HemiHunter

It stinky at all without cats? Looks good

00pooterSS

iTrader: (40)

Eh yeah I suppose so. Exhaust always stinks to me anyway though. I run E85 at all times and the exh smell is strong at the tailpipe and if you're right there around it. But I NEVER smell it in the truck or anywhere 5 feet away from the tail pipe.

In short, it's no worse than stock because if you're pretty close to a stock tail pipe it don't smell good.

I think where people end up hating a no cat setup is with dumps and a cam

My camaro had true duals, dumped before the rear axle, no cats and stock cam and I never noticed any smells and nobody ever said anything in the years it was like that.

00pooterSS

iTrader: (40)

I'm not a fan of running cats and am of the mind if I hate it I can always add them in. But i'd rather see how it is before spending the money on them, and if I can avoid the restriction of having them, I do

Add on top of that I've been a tech for 20 years and every cat I have ever installed that was aftermarket trips a check engine light within a year. The bbk's on my wifes mustang lasted 6 months. Both sets. The magnaflow cat I put on a friends car, 6 months. Some of my customers that get cheap cats and the exh shop.. a few months before the light comes on. I have a buddy that owns an exh shop and they have some nice ones that work well, but they are a few hundred a piece. Last set they did for me was about a year ago and was I think around 700 to put two on a 01 silverado and they are still doing good. Most aftermarket cats are cheap. They have platinum in them, the more there is the better they work, the more there is the more expensive they are. That's why an OEM cat is near 1k each

tjmath

Did you go up from under the truck or drop down through the top on install? Seeing all these pics just makes me even more pumped to get mine!

Bgbldodge

I went from under on the passenger and over on the driver. Not enough clearance to go from under with my 4wd on the driver side. Just disconnect the steering shaft and you've got all the room you need from the top.

I've never had an issue with any aftermarket cat. The magnaflow on the truck has been there over a year with no issue and the no names on my charger are going on two. Dad ran them on both vettes for several years with no problems. Same with my g37 and 350z. The high flows flow more than enough for a stock vehicle and I hate the stench of no cats on a daily (my vehicles are garaged so it stinks it up) and I hate being behind cars with no cats. Not to mention I don't care for the sound of no cats. I plan on running them on my blazer when I redo the exhaust this spring.

00pooterSS

iTrader: (40)

On 2wd they go right in super freaking easy from the bottom.

Bgbldodge just laid out his way

Friend Bryan said they dropped right in from the top on his 4wd when I asked him. He said it was super easy.

It's beyond easy on a 2wd.

Trans cross member needs to come out for the y pipe. But that's real easy to do too.

Bgbldodge, I have no idea why we have such different experiences with cats. I'm in auto repair though and see all kinds of cars daily and see so many cat failures. We have seen so many here we have a policy of not using an aftermarket cat at the shop unless there is absolutely no other option and then in those cases we shift the responsibility to an exh shop and discuss it all with the cust first.

It is louder without cats, but I've never been bothered myself by not having them. Something in the water here I guess. I dunno

tjmath

Awesome! Glad I asked and wasn't gonna spend an extra 30 min trying to **** with it one way or the other lol.

I feel like these are going to be 1000 times easier than when I did my 99.

I did order a pair of 3" vbands to attach the y pipe to the collectors. My buddy builds side by side cages for a living and his shop is less than a mile from my place... figure I will just slip fit everything in place and drive it down there to have the vbands done on the truck rather than guess at fitment welding them on before everything goes on

00pooterSS

iTrader: (40)

I'm not sure why exactly but I asked Bryan, best exhaust guy in town with a reputation, about doing v bands on my truck and he said well it's "too late now have to do that before putting the y pipe on".. I have no idea why he said that, but you may ask your guy if he gives a ****..

Bgbldodge

These are stupid easy to install. There is so much room to work on them. Trans crossmember is a breeze. 4 bolts and 2 nuts and it falls out.

tjmath

I was talking to him yesterday and he said he didn't want to do it on the truck. I assume its to make sure you get a good weld all the way around the tube. My only problem with welding them up before is how do we know they will fit perfectly without them being on the truck... do a couple tack welds and the drop them down and weld them up.