic at Jiffy Lube or any other unqualified person you may ask. By saying unqualified I mean someone that has not done it personally therefore can offer no first hand experience or knowledge to the subject matter. Instead you come back with well I could explain it but you wouldn’t be convinced. Maybe not, but try anyway instead of hiding behind generalizations when you cant produce facts.

If you gut the cat:
Fact: You will notice a more raspy tone
Fact: You will get a noticeable gain in performance, how much depends on what mods you have or have not done.
Fact: You car will smell like gas.
Fiction: You car will drone. The first time I gutted the cat was because it was clogged and my entire exhaust system was stock. I not only noticed a significant gain in performance and a more raspy tone, i noticed NO DRONE at ALL. The drone you hear is the 350 CI motor directly in front of you, not the 4 inch empty chamber with no leaks off to your right. Flowmaster mufflers also have a major drone, do a search on that if you want. You will also find out they suck for our cars, something I can PERSONALLY attest to. And unless you travel always with your radio off and windows up, the noise differance will be limited to the sound of air freely flowing through where it used to not be able to.

 

A test pipe, one of the Vedors use to sell them, was a piece of pipe that was put in place of the cat to help determine if indeed the cat was clogged. it also was a way to ditch the cat untill it was time for an emissions check, where then the cat could be put back on. If you prefer the extra drone from a hollowed out cat , good for you. If you also think exhaust gas pulses have a easier time boundsing (spelling?) around in a hollowed out cat instead of flowing straight thru a pipe is also a good idea, who am I to think otherwise. Just my 2 cents.

 

You gutting your cat will effect your o2 readings. Your car will probably sound like crap too.

 

IT WILL NOT AFFECT YOUR O2 READINGS DICK. Single cat LT1 have NO REAR O2 sensors. And how do you know the car will sound like crap, what are you basing your statement on? Jesus you people are stupid. And Z Rated, like I said before you cant just up and swap pipes in place of the cats, you have to weld and reweld each time you take it off the ypipe. Also, whats a Vedor. If the cat is clogged you will know it, it is very obvious, no pipe will be needed to verify it. And once again, no one is giving facts to help the person who started this thread. Unless you count "Your car will probably sound like crap too" as good solid advice. Jackasses.

 

Besides my car smelling, when I had a gutted cat I also had yellow film accumulate on my rear bumper. This was apparently from exhaust waste which the cat normally "cleansed" being expelled out the exhaust sticking to the bumper. The only way I could remove it was with cleaner wax. This may have been due to the fact that my cam, (LT4 Hotcam) has a 112lsa and runs a bit "rich" at idle.

Sound was a tad louder with the cat gutted. No drone. Imagine pressing the "volume up" button on your TV remote 2-3 times and that was the difference I noticed. I ran it with various plates in my Borla as well.

I'd debate the noticeable gain in performance as well. I surely noticed nothing on my car. It might have made 5hp on a really good day when the conditions were perfect? When youre making over 300hp, I doubt 5hp is noticable to the average person.

 

Dont blame the cat for the film on the bumper. Whoever put on your exhaust system didnt have the tips far enough out to clear the exhaust fumes from the bumper. And it has nothing to do with the hotcam being a 112, it has to do with it not being tuned properly.

 

Dont gut the cat, unless you have to pass a visual inspection in your area. I've read of too many people complain of interior drone. Just take it to a muffler shop and have them weld in a length of 2 3/4 pipe. Only cost me 60 bucks.

 

No, after reading this thread you have read people say they hear it drones, yet very few have actually gutted their cat to have the ability to actually give an opinion with any validity. For those of you who say it drones, what RPM and what speed does it do it? Do you hear it all the time or just while cruising? Please give some insight to your statements.

 

Snake, excuse my spelling (vendor). And your right, no need to put a pipe in place of a gutted cat. We'll just let those exhaust pulses fend for themselves as their bouncing around the inside of the gutted cat. Or maybe the smart pulse waves will lead the dumb ones out if they can't find the exit on their own. On a side note, as I have already wasted your time and and everyone elses, I would like to point out you might what to pick up some hardened pushrods and axles instead of those (hardend) ones your using.

Sorry guys, mods, sometimes I just can't help myself.

 

Nice catch, didnt notice my misspelling, although I dont capitalize things unecessarly to be noticed. Pulse this you *******, smart ones dumb ones what the hell are you talking about. I dont think the "exhaust pulses" are going to have a problem finding their way out of the cat, and I dont think there going to be bouncing around. Once again you have totally avoided answering my question, just more of your sidestepping by answering with once again no facts provided at all. This forum sucks for advice sometimes, if someone asks you about something that you have not done yourself then why offer an opinion if you arnt prepared to defend it. Sometimes I cant help myself. ***.

 

I gutted my cat because the internal "honeycomb" was loose from the casing. I was running hoker shorties throught he gutted cat and then into a dump right before the axle. When the dump was closed, it ran through my flowmaster muffler i had welded in in place of the stocker. The only drone I noticed was when the cutout was open and it was at roughly 3200 rpm. When it was closed, nothing. It does sound a little off (bad) when the cut out is open and its just idling... I believe this is because of the open chamber. It kinda sounds like a low compression truck engine, but only untill I get on it. If emissions aren't a problem, go ahead and do it. I had a test pipe on BACK order and I cancled it and just gutted my cat. I believe its worth the hour or 2 of work. My exhaust tips do turn like a "gold-like" color after a while, but chrome polish takes it off.

I dont have an SES light problem

I dont regret doing this mod

Another thing... this isn't English class, so lets not debate grammar and try to express our sexuality.