Catalytic converter

[Spittybug]

I went under the car today to spray some PB Blaster on the nuts/bolts holding the cat in place. I want to remove him and take a better look at where my driver side head is dripping. It's minor but it does create a bit of smoke as it drips onto the exhaust piping.

2 nuts on the muffler clamp on the front and 4 bolts on the flange on the other end, right? Any secrets other than being double jointed?

While he is out, just hypothetically speaking of course because I would never deliberately tamper with a government regulated pollution device, if someone were interested in gutting it, how would one go about doing that? Would it need to be cut open or is there a means using a long drill bit? Or would someone be better off with a bypass pipe? Which vendor????

Here's a dumb question too.... why a heat shield BELOW the cat? Doesn't heat rise? Is that to somehow help keep the oil pan cooler? Anyone running without? Or using aluminum flashing instead?

Thanks.

[DMCMW Dave]

I went under the car today to spray some PB Blaster on the nuts/bolts holding the cat in place. I want to remove him and take a better look at where my driver side head is dripping. It's minor but it does create a bit of smoke as it drips onto the exhaust piping.

2 nuts on the muffler clamp on the front and 4 bolts on the flange on the other end, right? Any secrets other than being double jointed?

--------

Here's a dumb question too.... why a heat shield BELOW the cat? Doesn't heat rise? Is that to somehow help keep the oil pan cooler? Anyone running without? Or using aluminum flashing instead?

Thanks.

Generally you need to remove the whole muffler first, there isn't any way to get the cat off with the muffler in place.

BUT - You should be able to see any oil leaks without removing the converter at all, assuming it's not the joint between the head and the block (not likely). Most likely you have a leaky valve cover gasket or the small cam cover at the back of the head. Most common oil leak is the sender for the idiot light or the O-ring behind the A/C compressor pulleys, but these are not hidden behind the cat.

Lots of cars are missing the heat shield, not a big deal, it is a safety requirement to avoid setting brush on fire (not likely given where the cat is). It does keep radiant heat from the cat from damaging the epoxy but I can't see where it has been an issue on a properly running (i.e. no glowing converter!) engine. There are aftermarket metal shields available (not from us).

[Spittybug]

Thanks Dave.

I've been crawling over some of the muffler threads trying to decide if I want to go the "Bill R." route. I like the cleanliness of dual mufflers, no cats and no cross over. I'm not sure I like the visibility of the oval mufflers hanging down however (see Hervey's pictures and shots in some of the threads, http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?446-Spec-.01-Exhaust&highlight=exhaust). Moving the exhaust outside of the engine cradle makes very good sense.

Has anyone looked at, or ever used, the Magnaflow round mufflers such as this one: http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/shopexd.asp?zone=main&id=9276 It looks like it would keep it from hanging too low and that's what I'm looking for. I haven't measured the length yet, so it's just the shape I'm interested in at this point. I don't want massive sound however, so I'm concerned that the smaller muffler would be noisier. More than our stock is OK, I don't however want to like the damned little ricer cars. Opinions?

[pezzonovante88]

Thanks Dave.

I've been crawling over some of the muffler threads trying to decide if I want to go the "Bill R." route. I like the cleanliness of dual mufflers, no cats and no cross over. I'm not sure I like the visibility of the oval mufflers hanging down however (see Hervey's pictures and shots in some of the threads, http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?446-Spec-.01-Exhaust&highlight=exhaust). Moving the exhaust outside of the engine cradle makes very good sense.

Has anyone looked at, or ever used, the Magnaflow round mufflers such as this one: http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/shopexd.asp?zone=main&id=9276 It looks like it would keep it from hanging too low and that's what I'm looking for. I haven't measured the length yet, so it's just the shape I'm interested in at this point. I don't want massive sound however, so I'm concerned that the smaller muffler would be noisier. More than our stock is OK, I don't however want to like the damned little ricer cars. Opinions?
I was in contact with Hervey and he said he could attach round-style mufflers to his ss system. Below is a link with a similar system (custom, not Hervey) with round mufflers.
http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?2441-What-Does-Everyone-Think-of-this-Car-!

[pezzonovante88]

if someone were interested in gutting it, how would one go about doing that? Would it need to be cut open or is there a means using a long drill bit? Or would someone be better off with a bypass pipe? Which vendor????


I don't know from experience, but I would imagine that a hollow cat will cause a lot of unwanted turbulence which would disrupt exhaust flow. You should definitely get a cat delete pipe.

[outatym2001]

2 nuts on the muffler clamp on the front and 4 bolts on the flange on the other end, right? Any secrets other than being double jointed?

It seems you haven’t read my post number 14.
Replacing the Catalytic Converter
http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?2670-Replacing-the-Catalytic-Convertor


While he is out, just hypothetically speaking of course because I would never deliberately tamper with a government regulated pollution device, if someone were interested in gutting it, how would one go about doing that?

I used a two foot long crow bar and with the straight pointed end I smashed the insides of the cat converter and turned it over to allow the little pieces to fall out. Then smashed some more and turned it over then smashed some more and turned it over then smashed some more and turned it over. The outside of the cat is I believe stainless steel so you are not going to hurt it.
While smashing / breaking apart the insides the dust sort of tasted like concrete. I have never eaten concrete but that’s what I imagined it would taste like. I swear. LOL.
It’s actually some kind of ceramic due to the very high heat in the exhaust stream.
There is also a metal mesh screen wrapped around the material that makes up the honeycomb matrix.
DO NOT THROW THE MATRIX STUFF AWAY. Some one (I don’t know who) can send the material off to a recycler who can collect the rare earth metals from the matrix. The matrix can possibly include any of these platinum, palladium, rhodium, cerium, manganese and nickel.

P.S. You are likely going to have to replace the cat gasket, since the original one will just fall apart because of age, so you might as well buy one now before you get started from www.delorean.com

[nullset]

You just admitted to a violation of federal law.

I don't care, but you probably shouldn't brag about crimes.

Even if your car is smog exempt, tampering with the cat is illegal.

--buddy

[thirdmanj]

You just admitted to a violation of federal law.

I don't care, but you probably shouldn't brag about crimes.

Even if your car is smog exempt, tampering with the cat is illegal.

--buddy


Oh no, look out....here they come.....
http://img.tapatalk.com/46a05796-9103-973e.jpg

[nofear365]

oh no, look out....here they come.....
http://img.tapatalk.com/46a05796-9103-973e.jpg




lmao!!!

[nullset]

I'm just suggesting that you might want to rephrase that as to how you MIGHT do something, not how you HAVE done it.

I don't care what anyone does to their cars.

[TEXSIX]

As long as you are in Houston, and you don't need the cat, why not just have a pipe made?

[outatym2001]

You just admitted to a violation of federal law.

I don't care, but you probably shouldn't brag about crimes.

Even if your car is smog exempt, tampering with the cat is illegal.

--buddy


Yes, I agree the best idea is to keep a catalytic converter attached to a gasoline powered engine. I don’t like raw unburned hydrocarbons polluting the atomosphere because I would like future relatives of mine who are not even born yet to have a clean environment to raise a family in and grow old

Now onto why I did it. I bought a new performance cat and a gasket from www.specialtauto.com with the intention of installing them on my D. When I removed the muffler and then the cat I realized my engine had been running rich for so long it had partially melted the honeycomb matrix inside the cat and that it was causing a blockage. I didn’t want to install a brand new performance cat on a engine that was running rich so I just smashed the innards of my original cat dumped out the innards into a plastic bag and put the cat back onto the car with a brand new gasket. I still have the innards of the cat converter and I haven’t decided who to give it to.

I would like to put one of the performance exhaust systems with cats onto my D but I’m not too excited about the noise level from these new systems. Just don’t know what I’m going to do in the future so at the moment I’m still driving around with a hollowed out cat.

[SamHill]

I don’t like raw unburned hydrocarbons polluting the atomosphere because I would like future relatives of mine who are not even born yet to have a clean environment to raise a family in and grow old.

Congratulations. You're this lady.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/we-must-preserve-the-earths-dwindling-resources-fo,11239/

[thirdmanj]

Congratulations. You're this lady.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/we-must-preserve-the-earths-dwindling-resources-fo,11239/

Oooooo nice!! :hippo:

[dvonk]

Congratulations. You're this lady.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/we-must-preserve-the-earths-dwindling-resources-fo,11239/

this is the reason i refuse to have children.

[opethmike]

You realize that's the onion, right?

[dvonk]

yes, it's satirical because of the way some people act compared to what they say.

that said, i dont like kids and wont ever have any. i dont expect everyone to have the same opinion, its just mine.

edit: this is pretty far off topic, maybe the admins should move this tangent to somewhere more appropriate. :lol:

[thirdmanj]

Jesus Christ

.... There now it's religious and they gotta lock it!

:angel:

[dvonk]

:biggrin: