Catalytic Converter Questions

[Quinton23]

i have 2004 Silverado 1500 with the 5.3. I have a flowmaster super 40 on it now but i want it a little louder. I was thinking about removing the cats. I did some research online, and everybody is saying different things. Like it will mess up the computer and greatly decrease power and mpg. Others say the opposite. I want to know what you guys think! Thanks!

[Chevy53]

Logically you can only gain power by removing the cats since your reducing the restriction you can lose power if you reduce restriction to the point of having no back pressure than you can lose power


-Ziggy-

[Quinton23]

What would make it have no back pressure?

[Chevy53]

Either an exhaust that's too short or one that's too big in diameter


-Ziggy-

[Quinton23]

Well my exhaust runs all the way back and is 3". Would that be bad?

[96chevystepside]

You should be good with having a muffler on It. Best way to go is hallow out the housing in case your state checks for that.

[SteveLNEw]

It could cause it to lose power due to messing up the computer... Giving it false readings and you computer tries to adjust for that.
Plus your Check engine light will stay on all the time. I've thought about getting rid of min e a few times while my cat was bad... But I couldn't live with the Check Engine Light being on all the time. (ya never know when it might be something else important)