Gutting My Cat?

[disco]

hi,

im hoping to gut my cat on saturday to my car will be ready for the pod on sunday, has any one done this and could you let me know of any problems that may occur, im getting a new gasket for the j pipe and some exhaust paste but will i need anything else.

cheers

dave

[jondh]

Nah...just the tools to get it off...and something to beat the heck out of the cat.

Its quite easy. Are you planning on totally removing the pipe from the car or doing it attached?

[disco]

im going to totally remove the pipe and have a good look at the condition of it.

[Dame]

Check the boost - it has a habit of spiriling to dangerous levels when the cat is removed, you may need a Unichip to sort it out. I wouldn't reccommend doing this without having a proper boost gauge fitted, so you can check boost levels afterwards......

[jondh]

Check the boost - it has a habit of spiriling to dangerous levels when the cat is removed, you may need a Unichip to sort it out. I wouldn't reccommend doing this without having a proper boost gauge fitted, so you can check boost levels afterwards......

It will raise it, but i wouldn't think it would do it that far. Especially with the stock wastegate. I've got a gutted cat, and a 3" exhaust with next to no backpressure (no secondary cat either) and if i shut my boost controller off, the car will still only pull around 8 psi. A little higher than stock...but not near dangerous.

I'm sure someone out there could have those problems...and it is always a good idea to have a real boost gauge...but i wouldn't thing that only removing the cat would ever raise the boost high enough to cause problems.

[Sirius]

hi,

im hoping to gut my cat on saturday to my car will be ready for the pod on sunday, has any one done this and could you let me know of any problems that may occur, im getting a new gasket for the j pipe and some exhaust paste but will i need anything else.

cheers

dave

I would recommend having protective equipment - gloves, googles and most definitely a suitable dust mask.

The CAT material is highly toxic

Put some WD40 or better still plus gas on the bolts the night before to ease them off.

[Dame]

Good safety point! Often overlooked in this type of operation. You may have to dispose of it in a special way too.....

I think in general, the boost pressure should only go up a little, but there have been occasions where it can reach dangerous levels. I'd rather spend £80 on an accurate boost gauge rather than £1000+ on a new engine. It makes sense....

[jondh]

Oh yeah i agree...a real boost gauge is something that you should always buy if you play on doing anything to the car...

[Dame]

And is next on my shopping list......

[disco]

i picked up a hks boost gauge of eBay for £35 at the minute my turbo is boosting at .75 bar and on my mr2 manual it says that stock is .83 bar so im hoping that taking the cat out should stop the air restriction and improve the boost with out touching the acuator.