its turbo time

iTrader: (3)

My stalled, Boltons, 224 cam car is having a hard time performing at what I think is it's potential (best run of 13.0 @ 108).

A tuner I met recommended I gut my cats. They're hi-flows, not sure on brand.

The car came with the exhaust on it when I bought it 5 years ago. Car had 80k on it now has 130k.

Would you guys gut them?

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

What type of emissions testing do you have, if any?

its turbo time

iTrader: (3)

Out here technically you have to have cats. I've never heard of someone getting busted for not having them tho.

The way they do emmisions is basically they plug into your obd port and if there are no stored codes or lights you're fine. They got rid of the sniffer test years ago for liability reasons.

1ltcap

SO they don't check emissions on non-obd2 cars?

also....i wouldn't gut them. i'd find the real cause of the problem.

its turbo time

iTrader: (3)

They don't on anything older than 98's I believe.

He's thinking that my cats could be clogged that's why he recommended it. Believe me, I want the real cause of the problem too!

fccs

iTrader: (26)

I'm all for no cats, but it's just plain stupid to gut them. Don't go to your tuner if he said that, obviously he can't tune since your only trapping 108 with a similar cam to my own anyways. I would search as said before for the actual problem, I doubt aftermarket hi flow cats are the issue.

You can get a pretty penny for cats on here, might as well sell them before you waste them, then get either a ORX or ORY, or just get fake cats in place of them if you want to pass visual inspection.

its turbo time

iTrader: (3)

I'm sure it's been beat to death, but which I do better with? ORX or ORY?

My exhaust is Mac mid lengths with slp magnamouth ct back. Will any ORY or orx work?

This is a different tuner than the one who wrote the tune for my car. I met him at the track and recommended I do that and then he'd try tuning my car.

fccs

iTrader: (26)

It's basically cost and preference. A X pipe is probably best but are usually $$ much more in cost then a Y and will net small gains over a nice Y anyways. Plus they usually scrape everywhere since we don't have room under our cars. Texas Speed makes a nice ORY that fits well with alot of longtube headers. I would check them out, never had clearance issues with that one and I'm lowered as well.

1sicZ

iTrader: (2)

Unless the cats are really clogged (which I doubt they are) you wont even notice a difference. Good high flow cats will only take away 3-4hp over no cats and will not even make it easier to tune. But if you wanna do it don't gut just replace with straight pipe.

its turbo time

iTrader: (3)

What's the best way to determine if my cats are clogged? It seems like my car has plenty of midrange but starts to lose steam around 5500. I did a fuel filter too

Sladester2

iTrader: (1)

Your cats arent clogged. I wouldnt even consider it if they were aftermarket. I did choose to sell my cats though and put pipe in place. Here we don't have emission testing at all. I like the sound better. Pretty much all its good for. You need to have your tune looked at.

1ltcap

most places that have testing, that i know of do in fact test emissions on pre-obd2 cars. 96 is usually the cutoff year for that.

if you suspect your cats are clogged, simply disconnect them. but to be honest, is they WERE clogged, you'd have not run a 13 second 1/4. nor would you get much over about 20mph.
i'f they are clogged, then you STILL need to find the problem. they don't clog by themselves. something had to have caused them to clog. usually an overly rich mixture can/will overheat them, and melt the catalyst.

i know i sound like i'm being a wise ***, and i'm not intending anything i'm typing that way.

1ltcap

i'm glad to see someone else post this.

1ltcap

5500rpm? what's your exact cam specs again? also, what valve springs, what heads, or head work, what intake, what injectors, what fuel pump, what throttle body?

this stuff all matters.

its turbo time

iTrader: (3)

224/224 comp cams .581 lift 112 lsa
918 valve springs
Stock heads
46 lb injectors
Stock fuel pump
Ported stock throttle body
Ls6 intake

1ltcap

sounds like it's close to the x-303 ford cams. is that 224 measured at .050? if so, what's total duration? possibly in the 280 range? if so, the cam should make power up to about 6200-6500rpm. the injectors are plenty big enough. stock fuel pump is borderline. stock heads are a definite choke point, and could be part of your problem.

i'd also look into what others have suggested.....get your tune checked. i would also listen to what the one guy said......get away from the tuner that recommended you to gut your cats. possibly someone here could recommend a good tuner for your car.

its turbo time

iTrader: (3)

Yes, the duration is at .050. I'm gonna use my cousins efilive account to log some data this weekend and see if there's something obvious like trans slip.

I've spoke to a couple tuners already. They all want me to install an o2 bung for their wideband before they'll look at it.

ULTIMATEORANGESS

iTrader: (4)

id check into some LTs but thats just me.


if your cats were clogged it would run poorly. when mine clogged my car would barely move. a previous clueless tuner is why they went bad. they rarely go bad for no reason.

i gained a little from gutting them but that was after a retune. they were also high flows.

carguy_24

I lived in MO for awhile in Saint Louis and if I remember correctly it is just a visual inspection on the exhaust. So if it looks like you have your muffler and cats without any leaks in the pipes you should be good.

TexasTarnation

I think your problem is your heads. Unless your gas mileage is suffering and your car runs like crap it isn't your cats. I dont know about any one else but why such a big injector?? Your need air AND fuel. Also cams don't do much without a good set of heads to go with it,and the ls6 intake should be fine. I'd look at some tsp stage 2 heads with that cam. I think you need more AIR!