Man, what a chore! This exhaust is ON there! Got everything off but one bolt on the collector (by trans). I thought this was supposed to have three nuts on the forward side, but the top is a 3” bolt that is being difficult. The cat side of the flange has a nut welded in plac with the bolt through the front. Anyway, it’s slow going. Lube...time...pressure....repeat! Hope next post will be a pic of what’s inside the mid pipe!

 

Ok, pipe is off....doesn’t appear to be obstructed

 

There appears to be a crack inside, just passed the grid....guess it’s shot

 

 

well, that one bolt with the welded on nut broke off inside the nut, so that is getting removed. I’ll just get another 14mm grade8 nut/bolt for that hole and reinstall when tomorrow. The O2 sensor looks like it has seen its fair share of heat, but without a CEL from all of this heat I think I’ll just stick it back in there and see what happens.

I was also surprised to see insulation in the cat...for a second I thought I had a rodent nest! 😜 holding up pieces of the cat to the light, you could see some debris in the openings, but I wouldnt say it was completely blocked. It certainly was cracked. This leads me to think the ignition components are shot and allowed too much fuel to get into the converter where it ignited. Plugs/wires/coils will be done before I start the car again.

 

The cat didnt look too bad. I've seen far worse haha. Replace those ignition components and it should run a lot better. Then you can track down the issues related to your DSC.

 

Yeah, I agree....but it was cracked in even more places than that one in the picture. Oddly enough, I had no CEL....but I have read that worn out components can work enough to not trigger a code while the unburned fuel works its way to the cat and gets ignited there.

 

You could always toss a midpipe on there. This car sounds awesome decatted.

 

Update....found the culprit. Behold spark plug wires and coils from 2008/9

 

Car runs like a champ now!

 

A brand new ignition system does wonders. Next to the cooling system, it is the most important thing. Enjoy your new car beers!!

 

It really does! I was a little nervous turning that key after all of that effort, but she fired right up and sounded great! With the cat “rectified”, the exhaust smells like my 75 Firebird Formula...and I’m a-ok with that!

It was a little smokey and rough at idle for a little while, but once I took her around the block a few times, I hit the open road and let it breathe! Runs very good all the way to redline! I had a CEL as soon as the first start, but my Bluetooth scanner didn’t read a code. I reset that, so we’ll see what happens.

Tomorrow, I’ll be digging into the door panels to replace the broken gear in each window motor.