Opinions on cutting out catalytic converters.

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

AuroraGirl

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2019
Posts
9,121
Reaction score
6,037
Location
Northern Wisconsin
First Name
Taylor
Truck Year
1978, 1980
Truck Model
K10, K25
Engine Size
400(?), 350
I don't know if it has an incompatibility with gas engines, it is probably just that it is WAY overkill for almost every gas engine rig I can think of. It is stupid expensive and just isn't really necessary for a gas rig. The reason I know about it was as a replacement for the 6.0L powerstroke coolant that liked to gel up and clog up the coolant passages in the EGR and oil cooler. The Cat coolant supposedly had better resistance to cavitation in the coolant passages around the cylinder walls and wouldn't separate or Gel. Since there are basically CAT dealers everywhere, it's easy to go in and get some... but again it's about double the price of comparable light duty automotive coolant. I think when I got mine, it was about $20-30 per gallon of concentrate and I needed three gallons of the concentrate for the F-250. I can get a gallon of Prestone green extended life concentrate from Wal-mart for like $8
when i buy green concentrate i buy from farm an fleet 40 dollars for like 6 or so I cant remember exact
i also liked to have a case of premix on hand so I could fill a gallon of concentrate distilled and then top most of with a cheater jug :)
 

Grit dog

Full Access Member
Joined
May 18, 2020
Posts
5,882
Reaction score
9,619
Location
Washington
First Name
Todd
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
K20
Engine Size
454
I like to not have to have cases of antifreeze on hand....signifies I am regularly adding AF to something I should just fix, sell or throw away.
But I did learn something new on the catalytic converter thread...
Never realized you could tell the compatibility of antifreeze by it's color and that the yellow stuff is bad, unless it's John Deere Yellow....what mfgs are compatible with blue, purple and red antifreeze? By color? :emotions33:
 

Ellie Niner

Full Access Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2021
Posts
379
Reaction score
613
Location
Tucson, AZ
First Name
Tory
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
K10 Silverado
Engine Size
LE9 305
I like to not have to have cases of antifreeze on hand....signifies I am regularly adding AF to something I should just fix, sell or throw away.
But I did learn something new on the catalytic converter thread...
Never realized you could tell the compatibility of antifreeze by it's color and that the yellow stuff is bad, unless it's John Deere Yellow....what mfgs are compatible with blue, purple and red antifreeze? By color? :emotions33:
I've actually never had a problem with yellow (the one size fits everything sh¡t). DexLeak on the other hand...

Yeah. How did we go from talking about cadillac converters... to antifeeze? Oh well.
 

Goldie Driver

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2018
Posts
3,924
Reaction score
6,375
Location
Houston, Texas
First Name
Britt
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
GMC K1500 Suburban
Engine Size
350
I've actually never had a problem with yellow (the one size fits everything sh¡t). DexLeak on the other hand...

Yeah. How did we go from talking about cadillac converters... to antifeeze? Oh well.

Umm, because this is GM Square Body .Com, where even Innocuous threads go crazy ? :anitoof:


You must be registered for see images attach



Makes it fun, though !!

:dogpile:
 

waterpirate

Full Access Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2019
Posts
823
Reaction score
1,840
Location
delaware
First Name
Eric
Truck Year
1987
Truck Model
v10
Engine Size
5.7 tbi
How about a bump back on track? So my current situation is making removing and replacing the og fuel tank mandatory on the 87. This will make removing the og cat mandatory to get to the bolts for the fuel tank mount. I have no illusions of being able to remove the cat without a sawzall. so the question is reinstall old one, or simply put straight pipe in and move on?
With a growing list on the truck growing that requires $, I can't see spending the 316.00 for the new cat.
Eric
 

78C10BigTen

Full Access Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2017
Posts
15,475
Reaction score
23,678
Location
pennsylvannia
First Name
Ted
Truck Year
1978
Truck Model
C10 BIG TEN
Engine Size
350
How about a bump back on track? So my current situation is making removing and replacing the og fuel tank mandatory on the 87. This will make removing the og cat mandatory to get to the bolts for the fuel tank mount. I have no illusions of being able to remove the cat without a sawzall. so the question is reinstall old one, or simply put straight pipe in and move on?
With a growing list on the truck growing that requires $, I can't see spending the 316.00 for the new cat.
Eric
Replace with a cheap universal one in the same pipe size??
 

waterpirate

Full Access Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2019
Posts
823
Reaction score
1,840
Location
delaware
First Name
Eric
Truck Year
1987
Truck Model
v10
Engine Size
5.7 tbi
I also noodled that I could cut the pipe either side and just put it back with 2 couplings and 4 clamps.
Eric
 

AyWoSch Motors

The Parts Guy
Joined
Nov 6, 2020
Posts
4,647
Reaction score
13,474
Location
New Mexico
First Name
Ayden
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
K1500 Sierra
Engine Size
350ci V8
How about a bump back on track? So my current situation is making removing and replacing the og fuel tank mandatory on the 87. This will make removing the og cat mandatory to get to the bolts for the fuel tank mount. I have no illusions of being able to remove the cat without a sawzall. so the question is reinstall old one, or simply put straight pipe in and move on?
With a growing list on the truck growing that requires $, I can't see spending the 316.00 for the new cat.
Eric
I also noodled that I could cut the pipe either side and just put it back with 2 couplings and 4 clamps.
Eric

I'd say either put the old one back one if its healthy, or put in a pipe.
 

Grit dog

Full Access Member
Joined
May 18, 2020
Posts
5,882
Reaction score
9,619
Location
Washington
First Name
Todd
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
K20
Engine Size
454
I also noodled that I could cut the pipe either side and just put it back with 2 couplings and 4 clamps.
Eric
Exhaust band clamps are a great semi permanent solution for this. And they don't dent the pipe, making it easy to disassemble in the future.
I've had stuff band clamped together for years, like 10+ years. The semi permanent part is becasue they can be disassembled without getting the sawzall back out!
 

waterpirate

Full Access Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2019
Posts
823
Reaction score
1,840
Location
delaware
First Name
Eric
Truck Year
1987
Truck Model
v10
Engine Size
5.7 tbi
I have taken some $hit for the repairs I have done to my rig in the tear down proccess, but dam it! They lasted. When I went looking for the exaust pipe bend up and over the axle 15 years ago it turned into a cluster. So I went to the semi truck parts store and bought some tank grade flex pipe, not the autozone version. 15 years on it is rusty but has lasted. I could not say the same for a stock pipe. lol
Eric
 

AuroraGirl

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2019
Posts
9,121
Reaction score
6,037
Location
Northern Wisconsin
First Name
Taylor
Truck Year
1978, 1980
Truck Model
K10, K25
Engine Size
400(?), 350
You must be registered for see images attach

The pipe where itcomes downfrom that bend there was full of welding slag and rust and remnants of an old clamp. so Igot a 2.25 clamp on one side and 2.50 i think on the other off amazon and then just kinda wrapped over that not ideal surface and then onto the pipe going back, i made it tight after it worked loose months later but its been holding well. Conformed to it really well. Allowed my to not have to try and attach to way before the bend and shorten it a lot and not have to try and deal with an angle by cutting to clean pipe. On my f150 I Need to buzz off an old hanger that broke, get one of these on that spot, and then adapt a hangerright on the bolts nice and there when I get to that.

I like cases of antifreeze because I have **** loads of things that use antifreeze and im the only person whos ever considered maintaining a cooling system proper. Like, black in both trucks was not something I wanted to keep running so A few flushes here and there, when the tractor ran it just had a slow leak so that needed some. then I have to keep dex for my car and cars of past ownership and If coolant is in low quality and its getting colder, I would rather flush before i find out the freezing point of my vehicles not so fresh fill. -40 degrees does that sometimes lol. then there was the time I stabbed a radiator in a grand marquis with a screw driver just after filling and bleeding it. Also have been unlucky to buy 3 cars which needed heater cores flushed during cold weather and the coolants were nasty so i usually go all in. thats a lot of gallons especially because go big or go home #USA #USA everything has large ass capacitys

That was not a finest hour moment. My cousin thought it was hilarious lol. And because **** whatever may dare drink puddles off the ground near here, I frankly find I can use whatever im about to dump out all over to control some vegetation or put a pan out in a spot in the shed where damn squirrels keep entering. Havent seen any ????? success.

I was just given a bunch of 20 year old jugs of green that are sealed and were in a garage. not sure how it holds up overtime but Ill Try some on less critical stuff and see how it does.

BUT YEAH THOSE EXHAUST CLAMPS ARE WONDERFUL 10/10
 

Salty Crusty

Full Access Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2020
Posts
211
Reaction score
230
Location
Texas
First Name
Gary
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
c1500
Engine Size
565
If you don't want to use band clamps, you can buy a swedging tool from Hazard Fraught so they'll fit together and you can use conventional muffler clamps.

I've used the band clamps a few times with no problem. Just make sure they're on straight pieces of pipe, no bueno on curves.
 

squarelyfe

Full Access Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2021
Posts
174
Reaction score
104
Location
NORCAL USA
First Name
Larry
Truck Year
1975
Truck Model
k25
Engine Size
350
I'm not sure if I follow everything going on in this thread but can you rent a tailpipe expander from auto zone and slip in a straight pipe for now and clamp it on each end? Or have we moved onto the colors of AF?
Toyota uses red ; )
 

Goldie Driver

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2018
Posts
3,924
Reaction score
6,375
Location
Houston, Texas
First Name
Britt
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
GMC K1500 Suburban
Engine Size
350
I'm not sure if I follow everything going on in this thread but can you rent a tailpipe expander from auto zone and slip in a straight pipe for now and clamp it on each end? Or have we moved onto the colors of AF?
Toyota uses red ; )

Yeah, and it does not play well with green.

I just got the timing belt done on the 4RUNNER and the mechanic went back with Toyota Red.

That's OE, but ...

I think only they sell it, and its expensive as Fock.

Thread derail back on track !

:Moon:
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
41,847
Posts
903,385
Members
33,362
Latest member
Dhatch84
Top