I want to remove the cat from my 89 RS. I just wanna put a straight pipe in. Is there anything else I have to mess with? I just got this car and I haven't delt with all this emissions stuff before. I live in a small town in New Mexico, and I don't want it on there anymore.

Thanx
white80zred89rs

 

Might be an air pipe on the side that you can just leave loose. Most people take the cat off and remove the sponge type stuff inside and put it back on, gives the full flow of the pipe but looks stock.

 

The 'proper' way to do it is like this:

A) Use sawzall/hacksaw to cut off cat
B) Take big stick, bash out guts of cat so its hollow
C) Find peice of pipe that will snugly fit inside the cat
D) Install chunk of pipe, put cat back in place.

 

Also a word of caution. I don't know exactly what's inside these old converters, but the dust that comes out when you gut it is real nasty stuff. Get in some wind or wear a good dust mask to be safe. I was gagging for a half hour when I did this on an old truck a while back.

 

Yes, when you bash out the inside of the cat, do it outside.

 

Id hate to reopen an ol dthread, but it was the most recent that was related to my problem..

I recently removed my cat because it wwas clogged very badly. I mean all the chunks had gathered in the exit hole, and was clogging the exhaust flow. Currently id gutted, and i still have it in place. For those of you that have it completely removed or have a straight pipe in its place what do you do with the air tube???

Is it possible that not reconnecting the airtube can cause a vaccumm leak, and make the car run like crap?? or the o2 sensor never reaching temp. and making the car run like crap??

 

sorry ---ttt

 

i doubt the tube going to the cat would do that. i just cut mine off and have had no problems b/c i took the AIR system off along with it. if it is leaking than just plug it. problem solved. gutting the cat shouldn't effect the temp the o2 reads

 

Cut it off and replace it with a straight pipe.Thats all i did. Used a larger diameter pipe to fit over the ends,and welded it on.no problems.I also removed the smog pump too,but my 87 has v-belts and i didnt have the belt issues.I believe ur 89 is a serpentine belt.I PUT IN MY 3 inch cat back at the same time and noticed a little gain when i did this.LUckily there is no smog police in MS I dont know about new mexico or wherever u r.