caddisjt1

I have an 85 SR5 22RE 4wd Pickup. I no longer have to go through emmision testing due to the age of the vehicle. Should I remove/gut the catalytic converter. I am not sure if it has ever been replaced or not. The truck has 194,000 miles on it. If I gut the converter what issues may crop up?

DD423

leave it on

MaK92-4RnR

this may be a california only rule, but isn't it 30 years? and last I heard, they passed a law that if your vehicle was developed when emission laws were enabled, they MUST stay on regardless of the age?

laskt9

pretty sure thats a federal law. if the car came out of the factory with a cat, you have to have one.

mt_goat

If it were mine, I'd check it by removing it and looking through it, its probably getting clogged up by now. If so, take it to a cat recycler and collect lots of cash. With that cash replace it with a new universal cat and you'll probably come out ahead (or I did anyway). I got $140 for my old partly clogged 93 cat and the new one was $60 + what the muffler shop charged to weld it in.

carguygt500

Just finished a serious cylinder head/ timing chain job and I am in the process of installing a new factory style exhaust. I removed my cat and installed a test pipe on the truck to check if my cat was seriously clogged and I have to say that the truck is DOG with out the cat. It has no low end torque at all and barely makes it up hills now.

I believe these 22re's need to maintain exhaust velocity to keep their torque band where it needs to be, so I am installing a new factory style converter and a new turbo muffler from my local auto parts store as well as running new 2" piping from the manifold back.

I hope this information helps your decision in gutting your cat. I believe it is a mistake to remove or gut it.