Remember kiddos, when you only have 212 hp...

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VuickB6

VuickB6

10 Year
Joined
May 19, 2011
Threads
20
Messages
507
Location
Texas
Every horsepower counts. :eek:

My truck has been running like crap lately and I knew that one of the cats was plugged up. The exhaust gasket in between the cats blew out and so I knew at least the rear one was done for. I took off the rear section of the exhaust and punched it out. Drove it to work this morning and it feels like a whole new vehicle! I was cruising effortlessly at 95 during a long stretch which it has never been able to do. Normally anything above 75-80 feels like it's having to work too hard to keep up that kind of speed. I figured it was because of the lift, 37s, armor, and roof rack weighing it down and/or causing so much drag.

So if your truck is feeling sluggish and you have original cats with 260k miles you should try punching them out or if you live where they're required then get them replaced. Took me all of an hour from start to finish.

:beer:
 
who drives 90 in a land cruiser? :p
 
Heckraiser said:
who drives 90 in a land cruiser? :p
Click to expand...

Seriously!

I have been thinking about this same thing. I blew out a donut gasket too. Thought maybe it could have been cat related, but the vehicle seems to run ok. Get a bit of rattling out of the cats every now and then.
 
I normally put along at 60 mph on the way to work so I can get 13 mpg. :cool:

Round trip to work is 52 miles and when the price of gas is up it makes it pretty damn expensive. Haven't had to worry about it for a while because it's been as low as $1.35 and has crept up to $1.89 over the past few months. But yeah at those speeds I'm surely in the single digits but I was also running late for work. It's easy to do though since I'm on my way to work at 4 in the morning.
 
VuickB6 said:
I normally put along at 60 mph on the way to work so I can get 13 mpg. :cool:

Round trip to work is 52 miles and when the price of gas is up it makes it pretty damn expensive. Haven't had to worry about it for a while because it's been as low as $1.35 and has crept up to $1.89 over the past few months. But yeah at those speeds I'm surely in the single digits but I was also running late for work. It's easy to do though since I'm on my way to work at 4 in the morning.
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:-( my round trip is 110miles, so I don't run the cruiser that often, as my wallet cannot take it !!
 
Oh damn, I probably wouldn't even make 2 whole trips before I would have to fill up. If I do no other driving than just to work then I can squeak by 4 trips to work. :confused:
 
i cut the cats off mine years ago. helped a ton and it got rid of the rattle i had tried to find for a month. was coming from inside the cat.
 
pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean with 'punching them out' ? DO you actually drill holes in it ?

Thanks (I am thinking I have the same issue)
 
toyofan said:
pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean with 'punching them out' ? DO you actually drill holes in it ?

Thanks (I am thinking I have the same issue)
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You can break up the honey comb inside of the cat with a hammer and a short wooden handle (or another hammer as the punch) and it just falls through turing the cat into a test pipe
 
A gutted cat (what y'all are calling a knocked out cat) will obviously flow better than a clogged one, which is why the OP seems to have possibly increased his power, but a new properly flowing cat actually gives you more power than a gutted one.

In a gutted cat, as the gases enter the empty chamber, exhaust velocity slows down. As it then regroups to enter back into the exhaust piping, it does not have the energy it did before, therefore it "stacks", causing back pressure. This back pressure now works against the flow of spent gases out of the cylinder when the exhaust valve opens, causing the piston to do all the work. Now, energy is being wasted for gas removal that could otherwise be used to turn the crankshaft.

So do NOT gut your properly functioning cat. If your 80 is an "off-road only" truck, that will not be driven on the street, what will give you the most power is to install a straight pipe in place of where your cats were. Hope this helps.
 
I've seen that same statement thrown around the internet on so many different forums for over 10 years now but haven't found a credible source to back up the claim.

Do you have a source or did you copy and paste like the rest of the internet?
 
toyofan said:
pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean with 'punching them out' ? DO you actually drill holes in it ?

Thanks (I am thinking I have the same issue)
Click to expand...

The way I did mine was to use a 2 foot breaker bar and a rubber mallet. Just stuck it in there and pounded away on it (teehee) until the chunks were small enough to drop out. Took maybe 3-4 minutes?
 
VuickB6 said:
I've seen that same statement thrown around the internet on so many different forums for over 10 years now but haven't found a credible source to back up the claim.

Do you have a source or did you copy and paste like the rest of the internet?
Click to expand...

I have had 2 exhaust shops, one that had a race team, and 2 tuners tell me that so I do not (one of the tuners is world renowned). I recall reading it in a car magazine ages ago as well. However, I have also had a couple of red necks tell me to gut them haha.

Just think about it logically though. Professional drag and race cars mostly have straight pipes. Besides it is super cheap to just put a pipe in place of the cats, a little less weight too. Also if you had a straight pipe in place of both of your cats you would be throwing a code. This makes one wonder the reason why your not.

Its just speculation but your downstream O2 may be getting a different reading which would not be happening if you had a straight pipe. The readings would be about the same on a straight pipe which should throw a code. What are your thoughts?
 
VuickB6 said:
I've seen that same statement thrown around the internet on so many different forums for over 10 years now but haven't found a credible source to back up the claim.

Do you have a source or did you copy and paste like the rest of the internet?
Click to expand...

I think gutted cats act as expansion chambers on a two stroke and actually scavenge for more power! :hillbilly:

Turned my 3FE into a dang Nascar motor.



Or the speedo cable broke, one of the two.
 
I was gonna say, I hope the passenger is taking that photo, and how did you mount the rocket to your roof?
 
You can get an 80 going 110.

It just has to be driven off a cliff first.
 
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