Driving My 88 Gl Wagon today in down town traffic, when it suddenly sounded like I was driving a 57 Chevy with glass packs on it. Pulled over and looked under the car and saw that the exaust had rusted through and that it had separated from the front half of the catalytic converter. So I need to know from those who know, if I remove the CC and just run a straight pipe for now, will that damage anything, will I lose preformance. I know that it won't pass smog like that but just for a temp fix until I can replace the entire exaust system. (Trust me, the exaust has more rust spots than the Titanic) any thoughts would be most helpful.

Thanks from,

Shaun...DaGodfada:brow:

I think i had the same thing happen, if mine broke at the same place you are talking about i was able to fit what i think was a 1 7/8" X 2 1/8" flange adaptor thing that you can find at the parts store in there and screw it in. had to do some triming to make it fit right but it was on there for about 3 months before i had the cash to fix it right and it was decent. don't quote me on those sizes it was a little bit ago....

I just had the same thing happen. I bought a new aftermarket one and had it installed it today. Pretty cheap too! Everything fit fine; it ran better and had more power. The new converter has a bit of a rattle in it. If anyone knows why, I am all ears; I am assuming aftermarket converters are just a bit more noisy.......... As far as running strait pipes. It is not good for your engine. Backfiring can cause damage on Subarus.I did it for a while but only when I had to drive.

If the cat has a heat shield on it, thats most likely the cause of the rattling.

As far as running strait pipes. It is not good for your engine. Backfiring can cause damage on Subarus.I did it for a while but only when I had to drive.

Umm.. no.. just all around no.

 

I ran my first turbowagon with the middle cat missing.. striaght pipe in place of it. Not only was there no back firing, but it passed emissions.. go figure.

The Cat isn't needed at all. as long as the header pipes are joined together by a Y pipe you should be fine. The engine does need backpressure to function properly and can burn out valves if the header pipes are missing.

 

My EA81 has 2 1/4" pipe from the Y join back into a sports muffler. I've seen the same thing on a friends car with a home made cannon on the back. Neither have a Cat.