Craig K. Balgobin

Has anyone removed and gutted out thier cat. Is there a noticeable performance difference in torque or hp. What about any cons of doing this. Do our engines need that backpressure?

Sonic

Get a straightpipe or test pipe instead.

Daniel B. Martin

Don't do this. It is illegal. It is bad for the environment. It will gain you little improvement.

Ants97SE

Daniel B. keeps us Maxima owners in check.

SuDZ

Also it can make inspection that much harder to pass when it comes to emmisions.

SuDZ

Sonic

You mean impossible. The cat is an air scrubber/cleaner, without it, the NOx and CO reading will be VERY high.

Nismo

iTrader: (18)

just got dont gutting my friends crx cat. it took about an hour and was a B**** because its welded onto the pipes.

ru4real

iTrader: (3)

I think it makes you slower. dmbmaxima88 discovered that

NZ Max

I did this to my second max. We dont have any emmisions laws in New Zealand since were a clean and green country. It didn't do a thing. No change in exhaust, no power increase. It was a waste of time really

NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

Gutting the cat might provide more exhaust flow, but it will probably be achieved only if you have the full exhaust. If you want more flow, just get a high flow cat converter which still fills emission requirements and is street legal. Such as a carsound cat or a Random Tech cat...

sx7r

iTrader: (15)

i would never do anything like that. using nitrous doesn't create any backpressure at all so running a full exhaust is pointless. the best thing to do is add two more cats. hug a tree and have a nice day.

mtrai760

iTrader: (19)

I found 3 cat's to be the magic number for adding power!

syc

Read this month's Sports Compact Car mag, on p.188. "To cat or not to cat". It basically says that gutted car reduce the performance because it cause flow stagnation and reduce flow velocity on a mordern cat.

darksands

It does do a little cause it's a V-6 but it does polute the air and make noise. It is also illegal. Im lucky that i havent been busted yet cause I got dark tinted windows too. If you want to pass smog, your gonna have to remove the pipe and put the cat back in. It is a little faster but I dont know if you would pay for it. I got it done for free cause a friend works at a muffler shop. Good luck to you. Hope this helped.

carnal_c30

iTrader: (38)

damn that is an old *** question...

if anyone cares, get an aftermarket cat, Warpspeed just came out with theirs... already heard good reviews from SoCal Maximas

MrGone

iTrader: (30)

when working on my friends 280z, his cat jack (who we renamed nismo) always climbs into my car and sleeps in the middle of the back seat in the sun. ive almost taken him home a few times, a new present for the pug and lab.
anyway, he did this to his '93 f350 with a 351cu in V8. you can smell the fumes alot more, well only when on that side, but it did make a lower rumble (still stock) and it free'd up more ponies.
now its running the 351W - E4OD - 4:56 gears - Posi front/rear - borg warner t case - advanced timing and he did have edelbrock headers on the way and was planning a homemade K&N CAI but other projects got in the way.
all in all, its a pretty nice truck, dont have to rely on the engine to intimate people like i do in the max. of course with both of us on the road, you have a max that trys to 4wheel and a 1ton truck with 33's trying to drive like the maxima.
funny funny ****, you guys would laugh your asses off if you saw how we team up. its like smokey and the bandit, but im bandit and hes the truck driver.
blah, time for bed, last day of school tommarrow, im gonna go insane. I love my max.
sorry for being semi(haha) off topic
MrGone

nad819

iTrader: (1)

I'm catless :-p When emissions testing rolls around in 2 years.... ummm, well in the mean time it's nice

easter9053

I would like to add the Y-pipes to my 95' 5spd Max. I read this is what I should do if I want about 10 to 15 extra ponies. What is the difference between gutting the cats out or running the straight Y-pipes? Please help someone.

ru4real

iTrader: (3)

Nice resurrection, newb.

sean05

iTrader: (13)

damn talk about bringing up the dead!! geez this is from 02'!

RockfordMax

iTrader: (2)

haha i didnt even realize that until you said it.... 1 post, so fun

96blackmaxSE

iTrader: (30)

i have a test pipe instead of a cat...i smell my raw exhaust smell more both outside my car and inside my car if im idleing a long time...its sounds deeper in tone and feels like it flows better...havent thrown an o2 code (yet) i dont even have it plugged in

anyway i have a y pipe and a crimped, stock, rusted b bipe and magna flow muff

Wills98MaxSE

wow let's see who can dig up the oldest thread (note the sarcasm)

2 much free time

lilaclucymaxima

iTrader: (16)

Lately waaay too many people are bringing up dead pointless threads from 10892347 years ago. It's getting a little ridiculous.

lilaclucymaxima

iTrader: (16)

Wooooow.

99SEL4ME

Yeah, my cat died a year ago. I just buried it in my backyard.

lilaclucymaxima

iTrader: (16)

Hahaha

Weimar Ben

iTrader: (5)

I'm not an environmentalist wacko, but I do believe that we should reduce pollution where feasible and cost-effective. Modern cats don't cost you much power like the ones on the 70's did.

Gutting a cat will COST you HP because it will create turbulence and stagnation in the exhaust flow. A straight pipe will add maybe 3whp. Definately not worth it for the extra pollution it causes. The stock cat is pretty free-flowing as it is. If you want to squeeze every ounce of HP out of the engine, get a good aftermarket street legal cat.

Bottom line, don't be a selfish SOB and gut your cat or put in a straight pipe!!

Weimar Ben

iTrader: (5)

NO, an aftermarket y-pipe removes the pre-cats which only affect emmissions when the engine is cold. This thread is referring to gutting the main cat or replacing the main cat with a straight pipe.