Running a car with no cat?

[OS]

<< So you like to pollute? Okay... >>



Damn straight, I'm an american. As such, I'm part of the most wasteful and most polluting society ever known to human history. I'm not going to sit here in my A/C cooled house, in front of my energy sucking computer, eating fattening foods, in a room full of gadgets and consumer electronics and deny that I'm wasteful.





<< Grow up. >>



LOL, this coming from a guy who is flaming me even though he was completely wrong. The black hole calling the kettle black.

 

[OS]

<< how about we run your ass without a rectum? >>



How about you take a nice long sword and go f*ck yourself.

 

[OS]

<< Are you planning to drive your car only on the weekends and only during the summer like most people with classics/muscle cars? >>



Something like that. Use it mainly on a road course for pleasure driving and to wind out the car. It's not really a good idea to be a young asian male driving a well-taken-care-of honda in socal, everyone wants to race you even if your car looks bone stock.

 

[Soybomb]

<< but I don't really care. >>


obviously

 

[apoppin]

<<Since engines are more powerful when unhindered by hippy inspired emission controls , why not just rip the catalytic converter off a car completely and only reattach it for smog checks?

I kind of want to get like a new V6 accord coupe, rip off the cat and get an ECU that damns any smog considerations Or I suppose do the same with an RSX, either will work >>

I actually read this thread. Anyway, here's my take:

You don't actually know anything about removing your smog controls and what effect it will have on your gas mileage, horsepower, torque, enviromment, laws and the possiblity of getting caught.

It's your conscience. I won't advise other than to suggest you educate yourself fully by doing real research OTHER than asking us. WHY are you asking us anyway? Just to provoke an angry response?

 

[OS]

<< It's your conscience. I won't advise other than to suggest you educate yourself fully by doing real research OTHER than asking us. WHY are you asking us anyway? Just to provoke an angry response? >>



Cause it was a passing idea? It's not my fault if people let themselves get angry, what the hell is there to get angry about? It's just a freaking question posted by some guy on the internet. If people are getting pissed over stupid sh!t like this then they need to reprioritize their lives. Sh!t people, chill out, go out and take a walk in the park or something. Go meet some girls and get laid. I promise it'll feel good.

Seriously, put this crap into perspective, you have this guy on the internet asking about if taking a piece of metal off his car will make it more powerful and people are getting pissed?! If you people don't like the question, don't read it, no one is forcing you to turn on your computer, get on the net, come to these forums, and read through the thread. Man the irony of who that &quot;grow up&quot; is directed at.

 

[apoppin]

Thanks for the clarification, OuterSquare.

I just found . . .

<< unhindered by hippy inspired emission controls >>

. . . a bit provocative.

Anyway, you found no experts here. I'd suggest a racing club, a professional mechanic, etc. could give you a rundown of what you would be doing by removing the emissions controls.

From what I have heard, there is far LESS advantage all 'round today because engines are designed to run with it enabled. You run some risks to your engine (damage, mileage economy loss, loss of torque) by doing what you suggest.

EDIT: I also see from your replies, it isn't really that important to you and you probably won't do it.

Back in the 70s it was a big deal since engine builders were forced to adopt smog controls and weren't designed for easily accepting them. The car manufacturers hurried to adopt smog controls after fighting anti-smog laws for quite awhile. Aftermarket removal of the smog controls had a huge increase on the performance.

 

[Green Man]

If you hollow out the cat or replace it with a straight pipe, it will turn on the SES light on OBDII cars (1996 and later). That's why the have O2 sensors before and after the cat.
In the revised IM240 tests, they won't even be testing tailpipe emissions on OBDII cars, they will just scan for fault codes. Those codes cannot be erased by disconnecting the battery like they could in older cars.

 

[zippy]

<< LOL, this coming from a guy who is flaming me even though he was completely wrong. >>

Yes, I was wrong, and I corrected myself, I accidentally said CFC when I meant greenhouse gas. So, if you look beyond the spot where I corrected myself, where was I wrong? Please, indulge me.

<< Cause it was a passing idea? It's not my fault if people let themselves get angry, what the hell is there to get angry about? It's just a freaking question posted by some guy on the internet. If people are getting pissed over stupid sh!t like this then they need to reprioritize their lives. Sh!t people, chill out, go out and take a walk in the park or something. Go meet some girls and get laid. I promise it'll feel good.

Seriously, put this crap into perspective, you have this guy on the internet asking about if taking a piece of metal off his car will make it more powerful and people are getting pissed?! If you people don't like the question, don't read it, no one is forcing you to turn on your computer, get on the net, come to these forums, and read through the thread. Man the irony of who that &quot;grow up&quot; is directed at. >>

So you posted this to get absolutely NO response, NO reaction whatsoever? You wanted NO ONE'S opinion when you posted this? You thought to yourself: &quot;I'm going to post something that will be seen as controversial because it deals with harming the environment, hopefully no one will respond because it was just a question I came up with on the fly.&quot;? Is that what you are trying to lead me to believe? By the way, the pot (black hole?! That's a new one to me...) calling the kettle black, you are getting rather worked up over this yourself.

 

[OS]

<< So, if you look beyond the spot where I corrected myself, where was I wrong? Please, indulge me. >>



heh, you asked for it.



<< I can't seem to remember exactly how CO2 breaks apart in the atmosphere (I wish I had this textbook on the atmosphere that I like) >>



CO2 doesn't break apart in the atmosphere, chemically it's stable. So you are wrong AGAIN.





<< So you posted this to get absolutely NO response, NO reaction whatsoever? You wanted NO ONE'S opinion when you posted this? You thought to yourself: &quot;I'm going to post something that will be seen as controversial because it deals with harming the environment, hopefully no one will respond because it was just a question I came up with on the fly.&quot;? Is that what you are trying to lead me to believe? >>



I wanted an answer to the question not a bunch of people coming out and ripping on me. A quick yes or no would have worked. Heck I didn't even do it. Yeah it harms the environment, but almost everything you do in modern society harms the environment.




<< By the way, the pot (black hole?! That's a new one to me...) calling the kettle black >>



Apparently, the hyperbole is lost upon you so I won't bother to further explain



<< you are getting rather worked up over this yourself. >>



hehe, whatever you say. I'm actually rather enjoying my dumplings right now.

 

[Colt45]

<< hehe, whatever you say. I'm actually rather enjoying my dumplings right now. >>




hah me too!

 

[OS]

hehe, phew, after all that I finally get some meaningful replies

So apparently it doesn't work well for modern computer controlled cars?

 

[OS]

<< hah me too! >>



LOL, chinese style ones?

 

[Colt45]

<<

<< hah me too! >>



LOL, chinese style ones? >>




actualyy, i've never had a dumping.. i've invisioned it as somthing similar to a perogie, but im not sure.. what is it?

 

[OS]

<< actualyy, i've never had a dumping.. i've invisioned it as somthing similar to a perogie, but im not sure.. what is it? >>



LOL, you should have told me before I finished them, I would have taken a pic with my digicam

They look like this;

linky

 

[Green Man]

<<So apparently it doesn't work well for modern computer controlled cars?>>

Not a good choice for cars built 1996 or later, how gay would it be to drive around with a &quot;Service Engine Soon&quot; light on all the time on a brand new car? For performance cars, someone may have a Hacked PROM flash that ignores Cat efficiency, I don't think you'll find it for an Accord. Plus, the scanner to Flash the PROM would likely be several thousand dollars...so nevermind

 

[zippy]

<sigh>
Yes, it does break up in the upper atmosphere. I will find the textbook tomorrow hopefully (doubtful, because it was a teacher's from a few years ago, but I'll try at Barnes and Noble, I have to go there anyway). It's called The Atmosphere and I can visualize the page that it is on.

The original question:

<< why not just rip the catalytic converter off a car completely and only reattach it for smog checks? >>

And I told you why...because it pollutes! I just went into some detail- as did many other people.

Oh, and I got the hyperbole, I've just never seen a classic saying like that butchered like that, they usually get the point across rather well in their original form.

Edit: I had to fix my underline and add that last sentence.

 

[OS]

<< Yes, it does break up in the upper atmosphere. >>



uuhhhh, CO2 breaks up in the atmosphere huh? Into what? Oxygen and Carbon? So why isn't it raining pencil lead right now? Maybe you can do a search on the net for me and show me. Cause when I tried I found jack.





<< And I told you why...because it pollutes! I just went into some detail- as did many other people. >>



No sh!t it pollutes genius! I just wanted to know if cars were more powerful w/o them on!

 

[perry]

<< If you hollow out the cat or replace it with a straight pipe, it will turn on the SES light on OBDII cars (1996 and later). That's why the have O2 sensors before and after the cat.
In the revised IM240 tests, they won't even be testing tailpipe emissions on OBDII cars, they will just scan for fault codes. Those codes cannot be erased by disconnecting the battery like they could in older cars. >>



That's awfully silly. For $10 in parts I can build some MIL eliminators that will get rid of those pesky codes. Make it even easier to pass those pesky emissions.

FWIW, a 95 V6 Contour with the main cat gutted (read: hollow chamber that looks like a cat) passes California emissions with flying colors. Engines really burn clean these days, especially when they are warmed up. All ya'll moanin and groanin about how removing the cat causes all sorts of emissions and kills the environment blah blah blah need to do a little studying up on your automotive tech.

To answer the question, yes, gutting/removing the cat gives you power. I have dyno plots of the above mentioned Contour around here someplace if you're really interested.

 

[OS]

<< To answer the question, yes, gutting/removing the cat gives you power. I have dyno plots of the above mentioned Contour around here someplace if you're really interested. >>



I wanna see!

 

[perry]

<<

<< To answer the question, yes, gutting/removing the cat gives you power. I have dyno plots of the above mentioned Contour around here someplace if you're really interested. >>



I wanna see! >>



YHPM.

 

[mastertech01]

Being a Ford technician I wouldnt advise wasting all that effort on a Contour V6 regardless how you are able to circumvent the Law, as that is one of the more pathetic cars to ever have rolled off the assembly line from Ford. At least do it to a more worthy car, like a Shelby Mustang for goodness sake. If you do get caught I pitty your wallet, as the V6 Contour is one of the most difficult Fords to replace the Exhaust Manifold/catalyst and they are very expensive. Labor alone will cost you at least 8 hours X your local rate. You wont be doing it in your driveway unless you have a pit or a rack, I assure you.

 

[perry]

<< Being a Ford technician I wouldnt advise wasting all that effort on a Contour V6 regardless how you are able to circumvent the Law, as that is one of the more pathetic cars to ever have rolled off the assembly line from Ford. At least do it to a more worthy car, like a Shelby Mustang for goodness sake. If you do get caught I pitty your wallet, as the V6 Contour is one of the most difficult Fords to replace the Exhaust Manifold/catalyst and they are very expensive. Labor alone will cost you at least 8 hours X your local rate. You wont be doing it in your driveway unless you have a pit or a rack, I assure you. >>




Please stop.. it hurts... you're making me laugh too much!

Who cares if they expensive??? Who buys new manifolds??? The cat I was talking about gutting is the main cat under the car. Did they forget to teach you about that one in bench mechanic school (bench mechancis work on the cars of bench racers)?

I won't even begin to get into the Contour being the worst car to roll down the assembly line. That is for another forum/thread to discuss. Not worth my time to argue it here.

If you care to continue proving your ignorance to me, do it in PMs. I'll be more than happy to educate you.

 

[LAUST]

It's also a nice $10,000 Fine from our friends at DOT if you do that also :Q

Depending on your type of car it'll hurt performance also. Nomatter what performace can always BE better without em, but if the CAM and Computer are desighned to have that backpressure it can be worse, For mine it's better to run without em when I race but I also have 7-9 lbs of boost running through my system. Boosted applications perform best with more clear exhaust, Natural systems actually get their low-end Torque from the backpressure.

 

[d33pt]

this thread is hilarious.. all the guy wanted to know was if it'd help any.. he didn't ask for your opinions on whether he'd get caught. personally, i think it wouldn't help and will probably hurt performance since new cars nowadays have so many sensors.. dummy lights will be flashing all over.. but hey..to each his own..if he wants to pull his cats.. let him. why dont you just try it and see if you feel any performance difference?