I know there maybe a ton of forums but just need an opinion and some info. I want to gut the cats on my truck to get a little more sound out of it

 

It's a federal crime to tamper with catalytic converters and if you live in a state where you have emissions testing you'll fail everytime. Even if you don't and a cop who knows what he's doing pulls you over, looks under and can see that they are either gone or tampered with then you're fu**ed. It's not worth the extra sound and loss of down low power in my opinion

 

I live in ohio and have never heard of anyone getting a ticket for that, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen or happen more often in other states. But, the stock cats are relatively high flow anyway, I don't think i would mess with them. Plus, if you gut them you've gotta be careful, you could end up with plugged cats if you don't do it right. Also, looking at your sig, looks to me like you've done most of what would give you the most sound out of your exhaust system. I doubt gutting the cats would give you a whole lot more. Maybe look into a glasspack or something if you want something louder than the flowmaster and cai you've got.

 

I'd keep em.

 

Leave them. They flow great and you will lose a bit of low end torque. It won't be a lot louder without them. Dodges always seem to have the loudest oem cats.

 

Compared to REAL hi flos, our stock cats flow like s*&t. I cant believe anyone would ever make a statement that the cats on our truck are anything like high flows. A quick look through our stock cats and then a look through a magnaflow hi flow will change anyones mind that the stock cats are anywhere near high flows. To the op, if you want more sound replace the stock cats with real high flows, and you will see a big change in tone, but at the same time the high flows will keep enough back pressure to keep the truck running well, and also stay legal. I have done this on my truck and know as fact stock cats are not high flows, at least the ones that came on 06 Rams with the Hemi.

 

Compared to other OEM cats Dodge cats are considered high flows. They are the highest flowing of all stock cats on any truck offered

 

Look through one of them , and then look through a real high flow, and you will see how low flow they actually are. You can hardly see any light through a stock one whereas a hi flow will almost look like you are looking through a straight pipe. They might be a good oem cat but they still suck

 

Either way I've never considered high flow cats. I always thought the were a little pricey. And yea glasspacks to me on a truck sound crazy. If only it sounded like a WS6 trans am or something then maybe I'd look into them. But I really like the muffler I have just thought that removing the cats would give me the sound I want. It almost sounds like a turbine when u stand behind the exhaust. Or like listening to a house drier from the port going outside of a house. idk haha

 

I used to have the actual, tested CFM rate of the stock Hemi cats done by a performance shop I was affiliated with at one time, but they went bye-bye along with a LOT of other useful info (like various dyno tests, etc.) when the hard drive on my old laptop took a dump.
So I don't have exact numbers, but they exceeded most all other "stock" cats and weren't that far off from after-market cats sold as "high flow".

Personally, my opinion would be that the difference in flow doesn't justify the cost of getting rid of them for "high flow" cats. Now when they get old and take a sh*t and need replacing anyway, then I'd probably replace them with high flows.



As for the fines for being caught running a vehicle that was manufactured with catalytic converter(s) without them, the Environmental Protection Act allows for an individual to be fined $2500 if caught running without them. It is rare to be fined, but does happen. I personally know someone with a Camaro who was fined for it. More often, the individual is ticketed with a simple "equipment violation".
More commonly, shops get nailed as part of a "STING" on occasion and the fines for a commercial business who removes the cats from an individual's vehicle can be fined up to $25,000 PER OCCURRENCE, which is why it's almost impossible to find a shop willing to do so these days...