How do you "gut" cats?

[Bobpantax]

There are certainly exotic metals that are resistant to acids much more so than what is likely some form of common stainless steel on the cats. Let alone the aluminized steel the rest of the exhaust is made of...

Ceramics in the chemical industry are one of the king of the hill kind of materials when it comes to corrosion resistance. Not universally resistant to everything, but can go where other materials can't especially when you need structural properties..

To answer your question specifically though, anything that can dissolve the catalytic substrate is going to take the stainless can with it.

Interesting. Thanks.

 

[PhoenixGTS]

If you have hi-flo cats why even bother? I run stock cats with the inlet and outlet modified by Lou to 3" and don't feel bad about that choice at all. Extra 5 hp isn't worth being ghetto in my book.

See. I did not even mention the environment.

 

[dave6666]

If you have hi-flo cats why even bother? I run stock cats with the inlet and outlet modified by Lou to 3" and don't feel bad about that choice at all. Extra 5 hp isn't worth being ghetto in my book.

See. I did not even mention the environment.

I do have hi-flo cats. So you're saying the difference between that and no cats is 5 hp?

 

[PhoenixGTS]

I do have hi-flo cats. So you're saying the difference between that and no cats is 5 hp?

That is why I said "if you have hi-flo cats." Because I read (and saw in your picture) that you did. Cats do not eat a lot of power on a normally aspirated engine unless it is a monster. I say don't bother. It will just make the car loud and stinky not to mention not environmentally friendly (see I didn't mention the environment again). I bet 5 horsepower is not a crazy guess.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

So after you gut the cats what do you do with the guts? Toss them in the ocean? I don't know much about it but aren't the cats supposed to purify the exhaust? If so, then there must be some serious pollutants inside them correct? Don't get me wrong, it doesn't bother me in the least. I still dump my oil on the neighbors' weeds, I'm just wondering.

 

[FATHERFORD]

So after you gut the cats what do you do with the guts? Toss them in the ocean? I don't know much about it but aren't the cats supposed to purify the exhaust? If so, then there must be some serious pollutants inside them correct? Don't get me wrong, it doesn't bother me in the least. I still dump my oil on the neighbors' weeds, I'm just wondering.

If the vehicle is tuned right you don't need cats...

IMO dave shouldn't bother. Like what has been said high flows from no cats is marginal power difference on an n/a car. I know when I used to work at a speed shop we played around with a mustang that had exhaust where cats could be removed and replaced with a straight pipe with just a few bolts. We saw 3rwhp gain at most between the two.

On a turbo car though, whole different story!

You just do what my Vortech blown F-150 did. Run rich at wide open throttle, clog the cats, then blow it out the rear.

Driver side: Clogged

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Passenger side: Where did it go?

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[Tom F&L GoR]

So after you gut the cats what do you do with the guts? Toss them in the ocean? I don't know much about it but aren't the cats supposed to purify the exhaust? If so, then there must be some serious pollutants inside them correct? Don't get me wrong, it doesn't bother me in the least. I still dump my oil on the neighbors' weeds, I'm just wondering.

Chuck, I'm sure you know this... They are called "catalysts" because they cause a reaction in the exhaust gas without consuming the catalyst itself. The material that initiates the catalytic reaction are those expensive precious metals; palladium, platinum, etc. When metals prices spiked higher there were stories of thieves cutting out catalysts from cars and selling at the recycle yard. Many times you could get up to $80 per "muffler." Don't know about bringing it in a baggie, though.

PS Don't know about Florida, but I do my local gas station a favor by bringing them my used oil. They can collect enough during the year to run their furnace for the entire winter heating season.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Chuck, I'm sure you know this... They are called "catalysts" because they cause a reaction in the exhaust gas without consuming the catalyst itself. The material that initiates the catalytic reaction are those expensive precious metals; palladium, platinum, etc. When metals prices spiked higher there were stories of thieves cutting out catalysts from cars and selling at the recycle yard. Many times you could get up to $80 per "muffler." Don't know about bringing it in a baggie, though.

PS Don't know about Florida, but I do my local gas station a favor by bringing them my used oil. They can collect enough during the year to run their furnace for the entire winter heating season.

Honestly, I haven't thought much about how cats work. I just figured the pollutants gotta go somewhere. Sort of like that saying about energy doesn't disappear it just transforms...or something like that.

I don't really dump oil on my neighbor's weeks...I dump it on speed bumps.

 

[dave6666]

Yeah Chuck, stay away from the neighbor's ****.

As I kinda pointed out as this thread has moved along, gutting the cats is not something I would do w/o seeing/hearing/smelling someone else's car first. And I have not had that opportunity.

Meanwhile, all the replies have been quite informative!

Now... If I can just get Chuck to quit hanging around Phelps' garden...