cats or no cats...debate

Jared

Jared

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Feb 8, 2012
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North Dallas
I want someone with true insight to comment here. This has been debated for so long, and still many don't want to believe that the NBS and newer trucks don't lose any performance by keeping catalytic converters.

Jenna, care to shed some light so that others can make a good decision?
 
Realistically, you may be keeping yourself from a few hp gains, but if that is ~5 is that really concern enough to worry?

Basically, if you were deciding, and being illegal meant you gained 5hp, is that really worth it? I guess to some it may be. If you don't have inspections then I can fully see ditching them as it is cheaper. Most y pipes are not catted, and the catted ory pipes are usually expensive. Or you pay someone to use your oem, or buy aftermarket.

I personally do not have cats. But I didn't base that off a few numbers, I did it because it was cheaper and easier.
 
I won't be running cats but my truck is tagged in Arkansas and we don't have to get inspection :cheeky:
 
I want this to be more about the performance side, anyone have links to charts or info? Would you say there would be a 20hp difference? 10? What?
 
todays normal cats dont restrict shit, that are basically very similar flow to the high flow cats.

your not going to notice any power gain by removing them. All you will notice is the truck being louder and the exhaust smelling more.

basically, your not gaining anything by putting high flow cats on, and your not gaining shit by removing cats.

basically the only reason they should be removed is if they are broken or clogged, and the owner doesnt want to spend any money on replacing them.
 
I don't notice anything really, every once in a while I will smell a stronger odor of fuel. Like a "rich" smell
 
My brother had his 2011 straight piped and cat removed. We raced his nnbs straight pipe (w/o cat) versus my nnbs with flowmaster 44 (w/ cat) and it was dead even up til 100. He gained absolutely nothing and sounded like a fuck-wad.
 
My 02 was catless with the ORY. Wether cats are restric flow and power or not I felt like it would and was happy without them. IMO I just see them as a flow restriction and when going for power flow restriction isnt something I wanted. Being as we dont have to smog test then it was no problem with getting an inspection. Unless crusing around town or showing off the cam my e-cutout was always closed and if by a chance it was open and I got pulled over I would just flip the switch to close it. I was to low for a cop to get under and look at my exhasut if he happened to want to be a prick about it and being how low I was and having to raise my exhaust some I also had to angle my cutout differently where it wouldnt drag so it was tucked and unseen. Normal driving with a tame exhaust wont get you pulled over anyways to where the cop is suspicious about cats. If tuned good and right then you also dont have to worry about the gas or "rich" smell.
 
My truck didnt come with cats??? :shrug:
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:cheeky:

But in reality, you'd need to find what the flow rating is on a cat compared to open pipe and compare. An engine is simply an air pump. The more air you can pull in and get out in a period of time, the more power it makes. Like ginger said above, chances are, a bend in your exhaust causes more flow restriction than a newer style cat.
 
BigBoi said:
Was gonna rage about how badass that looks til I seen the valve cover :/
Click to expand...

Yeah yeah yeah. Only factory made block that will adequately hold 1500hp without breaking apart. Plus, not reaching behind a blower to turn a distributor. Fuck that.
 
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Had mine removed just because it was easier but must say I love the sound of them being off its a lot deeper and it does smell of a stro g gas odor but I dont care not like I breath the stuff...'


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Ginger said:
the old cats were restrictive. but the modern ones, flow as good as pipe. you get as much if not more restriction from a muffler, or a bend in your exhaust when compared to a modern cat or high flow cat.
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Just wanna throw in my .02 on this. While this is true on many vehicles (especially NBS/NNBS trucks), it all depends on the cat design.

My 05 5.3 Silvy gained nothing by removing the cats, actually lost a little low end. My '11 Mustang gained quite a bit of power all through the power band by deleting the cats. Others have dyno documented as much as like 20-30hp. So it really depends on the design/material used in the cats, and every manufacturer is different.


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