So today I discovered that my trucks rattle is actually the cat as far as I could tell. All the sounds led to it, along with shaking the exhaust a bit and hearing stuff moving inside it. So I figure that weird honey cone crap has come loose. So I'm planning out my new exhaust and I think for budgets sake I'll stick with a 2 into 1 since I have more import things to save for then fixing this truck these days. What I would like to do from the Y pipe where 02 Sensor is I want to stick with 2 1/2" pipe maybe get rid of the cat altogether and throw a flowmaster muffler on the end. Probably won't do a tip since I'm not that into chrome on this truck.

Now my questions are if I get rid of my cat will I lose any performance out of my truck or will it just make things better for it. Or should I just pick up a cheap cat and gut it or better yet gut my old one and put it back on if its still useable in that aspect for at least legality looks. Or just throw a cat and keep it completely legal, although I've heard cats can hurt performance which I don't want.

Thanks guys

 

A cat can restrict some power but not much. Usually the stock pipes restrict the exhaust more then the cat (in good condition). Get a new one or a High Performance cat or gut it. Some people will weld in a straight pipe to improve flow.

 

Just as a word of caution, make sure the area that you live in does not have safety/emission checks. If you delete your cat, either by removing it all the way or gutting it, make sure you don't get nailed for that.