Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches Eastern Canada Newbie Kevin711 - fastest pre-cat gutter in GTA?

Old problem, new how-to link (with pics) and a gung-ho GTA Newbie.
Problem ID to fix < 24hrs

Holy crap. Nothing like a go getter do it yourselfer. I know a couple of people that would be happy to have Kevin do this for them and pay him for it. Keith comes to mind.

Thanks for the support

The Mystique actually isn't mine anymore... I gave it to my sister some years ago when I bought my 2k Cougar. She would have killed me if I returned it broken to her (I was car-sitting while she was on vacation).

As for doing it again, I'd have to get a waiver signed to release me from any responsibility for stripping rusted nuts

I'm an advid DIYer, as I hate shops. I don't trust them. I called Ford curious as to how much this problem would cost to fix, and the guy said it ranges from $1500 - $4500 typically . And I thought Acura/Honda rips people off

BTW: I only gutted 1 precat... I didn't see the need to do the other one if it works, as my sister doesn't need power. So, I kinda cheated to my 24h fix

Yup that's why I gutted mine. Ford wanted $2500+ to replace them even though I was under the warranty.
They didn't diagnose my problem in 2 visits, so I had to gut the main cat. When they finally figured it out (thanks to me), they (Ford) welched on the warranty because I had no main cat. I fought with them for 1 week then gutted them.

As for only gutting the easy rear pre cat. I believe you will soon be gutting the front one.
More air is flowing out the rear bank now, I think this will cause some issues with the front bank
or you'll be replacing upper O2's sooner.

Did you make a MIL eliminator for the pre cat you gutted. You can also put
the O2 behind the main cat instead of a MIL eliminator.
If you didn't you will see a CEL soon.

I'm almost inclined to say you should gut the other one? Not sure if it would make a big difference but the rate of flow may end up different now. Probably not a big deal but thought I would throw it out there.

Has anybody had problems passing emissions so far with a gutted cat?

I'm considering doing the othe one too...

Gutting the main cat? I don't know of anyone whom has passed emmisions then. Just gutting the Precats? There are numerous stories of people passing with that done. Sadly if your precats are as bad as they were you stand a very good chance of needing to replace the main cat as all the crap from the precats may be plugging it up now. That is what happened with me. No worries now though thanks to headers.

I passed with no main cat, but I had both pre cats.
My next test is in one year, so we'll see then, if no pre cats and a high flow main cat can pass.