MX-3.com

so basically what the topic says...my car's CAT is messing up and i dont really feel like paying a couple hundred to replace it, so i might just take it off, what are the disadvantages if any of not having a CAT

nothing if you don't have emissions laws, but if you try to sell it in a state that does then you can have problems.

in canada, a 365$ fine.

buy a highflow cat. they are really cheap. magnaflow makes them for well under $100

No cat might cut out your back pressure for your exhaust system... this sometimes depending on your setup and your car, will actually make you loose horsepower.

Your car will feel sluggish off the line... but probably will be better on the highway.

Isn't removing the catylitic converter a federal crime or something pretty heavy?

Cpl_Bryant wrote:Isn't removing the catylitic converter a federal crime or something pretty heavy?

yes it is, get a high flow, they are cheap, i got mine for $45 off ebay never installed

Yeah I have a high flow one coming from jegs.com, good prices.

About the federal crime thing someone mentioned...

My mechanic had his removed recently, said his car runs better than ever without it, so I'm considering getting mine removed...doing more research though.

But anyway, I asked him about the law, and what can happen. He said that if a person gets it removed, and they get caught, the shop who removed it gets a $10,000.00 fine. In FL we don't have emissions anymore, so he made it sound like the vehichle owner doesn't really have anything happen to him/her, it's the shop who gets the fines.

Don't know how true it is, but figured I'd put it out there.

if you want your car to sound like a honda go ahead and remove it... thats what happend to me... i got straight pipe from the flex pipe back... to a high flow muffler... it sounds like a F***ing honda im sad i might get sumin diff.

sound dependson the muffler... i have a 2.25" exhaust from the precat (small round thing directly after the manifold and before the flex pipe) all the way back (no flex pipe / no cat / no baffler ) not only does it not sound like a honda but it made a very big change in acceleration... as to the legal side i've heard that as long as you live in a no e-test area then you are ok... the law i think says that a shop cannot remove your cat but you can... so if your cat happens to fall off and you simply replace your exhuast with piping that has no cat then technically the shop didn't remove your cat... its great how loopholes work

mazda78 wrote:sound dependson the muffler... i have a 2.25" exhaust from the precat (small round thing directly after the manifold and before the flex pipe) all the way back (no flex pipe / no cat / no baffler ) not only does it not sound like a honda but it made a very big change in acceleration... as to the legal side i've heard that as long as you live in a no e-test area then you are ok... the law i think says that a shop cannot remove your cat but you can... so if your cat happens to fall off and you simply replace your exhuast with piping that has no cat then technically the shop didn't remove your cat... its great how loopholes work

actually it still is illegal to remove the cat. if your car was equiped with one, then it needs to have one. i live in a non emissions area. BUT there not going to take the cat off to see if its hollowed out. . if they look under your car and dont see one they can give you a ticket. and 99.9 percent of shops wont take them off at all, becaused they will get fined if caught, but you will get fined as well for not having one. and you dont want to be caught without one in some of the high emission states like CA. bad things will happen.

I have the CAT's on mine...but there gutted so when i go to get it safetied, they see the CAT's there....but they dont know that they have been gutted..so i win win win..we dont have those emissions tests here to were free to have what we want (to an extent)..

when i did my turbo setup i didnt put a cat in, its cool for a lil while cuz it makes it louder...but thats nto always a good thing lol. it was cool for a lil while but now im pretty sure imma get one of those high flow cats ppl have mentioned to tone it down a little bit. and as for the person who said his car sounds like a honda....what did u expect?!?! they're all four cylinders

about a cop or something looking under your car for a cat dont think any of the cops around here know what one looks like and if you are that scared about it lower your car