Hey all those smarter than me. I am going to do a custom exhaust jobonthe durango soon. Is it ok to remove thecatalytic converter from this system. I have been told some knewer cars have a sensor after the cc that will cause problems if you remove the cc from the system. any thoughts, Good idea or Bad idea. Thanks for the help.

 

That, and it's ILLEGAL!

 

CMD:

The most important question IMO here is what do you hope to gain by convertor removal?? Unlike the antiquated convertors of the 70s and 80s, todays convertors are much better at doing their job while allowing good flow.

If the convertor is bad, and you are not going to sell it in the forseeable future, removing the cat could save you some money. By doing this, your oxygen sensors will not read properly and thus activate the check engine light. The motor will also most likely not run its best since some of the signals the computer relies on will not be present.

Finally, unless you are going to highly modify the engine for gobs of HP, you will not likely see enough of a performance gain to justify the removal.

My 02 for what its worth. Don

 

i took the cat off of my 98 durango because i wanted it louder.....a cat with the flowmaster wasnt enough, but without the cat is sounds just right.....no check engine light and still runs great....
i actually just gutted mine out, that way it looks like its still there and i still have the sensor location.....though if you comletely remove the cat then you can just drill a hole in the pipe and weld an 02 sensor bungon thereand still have a usable sensor.....
but as stated, it is illegal.......though only if you get caught

 

The idea is to run 3" duel exhaust as far as possible. When i decide to put headers on most of the work will be done just a few plumbing mods to what I have already done. No matter how good a cat is it is still restricting. I have mufflers that will do enough of that for me. Cats are also worth some money when recycled. that will help pay for the plumbing. as far as how far i will go with hp gains I could not tell you. I might stop with the exhaust or skies the limit. When i was in texas it was not illegal to remove the cat unless you where a shop. where i worked then we had the owners remove the cat and then we could do the rest. Thanks for the replys. So the computer would have to be moded for the durango to run properly without a cat. I have never dealt with newer car comp before. do you need to get a chip, send in the comp, or replace the comp. I am sure someone out there has already done this to there durango. any help or ideas are appreciated. thanks again n8ech and sixtysixdeuce for your info.

 

CMD:

Three inch pipe is some pretty serious piping. You want to be careful though, b/c eliminating too much back pressure can rob you of low end power. Many folks before you have removed them, and if sound or weight reduction is your cause, then you will probably accomplish something.
But again, unless you are going to run 600hp, or spend alot of time above 4k rpm my bet is the difference will be neglible performencewise.

BTW, there are "test modules" that can be purchased to fool the computer into thinking it is always seeing the proper signal, so that is not a big deal if you decide to lighten the load.

Don

 

So i am starting to think i should just go with a catback system. It sounds like the gains wont be worth the effert to remove the cat. what would be the best muffler for the durango. I will run all the pipe so I just need to pick out a good muffler.I want something that has good tonebut not an earbuster. Probly 3" in 3" out.I have not seen any pics of durangos with duel exhaust yet. I would rather go duel exhaust just for looks but i dontknow how hard it is to rought the pipe. Its cold in south dakota right now so im not going to crawl around underthat thing to find out. any suggestions on a good muffler and any pics d's with duel exhaust would be great thanks.
Thanks n8ech for the replys.

 

No problems crash. Glad to help. I have not yet replaced my muffler or exhaust on my 01 at 66k. I really like the muscle car sound that the OEM system has. I am sure others will chime in with their experiences.

Don

 

magnaflow has a nice system that sounds pretty good to me. I'm not going to try and mod the hell out of mine but I'd like to get a good exhaust under it and see what happens from there. If anybody has done a dual exhaust on one of the newer ones I'd like to see how they did just out of curiosity. Doesn't look like there is room to get around that tire

 

you can remove the cat but i don't reccomend it.2 reasons
1. 8 year/80,000 mile emmissions warranty (cover's more than what you think)
2. very little if no back pressure. you will suffer in fuel economy
the illegal thing that just makes me want to remove it...lol