Originally Posted by MotoKam (Post 4828117)

For about a year after my cat burned out (there were chunks of the melted matrix in the muffler) it reeked of gas. Especially in the garage after parking it. The matrix was entirely burned out and left what was essentially a straight pipe.

After putting in a new cat, there was no perceptible change in performance. But it smelled much better and passed smog in CA.