Catalytic Converter - Safe to remove?

[Zaitsevs]

I have a 1987 lebaron 4 door. There are some loud rattling noises, but it's not coming from the front of the car. I looked under from my drivers side, and the rattling is in sync with the vibrations of the exhaust pipe. I've asked 4 people who know a litle bit about cars, and they suggest that it is the cat converter. Is it safe to remove it? I know it's illegal but, shh.

 

[I Saw OJ]

Completely safe.

Although I doubt a muffler shop would remove it for you since it is illegal. So unless you have a saw and know how to weld, I would take it to a muffler shop and just try to have them fix the rattle.

 

[vegetation]

What do you mean by 'remove'? If you hollow it out (free if do yourself) your car is going to sound like crap, since the shell becomes a pipe organ resonance chamber (think of riced out hollow-sounding cars, that's what it will sound like). By doing it right, you have to have a test pipe installed (not free, welding required), and yes it violates EPA regulations by doing so on a street driven vehicle. Also, with a test-pipe, your car will be noticeably louder since the honeycomb of the cat absorbs a great deal of sound.

 

[VanTheMan]

It's totally safe, but not recommended unless you're very mechanically inclined. You also won't be passing your next emissions test, if your state does that. There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to restrap the cat to make the rattling stop since it's probably just a little loose and shaking around.

 

[notfred]

You'll need to repalce it with something, which would generally mean welding in a section of exhaust pipe.

 

[Stumps]

depends what you mean by safe?...to your car sure removing it doesn't hurt anything and can recover a few Kw's, the environment...well its pretty safe to say that unleaded fuel isn't the most enviro friendly thing going...legally, well come to Australia and drive around in a post 1986 car with out a cat and you could spend up to 5 years in jail for that one.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Stumps
depends what you mean by safe?...to your car sure removing it doesn't hurt anything and can recover a few Kw's, the environment...well its pretty safe to say that unleaded fuel isn't the most enviro friendly thing going...legally, well come to Australia and drive around in a post 1986 car with out a cat and you could spend up to 5 years in jail for that one.

Even in California, where we have the strictest smog laws in the country, the only penalty for driving around without cats on the car is just tht you have to put them back on and pay $10.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Stumps
depends what you mean by safe?...to your car sure removing it doesn't hurt anything and can recover a few Kw's, the environment...well its pretty safe to say that unleaded fuel isn't the most enviro friendly thing going...legally, well come to Australia and drive around in a post 1986 car with out a cat and you could spend up to 5 years in jail for that one.

Even in California, where we have the strictest smog laws in the country, the only penalty for driving around without cats on the car is just tht you have to put them back on and pay $10.

yeah it's a pretty harsh penalty...but in NSW the RTA(Roads and Traffics Authority) have tried to model themselves on a Nazified version of the CA smog laws...it's really stupid.

I have a friend who is currently doing 2 years for modifying th emission equipement on his 1990 V8 Commodore...he didn't remove it just altered it(changed some of the hoses and locations of certian parts) so it suited his modified inlet manifold and twin throttle body setup.

he was pulled up by the police and they inspected his car and suspected it was "Illegally" modified, the car was impounded and sold at auction and he was sentenced to 2 years in prison and had to pay $3700 worth of fines.

It's just not worth owning a modified car here anymore, I recently sold my 1978 5.8Litre Ford Falcon because I got sick of being pulled up every 5 minutes and having my car inspected by know it all coppers(who really had no idea what they were looking at).

 

[Vic]

It's not illegal to remove the cat now that the car is more than 8 years old (and probably has more than 80k miles). You might (probably will) still fail smog though, if that applies to where you live. A Catco replacement cat is probably around $100 bucks. R&R should be easy, just jack the car up onto stands and break some bolts. The rattling might just be the heatshield though, but IMO in a car that old the cat is probably all blown out anyway.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Stumps

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Stumps
depends what you mean by safe?...to your car sure removing it doesn't hurt anything and can recover a few Kw's, the environment...well its pretty safe to say that unleaded fuel isn't the most enviro friendly thing going...legally, well come to Australia and drive around in a post 1986 car with out a cat and you could spend up to 5 years in jail for that one.

Even in California, where we have the strictest smog laws in the country, the only penalty for driving around without cats on the car is just tht you have to put them back on and pay $10.

yeah it's a pretty harsh penalty...but in NSW the RTA(Roads and Traffics Authority) have tried to model themselves on a Nazified version of the CA smog laws...it's really stupid.

I have a friend who is currently doing 2 years for modifying th emission equipement on his 1990 V8 Commodore...he didn't remove it just altered it(changed some of the hoses and locations of certian parts) so it suited his modified inlet manifold and twin throttle body setup.

he was pulled up by the police and they inspected his car and suspected it was "Illegally" modified, the car was impounded and sold at auction and he was sentenced to 2 years in prison and had to pay $3700 worth of fines.

It's just not worth owning a modified car here anymore, I recently sold my 1978 5.8Litre Ford Falcon because I got sick of being pulled up every 5 minutes and having my car inspected by know it all coppers(who really had no idea what they were looking at).

Wow.... that is fascist beyond fascist.

 

[Zaitsevs]

Thanks for the replies, A lot of good information.

I will see if it goes away after a week or two, and I will update or let you know what happens afterwards.

Thanks guys/gals.