I just picked up a new catalytic converter. The honeycomb in my stock unit was rattling all over.

I have three questions. One, do I need to keep and reuse the heatshield. The cat I picked up is a Magnaflow unit from Oreilly's. Two, the unit I picked up is specific for my car but the AIR tube has a cap on it. Am I supposed to remove this cap? And three, this sucker is stuck onto the y pipe. Does anyone have any good hints for breaking this thing lose.

I appreciate your time.

 

Come on. I know somebody has changed their cat and somebody has an answer. Please help me out.

 

#1.The new cat should have came with a heat shield pre-installed(spot welded) to the outer case.

#2. Remove the cap from the new cat and reconnect the AIR injection pipe underneath the car. The cat "lights up" quicker and works better with fresh air injected into it.

#3. Use a grinder with a cut off wheel and slit the pipe on the old cat. Then take a chisel or large flat blade screw driver and pry open the pipe. The cat should fall right off.

 

Thank you. I thought that the stamping around the new cat looked like a heat shield to me, but I wanted to make sure as a lot of places tell you to keep the old one.

I already managed to get the cap off the air tube with a flat head and a hammer.

As for getting it off, I like the idea of using a dremel as I think I could get it off without harming the existing exhaust. So far I can't find anyone that has one. My dad does, but he's three hours out and seeing as my car is sitting in pieces at the moment... Dremel is my first choice, but right now it looks like I may be using a sawzall to cut the main portion of the cat off and work my way up to getting the neck off with a chisel.

It looks like the AIR tube might be crimped onto the tube on the cat. Is that the case? If so, that dremel will be the only way to get that off. Oy.

 

Finally got that %^&* thing off! Bought a dremel and made a few lengthwise cuts into it. Had to cut off the AIR tube (on the old cat) though, couldn't pull it out. I'll check Oreilly's for some sort of high heat tubing I can slide over the new cat's AIR tube and bridge the gap to the car. Not sure what to look for exactly but I know there must be something. I'm just glad to finally have that old cat off. It simply wouldn't budge before.