Has anyone hollowed out the stock cats? I started but I am having trouble getting the metal brick out. The ceramic one was easy but the metal one is being a pain in my a$$holes! Does anyone know the best way to eliminate this accursed brick? Also, don't bother to respond if you're gonna tell me to get test pipes.

 

test pipes

 

Yeah, I agree. I'm hoping that hollowed out stock cats won't give me the rasp and rice-like noise of test pipes...

 

Hollowed out cats make more annoying rasp than unresonated test pipes.

TK

 

Really? Have you done this on your Z?

 

Not on the Z specifically, had it on my 2000 Maxima, had aftermarket ypipe so there were no precats, and a full catback. Hollowed out cat defiinitely made it louder but was raspier than resonated test pipe. Don't get me wrong the resonated test pipe was better, but it still wasn't perfect. I never tried an unresonated test pipe, but i'd imagine it'd be better due to uniform piping and not the sudden diameter changes involved with a hollowed out cat. For the price of what unresonated test pipes go for, it's really not that bad of a deal.

TK

 

i did a lot of reading here , and i settled on berk HFC's . Stink and Rasp FTL

 

Thanks for the input. I guess I'll stop, I wasn't making much progress anyways.

 

i hollowed out my stock cats. everything came out in huge chunks. so i didn't have the problem you're having right now. tools i used were: drill, long angled needle nosed pliers, long flathead screw driver and hammer.

just drill holes in it, start chizziling away with the hammer and screw driver, and pull out the peices with the needle nose pliers.

and no, it doesnt give out the rasp.

 

There was no metal one in yours?

 

none that i can remember, i have an 03 model, so maybe they changed it?

 

Since you are making all the rules, may as well reply to your own thread.

 

?

 

^^+1 Dont do it. It will sound like straight up @ss.

 

na you need to do it!!! i did it to mine and it sounded so good with the stock exhaust! what i did is i cut out the part right over the metal brick thing with a torch then chizzled and ripped out all the metal. then welded the piece i cut off the cat back on.

 

BTW, If you ever have to buy OEM cats, for whatever legal reason, get ready to fork out a thousand bucks or so. For all the effort you will put into destroying your OEM cats, you should have bought a decent pair of test pipes. And you won't have to face the ridicule for doing something really stupid.

 

Oh, really? $1000? Is that why I have another set of cats that I bought from someone on these forums for $100?

 

no one has mentioned high flow cats.....

 

Everyone here is trying to help you out. The guy who posted about the cats being expensive probably didn’t know you had an extra set. You need to relax a bit man. We are just here to give you advice and help you out. Harsh answers won’t get you anywhere.

 

If you read the post, the individual told me not to bother beacause what I am doing is stupid. I didn't start this thread for opinions. I started it to gain insight on how to accomplish my goal. My cats were already bad so I figured I would hollow them out and see what happens. It doesn't matter if sounds like crap, because so do most test pipes. There's also a chance that it will sound really good and I would not have purchased $300 test pipes.