Jasoneo5

iTrader: (4)

Will my car still pass smog if I take the cats out?

JBrady

Most cars will NOT pass inspection, either visually or by a "sniffer" without cats.

I do NOT recommend trying to "gut" the cats because it is VERY likely that you will need/want to put them back on and they are not cheap. ALSO, as I stated earlier, you will not get the gains in power that you want from gutting the cats and the sound will be raspy and unpleasant.

Celsior Master found a shop that cut the flanges off his cats and welded straight pipe to them. This is the correct way to replace the cats although he cannot re-install his old cats and will need to buy new/used ones in the future if he needs to put them back on.

Personally, the few horsepower gain available is not worth it to me and that is one of many reasons why I will keep my stock cats. I hope to have pics of my system installed soon. My welder is working on a custom truck project and hopefully can do my car this Wednesday. If not, it will have to wait for my return from out of town.

PS, gutting a metal core cat is NOT easy. The "cement" from Pagong's Honda cat was because it was a ceramic core cat. My LS400 has metal core cats. Metal core cats flow best and are the MOST expensive. Keep them. Go with a high flow cat back system like the one I am building.

brian3268

Abcedefghij

Jasoneo5

iTrader: (4)

jbrady, thank you VERY much for your detailed response. I can't tell you how much I appreciate knowing more about my car. Thanks so much!