I'm looking into replacing my Cat with a high performance Cat. I have heard lot's of opinions, but would rather hear from the "guru's" here on yotatech.
What are your suggestions??
I have stock pipes, but am considering going up one more size at the same time I get my gears and lockers done, which I am almost finished saving up for.

 

Polish that 3.0 turd babee!

Seriously - unless you need to replace your cat, it's money wasted.

 

x2...

My cat was clogged ( so i gutted mine until i could afford a new one) so i needed a new one,
It seemed like it had VERY minimal performance gains if any from teh gutted cat.
But i also had a cat back exhaust put on.

I AGREE WITH TC. money wasted if you do not need cat

 

x3- if you don't need it, don't bother.
You could still do the exhaust back though... 2.25" pipe, maybe 2.5" and a flowmaster or magnaflow muffler.

 

I got my Magnaflow from Performance Products for under $100 shipped...It did make a difference over the stock one with low end power, fuel economy and my Borla catback got louder and deeper! Im kind of a tree hugger when it comes to ripping the cat out all together, just because you dont "have" to get an emissions inspection doesnt mean its OK.... just my .02

 

got data?

 

I replaced mine with an engine change, whole new exhaust syatem w/header. Why are you wanting to replace? are you having performance issues? I do agree with just because there's no emmissions test doesn't mean you should remove emmission equipment, guess I'm a little green too.

Think about the reason you want to replace it for want or necessity?

 

Dont do it. Some one will surley cut it off and make a couple hundo at a scrap yard!!!!!

 

Hmmm.....now you all have me re-thinking my decision.
Honestly, I'm not 100% positive that I do need a replacement. All I do know is that my cat is the original, it's got a lot of rust covering it and my mpg's have dropped waaaaaay down over the past couple of years. Right now, I am averaging 10-12 mpg's, in town. I seen a decrease as soon I replaced my tires with Toyo's but, I was already down from about an average of 14-16 when I first bought it several years ago.
I would rather not waste the money if I honestly didn't need one. I would just like peace of mind knowing that I am doing everything I can to "better" my baby and getting the most mileage I can get out of her.
Now that my taxes are done, I finally have enough $$ to get all new gears and lockers. I will be making time for that within the next couple of weeks. I realize that I will be seeing a dramatic difference from that alone, but every little bit of difference is what my goal is.
How do I honestly know if I need to replace mine or not....considering there are no visible holes or not cutting it off to inspect it?

 

When was the last time you did a tune-up - plugs, wires, cap, rotor, timing? Have you ever done seafoam or other FI cleaner?

Those things explain your drop in MPG over time better than a cat issue.

 

Cats can go bad poisooned or clogged but I tune it up first as a clogged gas filter can cause drops too.