is the catalytic(tink how you spel it)converter necassary on a sohc neon? and if not......WHACK... its gone..

 

I actually think the cat would hurt power because it would eliminate back pressure.

 

i have taken the cat off of every neon that ive owned and havent noticed anything bad yet...they seem to run alot smoother, and its just one less thing to worry about down the road...id knock it outa there

 

Yeah I don't have one either, just a high flow with an 02 bung, the only possible negative effect that I could think of is a lose in gas mileage. I haven't noticed any in mine so Im not sure if you would or not.

 

If you live in the USA, then yes, it's illegal to remove it. If your emissions folks do a visual and notice it's gone, it can be a pretty hefty fine.

The stock cat flows within 5% of a 2.25" test pipe. There's no performance advantage to removing it. Replacing it with an aftermarket unit with a 2.5" outlet makes a difference, if you upgrade the rest of the exhaust piping as well.

 

I have the Pacesetter exhaust which has the 2.5 piping, I know this guy with a cavalier and old one like a 94 and he stuck 4inch pipe on his looks pretty gay, If I can snag a pic ill post it

 

The stock exhaust manifold has a 2.5" outlet, and the stock cat has a 2.5" inlet. It just has a 2.25" outlet, then that stupid bend where the O2 sensor is. Even if you "upgrade" to 2.5" piping (Dynomax), those areas are the biggest restriction.

 

Your best bet all around is to go with a high flow cat, that way you get the backpressure and pass emissions and it only takes away about 1 horsepower with todays cats. Running without a cat will also make your check engine light come on and it will throw a code. The backpressure thing is important for performance in a small engine. The backpressure helps the engine in the low RPM's and hurts in the high RPM's, where no cat hurts the low end and helps the top end. It all comes down to where you want or need the power most.

 

No, backpressure never helps any engine. At best, it's a bandaid for poor tuning abilities. Backpressure robs power. Robbing power doesn't make power.

What I always find funny is that people will say that bigger pipes means less backpressure, like it's a baloon or something. LOL. So much for modern physics, huh?

P.S. - if you think larger pipes means less backpressure, Google "Bernoulli" and "Fluid Dynamics"... you're wrong... backwards even...

 

mines gutted, actually gained 1/2 a second with it gone. well, that and a fart can muffler. it just throws a code 22 for the downstream o2 sensor.