ive got a 2002 silverado 5.3 with 165xxx miles and i believe the cats are stopped up so ive decided to gut them or just remove them, but im not running any muffler so as of right now its just cats and no muffler out the back of the factory exhaust. so my question is, is it best to gut em and leave em hollow or cut em off gut em and take them to a muffler shop and have them put a piece of pipe inside and swell the ends up and have the ends welded up inside? i dont have emissions where im at but cops like looking for cats so really need to keep the cats shells at least, and i kno im gonna need a muffler ive not decided weather to run true duals or just stick a muffler back onto the truck to tone it down some once the cats are gutted

 

Just punch them out, welding a pipe in there place isn't going to do you any better. That's just extra money you don't have to spend.

 

Just gut them.. And then get the rear o2 sensors tuned out if they arent already

 

Consider recycling intact cats will bring you at least 60 dollars to use towards the purchase of an aftermarket exhaust. Gutting them = 0 dollars and stock exhaust. Little to no gain.

Are cops really stopping your vehicle and looking under for cats? That sounds unlikely. If there isn't a safety or emissions inspection then you should be good.

 

It takes a lot to plug up OEM converters. They can even survive an oil dump. It generally takes extreme overheating to melt and collapse the element. I'm guessing it's down on power so is it possible there is another problem causing it to either run lean or be dumping fuel into the exhaust?

 

it had when i got it was puffing white smoke, i was told the guy bought gas then it started puffing white smoke so i figured first it had blown head gasket thats reason i bought it cheap, then before i tore the heads off checked the oil not milky so i dropped the gas tank and it was nothin but water pretty much so i drainned it flushed the lines fuel filter and then found a bad injector that was just pouring fuel into it finally changed it then coil pack went down so put plugs and a coil pack and so now im here at this point. no my rear 02 sensors isnt tuned out and have no way to tune them out but ill be more than likely either gutting them or removing them

 

Removing cats or gutting them will trip a check engine light for cat efficiency codes.... Might eventually wanna have them tuned out if your going to gut the cats