My '85 Z has one cat which is clogged. Whats the easiest way to go about replacing it since no shop can legally remove them? Does the cat itself come off without cutting? If so would it be easier to gut it then put back in place or would a small piece of pipe go in its place and would a shop legally be able to weld the peice into place?

 

By law no shop can bypass a cat, but I'm sure some do on older cars like yours. When my cat went bad on my TA I had to cut it off as it would not come off and my car is in very good shape-no rust at. So now I have a race bullet muffler in place of the cat and just about a 12" dump pipe coming off it. It's kinda loud, but sounds good and I don't drive the car that much so no big deal. after market cats are super cheap for our cars so if you want or have to keep a cat on there just pick one up at Autozone or Summit Racing-they are priced about the same. and have a shop install it if you cannot get the old cat off. Magnaflow makes a nice cat for a good price.

 

A shop will remove IF they are replacing it with a new one. They wont delete it though.

 

Right