I was installing my A-arm brace and accidentally smacked the cats with my ratchet a few times. What are the chances I can damage the catalyst material by doing this? The replacements cost $1200 each at the parts counter, so I don't want to screw anything up. I live in a state that does not have emissions inspection, but I want to keep the stock cats.

 

unless you were directly beating on them i wouldnt see a problem. Does anyone have a picturee of what the inside of the cats look like? im curiuos about how they work and all.

 

They're find in ordered to damage those things you'd have to pound on them directly with a hammer.

 

[quote=metroplex;5549093]I was installing my A-arm brace and accidentally smacked the cats with my ratchet a few times. What are the chances I can damage the catalyst material by doing this? The replacements cost $1200 each at the parts counter, so I don't want to screw anything up. I live in a state that does not have emissions inspection, but I want to keep the stock cats.[/quote


You can dent the outside shell pretty good and never hurt anything inside. I can't imgine a couple of good whacks with a rachet handle hurting anything.
Scott]

 

My cat ate an easter lilly this year and got sick and the vet charged me $1200 to fix it. Next time I should just hit it with a wrench like you did

 

Well that makes me feel a lot better (not about your cat eating the lily, LOL)!

 

dont worry if you actually get a code, your emmisions warranty lasts till 80k miles so just take it in (put it back to stock first though)
i am sure accidental tapping from a ratchet will not cause a problem though.

 

LOL, hahahaa!

 

your not going to hurt these with a ratchet.... trust me


it looks like a beehive inside but with very tiny holes...

 

That was funny as hell But seriously,please tell us that you really don't own a cat.....

 

Unless you hear the substrate material rattling around inside the canister, you probably are OK.

 

yeah it really happened (minus the wrench part), here he is at the hospital. almost 90% of cats die from it, he was one of the lucky ones because he got treatment within a few hours. About 24-36 hours after eating it they get kidney failure. We didn't know lillys are poisonous but figured it out after he barfed all over the house. That's what probably saved his life.

 

Before being stuffed in the can (no pun intended), the cat "brick" is wrapped in a heat resistant pad about a 3/8 inch thick. The pic below shows the pad wrapped around the brick...

You would have to really abuse it to damage the brick.

 

Oh, THAT doesn't look restrictive.

Crap! I put "universal" cats on my Bronco when I put dual exhaust in it... they were high-flow, and you could see right through them. I never looked in the old one, so I had no idea just how restricted the factory ones are. That's friggin' rediculous. Perhaps high-flows are in order here... since nobody in FL is lookin' anyways.

 

stock cats are rediculous... even if they are "high flow"

 

Why is that?

 

way off topic, but man...wonder if thats what happened to our cat a couple years ago- I was never a cat person, but we took in a stray that was the best animal we ever had...was solid grey color with bright green eyes...never made a mess or tore anthing up, never smelled, didnt shed, played with the kids(literally- would drag toys over to them) and would sit and watch TV- the only pet Ive ever seen that would sit and actually WATCH tv...he got sick one day, took him to the vet and they had to put him down- both kidneys were ballooned up to like grapefruit sized or something and they couldnt do anything for him...had a couple other cats before, couldnt stand them- but this one was really cool. my 4 yr old named it 'blueberry' other than that it was a really cool pet. blueberry the cat- now youve heard everything huh...seriously, was a cool animal.

regarding the pic of the cat brick- would love to see a straight view looking thru the honeycomb- as in the pic it does look kinda restrictive- but as small as the holes are, might just be from the angle. I tore one up on my 85 Camaro out in Colorado- banged a rock made a very small dent(under 1/8" deep) but it chipped the front brick- it vibrated around eventually plugging the cat solid about a month later...but it did have a very noticeable rattle at idle beforehand.

 

because of how restrictive they are....

 

Three shots - up close looking into the holes. Then with my LED flashlight shining from the back, and then looking straight into the flashlight. The brick is about 4 inches thick. The crack is from a lot of handling. This is a GM brick.

 

Interesting. I can easily see how the cats can have such a drastic change in sound for the exhaust.