North American Turbocoupe Organization



Cat Gut
Albin0 Offline
Member
#1
My hands are shot! Bloody blistered mess! Both of us (my hubbie and me), decided to gut the cat on the 'bird today.. (he did it on his car 2 years ago, so I figured it would be a piece of cake, right?) WRONG! Augh.. Did ford have to make the most obnoxious and curvy downpipe ever?! The damn curve right after the stock (WHICH IS WELDED ON! what the hell is up with that!?) cat, leading to the "catback" exhaust makes it damn near impossible to do a thorough job on this thing. Not only is there the honeycomb material, but there's mountains of spongy indestructible metal mesh crap! This stuff sucks!!! No amount of fabrication of strange hook-like devices can pull these things out, at least not the ones furthest away from the only access to the damn catalytic. I now have a catalytic with about 1/3 of it's contents, and I'm about ready to slap the thing back on the car, and be angry until I can afford a 3" downpipe. I hate Ford. The only damn thing that they make that's indestructible on the fricking car is the inside of the catalytic. If they would have spent 1/8 of the effort they put into that stupid thing, instead on the electrical system, our cars would be worth TEN TIMES what they're worth in the blue book now. BAH!
*rant rant rant* I'm going to go cry now and try to repair my mangled hands.
Here's a run down of all the crap we've had to try and use to bloody our hands, *oops*, I mean gut the catalytic.
A 3/8" thick 14 inch long Titanium-tipped Drill Bit, rubber mallet, crowbar, screw driver the size of a broom, dremel with flexible shaft, shaft extension taped to some kind of shelf bracket which was bent at a 45* angle as a strange drilling contraption. Three devoured dremel bits, more shelf extensions curved into hook type grabby things, 2 and 1/4 ton jack handle, vice grips, 2 or 3 assorted pliers, and a frikking partridge in a pear tree. All of the above are completely destroyed and what's left over of the catalytic is basically laughing at both of us.
Catalytic-1,
Us-0,
this is not the end!!!
Alright, I think my husband's gone insane.. We're going to go hack the damn thing off, I think. I'll be back later if I still have nubs left over to type.
-Amy-


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1987 Red Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Been in the family since I was 6 and I've been telling my dad since then that it's my car. Smile
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mods - K&N Cone filter
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1987 Red Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Been in the family since I was 6 and I've been telling my dad since then that it's my car. Smile
------------
mods - K&N Cone filter, gutted catalytic, Star Clutch Stage II
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GaryS#2 Offline
Posting Freak
#2
Lol, ya those are fun.
I like to cut them open at the top with a zip wheel on a mini-grinder and rip the guts out with a large crowbar and then weld the top back on like nothin ever happened. [Image: smile.gif]
Grocery Getter/Rice Cooker.
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cheapbird Offline
Member
#3
Please, do yourself a favor and wear a respirator or at the very least a dust mask when you do these things. That crap in the cat is not good for you.
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GaryS#2 Offline
Posting Freak
#4
Absolutely, I didn't elaborate there but I wore my painters respirator and put the stuff in a bag for disposal.
Grocery Getter/Rice Cooker.
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5.0SHO77 Offline
Member
#5
The power gained isnt worth the pollution and smell afterwards in MY OPINION (which is useless to anyone else). These TCs aren't the smog prototypes of the early 70s, the emmissions systems are much more advanced and barely rob power as it is for what they return. Just my .02, which is all this is worth. Cats are expensive too!
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Hybridbird Offline
Posting Freak
#6
A properly tuned and running car doesn't put out that much pollution,I have a very high milage 5.0 with 21/2 duals and no cats that gets tuned up yearly with nothing more than plugs,cap,rotor,pcv k&n recharge and timing check.New wires and 02 sensors come every 2 years and it has passed inspection twice before and I would put up against the sniffer any day.Converters were mainly desigened for people like my wife who refuse to give their cars the attention they deserve.Manufactures have long been aware of these type of people who drive their car until it simply stops.(I wonder if my wife really checks this board?)Anyway if you were to ask one of "these people" they would tell you that as long as they get in and turn the key and the car starts...then it must be running fine.This is why 70 and 80,000 mile tires and and 100,ooo mile tune-ups were invented.Anyway,down with the cats!And I'm with Gary,make yourself a sunroof and rip out the guts and weld it back.There all done ranting too.


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Too much fun, what's that mean?That's like too much boost,there's no such thing.

[This message has been edited by Hybridbird (edited 05-22-2002).]
"Finch....get the f*ck away from that Ficus......that's a jizz-free Ficus!"
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BJL Offline
Moderator
#7
if you find a place that recyvcles that stuff you can get soem cash for the inside of the cat, the material, i took my cat off when i worked at muffler shop and they recylce guy gave me 30 bucks for the cat that was ratttling, but i just wish i bought the cat for the car, a high flow 2/12 for 30bucks when i had the hance, but no im to lazy to order so i quit there and am screwed, especially with no muffler, well it has a glasspack on the one side but the left side broke off so its open exhuast on the left and a glasspack on the right. but who care the car sitting in my drive with the front end about 2 feet off the ground and the tires are ont he ground and it not on stands, it cuz it doesnt have 300lbs of motor in it, grrrrr.

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Brian J Larkin
1988 Turbo Coupe 5spd, dark blue and shining like a peice of polished glass.
http://crazydriver358.5u.com
Brian Larkin
88TC 330,000 miles
Slightly Modified
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Albin0 Offline
Member
#8
Don't worry! We used dust masks..
The crap part is that's there's still a bunch of that mesh material in the cat, and we can't get to it, because we don't know anyone that can weld. Otherwise we would have torn the end off alot sooner!
What's really nice is, I got to hear what the car sounds like with no exhaust.. heh heh heh.. Sure as hell doesn't sound like a honduh, thank God.
(And we don't have emissions in Florida, so it's all good on emissions.)

------------------
1987 Red Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Been in the family since I was 6 and I've been telling my dad since then that it's my car. Smile
------------
mods - K&N Cone filter
-----------
1987 Red Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Been in the family since I was 6 and I've been telling my dad since then that it's my car. Smile
------------
mods - K&N Cone filter, gutted catalytic, Star Clutch Stage II
-----------
Reply

85turbotbird Offline
Member
#9
I heard that if you gut or remove the cat it affects the o2 readings in a not so good way, but I'm not sure.
Tadd
85 turbo coupe
beats an f-150
gets roasted by a supra
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GaryS#2 Offline
Posting Freak
#10
Hybrid is rite on.
A finely tuned car is not a big polluter and my car is always being tuned and pampered.
MSD(multiple sparks)takes care of a lot of fuel mixture.
Sure I might be forcing out some Co2 and nitrogens but you get that anyway with a cat on.
I hate to admit it on the web because I don't want everyone runnin around with no cat but it makes a huge difference in spool up and power.I would buy a big 3" cat if it helped me sleep better at nite but it wouldn't. I have a dog anyways. [Image: smile.gif]
Grocery Getter/Rice Cooker.
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