just wondering how many catolitic converters are on my car...
3 of them, thats what my v8 had and i assume that the 6 cylinder cars have them too. two off the down pipes off the manifold, and one after the y pipe
Well, I have 2 with a 5.0. At the most 3 but I think thats the Mn-12.
You assume correct, if its the stock exhaust or stock replacement it should have small ones in the downpipes then a large one under the tranny.
alright, thank you for the help!
Yes I have the to small one's on my 88 Bird So I am not going to use #3 by the tranny..
If you dont have emissions where you are dont use any of them, theyre probabally plugged anyway and restricting your exhaust.
Theyre easy to do, did all three in my 80 withing an hour or so, I didnt have to fight with any bolts though, 4 came out of the manifolds easy with the impact and the other two snapped.
Yes you are correct the Cats shall all Die.. I could not believe I removed the entire exhaust system with out breaking or fighting with any Bolt.. wonder if it was the Yield I used.. much better than Blaster, but blaster is good... Never do it Dry. they complain...
lol Thats sig worthy right there
I dont know whats worse, turning the wrench or that sound they make!
does anyone know JUST how restricitve the cats on our cars are? at what point does the phrase "modern cars' cats arent restrictive and you dont gain any power removing them" apply? also how much noise do they suppress? i have a flowmaster 40 in my exhaust (mom made me get the system replaced and have a ler as much as i loved the way it sounded after i cut off the horribly rusted ler) so if i just unbolted the big "main" cat and had a pipe bent up to replace it would the exhaust not get a lot louder? or do those little cats kill the sound a lot too? cuz id be happy with that, for mom id still keep the ler (wouldnt throw the cat out, im not stupid, not sure on my states tests, if they do a check or tailpipe test but if they do ill throw it back on when inspection day comes around) but not that third cat so maybe it would still be pretty loud? or not?
for reference ill define "loud": as im driving it i can hear the exhaust VERY well. thats what i want
The cats are not really Great breathers and if they become clogged they hurt performance a lot. If you had the flowmasters with the cats and they still were too loud in you Mothers opinon. I don't think they are clogged..You could install Turbo lers and have a great non restrictive sound.. we need to help the pollution problem by trying to be in complyance... OH by the way NICE Cougar
96-98 mustang gts had 6, yep 6 converters on them stock.
nononono lol when it was WIDE OPEN straight pipe from the cat back she didnt like it and made me get SOME kind of ler, and id heard that a flowmaster 40 was like their loudest one but im dissatisfied. i had my brother stab the gas while i squatted behind the car and it was real nice but i want to hear that sitting in the car like i did when it was wide open. ive tried to pull off the ler but it was a good professional job and the ler inputs clamped down tight on the in/out pipes so i cant pull it off!
so what im saying is if i yank the third cat, with the flowmaster still on, will she liven up a bit?
YES do it...
SWEEEET that seriously is awesome. uncle works in a metal fab shop hes made me stuff before free (ill offer to pay him for this job for sure) but he could definitely bend me up a pipe with the flared ends and loose s. i might wait 'til next year or just tell him not to tell mom...:grinno: but if i wait i could probably convince mom to let me do it. the cat was also replaced, the exhaust guy suggested it, said it was rotted, so mom thinks it would be a huge waste of $$ to pull it off...so maybe by next year i can convince her i "got my money's worth" rofl
I had a stock Fox Mustang 4-cat H-pipe on the convertible. After the side exhaust conversion in 2001 I had to run race lers (virtually no restrictions). The sound was nice from the combination. Then in 2004 I put on an off-road X-pipe with no cats. It is L-O-U-D now. All I pretty much hear when I drive is the exhaust. I had no idea that the 4 converters were restricting the sound that much (not that I mind LOL). Performance-wise, I can't say for sure how the X-pipe helped. But sonically the whole tone of the exhaust changed, along with the added volume. There are times when I think about restricting something in the system just to tone it down. It's almost like running open headers. ;)
I think knocking out 1 of the 3 converters would definitely add a bit more sound without being annoying. The 5.0 sound is achieved not through the lers alone, but by a combination of the right lers and headers. Even the stock Mustang headers give a good tone with semi-decent lers (say, $16 Summit lers). The stock cast-iron manifolds do nothing sonically. But you can get some tone out of good lers. They're subtle...just enough sound from outside the car to let people know it's different, but not too annoying inside the car. I guess it just depends on what 'annoying' means to you. ;)
well for example when i pull out of my driveway in the morning and its quiet outside and my window is down, and i pull up to the first stop sign, then take off gently like always (this car is my ba baby, i drive it like a granny and im proud of it!) i can hear the rumble pretty well, but i still hear the engine fan and power steering pump and stuff from the engine bay very well too and it kinda drowns the exhaust out:pbb: . when i had it straight from the cat back after driving for awhile i realized just how loud it was but i still felt what i felt when i first started it: it wasnt nearly as loud as i expected it to be. that setup i would say was a little excessive. id take it, but it would be nice to have it mellow when cruising or pulling in the driveway late at night for example :) but liven up when under some load. although, to be honest, i really did like hearing it drone on and on as i cruised at like 40 mph. i felt like i was finally in the "club" of all the guys with brand new pick-ups with all kinds of exhaust work (i REALLY like that trend!)
so, as long as itll be louder than it is now, think ill be really happy. i mean for those three weeks i had her wide open i was in heaven. and i found i was taking off harder too :eek: (only bad byproduct, but i just couldnt get enough of it!)
i have heard from many people ive talked to about this: headers headers headers. some even say with the stock exhaust, if i just had headers it would change it dramatically. someday that will definitely happen. in fact at that time ill probably do what most here do--headers and a true dual exhaust, with one of dem dair "h-pipes" and ill decide whether or not i want to just get another flowmaster 40 or use something else (i seem to remember reading here or on another site, soon after that new system was put on too, that flowmasters are actually py, and the worst for flow rates, and that magnaflow or something was actually the best)
thanks for all the info guys! no wonder i spend too much time on here lol...
flwos are not the best flowing but they in my oppinion hvae the best sound, (351w hooker headers 2 1/2 inch and super 40's) i love the way my set upsounds espicaily with my cam nice nice rumble to it and when u step on it thast ALL u hear but thast a 351 and i don't have to run cats :shakeass: i love old cars lol