Probably a very simple question that I may already know the answer to, but my cat is shot and I am thinking of buying Catco's 3" part # CTO-9118. I already had a 3" cat-back exhaust, but stock exhaust manifolds. If I buy the cat will it all fit together properly? Thanks for any help you guys can provide.

You should be fine. It would be easier if you had 3" pipe which you do. go for it. OR you can go CATLESS....just a thought

Catless until inspection time.

I would love to go catless but I don't have access to any welding equipment to weld a straight pipe in and there are NO shops willing to cut a cat out around here. Any other ways around it?

It won't fit without modification to the y-pipe at the cat inlet and the cat-back at the cat outlet. Welding required.

Only alternative is a direct-fit cat for LO3 TBI.

Are you sure the shops wont do the Catless for you? The shops in Cali will do for me. Huh? Go figure

Its a federal law and $1500 fine as far as I know. A shop breaking the law like that will really get screwed over.

That's what I was afraid of. Would there be any welding/modifications to make if I also put on new headers/y-pipe?

If you get emissions-legal headers intended for '86-'90 TPI single cat application, such as Hooker 2055, the 9118 cat will slip onto the y-pipe and you can clamp it together if you like.

That still won't solve your cat-back problem. However, shops aren't bound to not modify anything beyond the cat.

That Catco part number was made for a stock application.

It really depends on the car, there have been at least 6 different cat setups on the V8 3rd gens, and some years had 2 or 3 possible setups. In most cases on a V8 car you’ll have either a 2.5 or 3” cat, but in some cases it might be flanged or you might have dual cats