Im sure I need a new cat. The one in it is ancient. Can't decide what kind to get Hugh

 

there's only like three aftermarket cat makers for our truck...I think its walker and magna flow that are the same.

 

So what's the third? I'm gonna get a magnaflow probably. What will match my flowmasters? Or does it matter

 

any or the performance cats will flow well enough for any flowmaster system... those systems are mainly tuned for sound... performance really isnt much better than stock.. but they do sound sweet...

If you have the y pipe and a single in and output cat you'll want to replace the ypipe with a better flowing one since thats the most restrictive part.

 

I have a single in/out cat. Dont they make single in dual out? Or is that unnecessary because I'd have to redo the mufflers

I know the y-pipes are restrictive but I heard thats it's not as much an issue on the 01's. I've looked into y-pipes but I always find the off road ones. And I have to be able to pass emissions. I think I should just have the muffler shop make me a custom one.

I know too that Magnaflows are better performance-wise when it comes to mufflers vs flowmasters, but dang the flowmasters just sound so dag on good.

 

There's also Eastern and Bosal cats. Eastern is high flow, not sure about Bosal...never even heard of em.

I got a direct fit (meaning with a y-pipe) Eastern cat for my '01 ram at rockauto.com, no complaints. It fits good and sounds loud with a flowmaster.

But if your not gonna replace the y-pipe (you might as well if it's rusted to all hell) you should just get a universal magnaflow and have a shop weld everything up.

 

I normally like to do my own work but I can't weld, and those Bolt that have welded themselves together with rust are scaring me.

So if it's a direct fit that means it comes with a y-pipe, that blots to the stock collectors?

 

The eastern cat I got just bolted right up to the other flanges coming off the pipes from the manifold. The setup came with flanges for the y-pipe, however no extra bolts. Which sucked because the original bolts had to be torched off (since I didn't put any penetrating oil on em before hand) so I had to find extra bolts to fit in there. but anyways...

I didn't put the cat/y-pipe in myself, a friend did it for me, but I'm fairly certain there was no necessary welding to be done. Just bolt up the flanges up, attach the cat to the hanger, and clamp or weld the rest of the piping and muffler on. And put the o2s back in. I think that's about it.

 

It is a rare occasion indeed that you can re-use any of the exhaust bolts on trucks the age ours are, especially if you live in the rust belt...... I would usually just heat 'em up so they would come out, and throw them away.... (of course, I had a bin rack FULL of various studs/bolts too.....) Getting new bolts for the job is never a bad plan.

 

Yeah that's true lol. I just figured the bolts would come along with the whole package when I ordered the cat, but I guess not. It wasn't too hard to find the right bolts anyways, so it wasn't a big deal.