How much is to be gained by removing the original cat?

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69hurstolds

Geezer
Supporting Member
Jan 2, 2006
8,088
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Wow........what a hurtful thing to say being a lead member on this site.........:cry:

No cheerleader award for you...............:X3:
I'm not a "lead member", I'm JAFGO, or just another f*ckin' G-body owner. But facts are facts and opinions are opinions. You opened it up for opinions, and I gave you mine. Take it or leave it. I wasn't trying to put your car down. It's just that a 350R in an H/O or 442 back then with the standard rear gears wasn't a powerhouse even when new (compared to the 260 it was, but not in the overall scheme of things). Raise your hand if you think it was....didn't think so. Put in the straight pipe and you'll get the first-hand knowledge of what I'm talking about. It's just that a straight pipe is no panacea for performance gains. If your cat was almost plugged, the maximum return is you're only going to get back what you lost due to the plugging, so you're not really "gaining" anything anyway, except what the old, plugging cat is stealing from you. A performance gain would be rebuilding your Olds 350 to 1970 W-31 specs with headers and a real dual exhaust system.

If it's plugging, by all means, get that old cat out of there. If you want the straight pipe, I'm sure it'd be a whole lot cheaper than 100 bucks. Or should be. Recall back then the big thing was buying "test pipes" to replace the converters.

Plus, I don't think anyone here really GAF about being green or most people wouldn't do the crazy things they do to their cars. But if there's a visual emissions check in your state, or if it ever gets one, and you ain't got a converter, you're not getting a registration. I know what I would do if I were going to keep the car forever. Might buy it and put it in a corner somewhere if I didn't use it right away- ace in the hole sort of thing. But I don't really care what others do to their cars.
 
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Hoopty_Mike

Greasemonkey
Aug 5, 2012
146
68
28
CT
Honestly if you have an original 79' H/O with all emissions equipment intact, i'd probably get a nice direct replacement cat and keep everything original looking.

That being said, I usually just make a test pipe for my stuff since they're usually hacked and or swapped.

Oh and for off-road use only, obviously. 😉
 
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500/600

Royal Smart Person
Nov 17, 2018
1,167
2,638
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West Virginia
Straight pipe if you are allowed. Hi flow cat if you aren't.
Anyone concerned about being "green" is hypocritical for even being on this site. These cars in original 'emissions compliant' form are miniature chemical plants by todays standards. Period.

To clarify my last post, 'emissions compliant' and 'green' are two different things. I realize that a lot of members live in areas where 'emissions compliant' is a requirement. That just doesn't mean 'green' by any modern standard.
 
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azmusclecar

G-Body Guru
Feb 13, 2018
601
306
63
Well I deleted my post not wanting to offend anyone here............I guess it's okay for some.

Let's move on..................nothing to see here.......................
 
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86Prix

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Sep 9, 2019
36
42
18
State College, PA
Having had dealings with several old cats and cut some in half either straight pipe it if you can or get a new better flowing one like a magnaflow or just about anything performance oriented. I'm willing to bet old one is either clogged or close too it. Better yet go full dual exhaust and rumble the neighborhood!
 
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Cajun83HO

Greasemonkey
Aug 3, 2016
197
118
43
Louisiana
On my 83 H/O with 25k miles, I was changing the Y pipe and muffs so I swapped in a straight pipe. Sounds much better and crisper, can even hear that big Cam now. :rofl:
 
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Doug Chahoy

Comic Book Super Hero
Nov 21, 2016
2,564
2,661
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I put 2 small Magnaflow cats in front of my X pipe with a Pypes 2.5 system. Sounds real good. Thirteen years ago I put a Magnaflow dual cat kit, pipes and all on a 99 2 dr Tahoe that already had headers, true duals and K&N filter charger. The cat kit improved the trucks performance better than all the other mentioned mods combined.
 

pontiacgp

blank
Mar 31, 2006
29,270
20,391
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Kitchener, Ontario
unless your cat is plugged you won't notice a performance difference installing an aftermarket cat on a street car... :popcorn:
 
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500/600

Royal Smart Person
Nov 17, 2018
1,167
2,638
113
West Virginia
unless your cat is plugged you won't notice a performance difference installing an aftermarket cat on a street car... :popcorn:

unless your cat is plugged you won't notice a performance difference installing a straight pipe on a normal street car.
:popcorn: :popcorn:
 
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