catalytic converter clogged?

[boosted92laser]

i recenctly bought a 92 laser rs turbo awd. it sat for a little over two years before i got it. the engine is freshly rebuilt, with only 2.7 miles on it. my problem is that i think the cat. conv. is clogged. there is also what i would consider excessive heat under the hood. also not as much exhaust flows out the tailpipe as it should. it has a rusted out muffler, but newer looking pipes, 2 1/2 inch catback, but the convertor looks stock. the car also doesn't have the power that it should. i was thinking about cutting the convertor out and putting a glasspack or straighpipe in its place. would it hurt performance at all? could there be something else wrong?
thanks

 

[onegeenewbie]

it's definitely possible for the things inside the cat to come apart and restrict flow. I'd say it's a good excuse to get a test pipe or a high-flow cat

 

[Eric_7810]

Dude if you have the original exhaust on it, dont even bother dinking around with just a test pipe or a sawzall. Save up for an entire turbo back. Not only will it solve your problem, but I changed from stock exhaust to 3" and gaine .8 in the quarter.

 

[awdtalontsi1992]

I would agree that you should probably replace the whole exhaust. You can replace the stock cat with a hi flow cat or test pipe. Either of which will help alittle with the performance. The gains will be minimal until you replace the whole exhaust though. One thing you have to consider is your local emissions laws reguarding cat. Test pipes are a no-no in most states.

 

[Eric_7810]

Good call. I did it on mine only because nobody in Michigan cares. If your state checks emissions, and youre caught with a 3" turbo back youre gonna get pwn3d by the smokies

 

[boosted92laser]

we dont have emissions down this far. i think i am just going to cut it out and put in a straightpipe till i have enough money for the downpipe. the reason the engine is rebuilt is it burnt a whole in the number one piston. the number one injector got clogged and that cylinder ran lean under boost and fried it. so it dumped oil down the exhaust and might have clogged the convertor. and i didnt think about flushing the exhaust pipes.

thanks

 

[xveganxcowboyx]

Remove it and check. If it's clogged you won't be able to see through it.

 

[boosted92laser]

well, i removed it and put a cherry bomb in its place just to muffle it a bit. the convertor was already gutted and a straightpipe was put through it. when they piped it, they must have done that. it sounds better now, but doesn't run any better. i can't find my timing light so i will have to get another one to check the timing, but i think it is pretty close. that would be the only thing i can think of.

 

[xveganxcowboyx]

Boost leaks are a common power robber for these cars. Time to make a tester and go to town.

 

[markGSX]

imo running without a cat isn't worth the smell/stain left it leaves on your bumper

 

[DSMunknown]

i recenctly bought a 92 laser rs turbo awd.

You said it right there - a 14 year-old car. As everyone else has said, just replace it with an aftermarket catalytic converter or a test pipe, bolt it on, and call it a day.

imo running without a cat isn't worth the smell/stain left it leaves on your bumper

If he can find or make one of these, then that shouldn't be an issue (regarding the dis-coloring of the paint):


http://www.carbigncraft.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=21







EDIT: Just decided to throw up some photos for the heck of it:

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[ILLiCliPSE]

omfg if someone made those cf exhaust bumper covers, id buy one in a heart beat. who can we get to make those?

 

[tearintalon1]

depending on if its a performance motor or not it might have a fuel pressure or injector problem and that could be why the catalytic converter melted if it is the cat. Check all your exhaust for pieces of the cataytic substrate it could get lodged in the muffler after the cat. And you can either replace cat or straight pipe but it might not fix the problem if pieces of the cat are logded in other places cataytic converters dont die they get murdered.There has to be a problem like lean condition or late burning of fuel or rich condition where fuel burns in cat when car gets hot and causes melt down. These can contribute to excess heat under hood. If you run the car for 1/2 hour and when u go to park if you look underneath especially at night and the cat is glowing red hot then u know you have other problems that have to be looked into. If you decide to straight pipe it anyway the engine will breathe better. But you will nut pass emissions. So take my advice decide what you want to do and let me know what happened if you still having problems email me [email protected]
Highspeedsperformance

 

[boosted92laser]

i have to put this process on hold for a couple of days. the motor has developed a pretty loud tapping. i narrowed it down to the lifters, actually the intake side of cylinder 3, it has about 1/8 - 1/4 inch of play. i also found out that when they had the head work done, they replaced the lifters with the original style, the ones with the really tille orifice on top. so i ordered a set of the 3rd revisions by topline. once i get them put in, i will continue to figure out why te engine compartment is so hot. i mean the engine only has 4 miles on it. i dont want to break it before i really get to drive it.

 

[boosted92laser]

Well, I got the new lifters in. And it purrs like a kitten, it sounds great. I bought a new timing light, since I seem to have lost mine. I got it timed at 5*btdc. It runs really good, even though I am just starting to drive it, it only has 21 miles on it. The engine dept. is cooler now that it is timed properly. The only thing that is wrong now, is that i have an idle surge (which I will search the forums to figure out why). I also need to do a boost leak test on it. But besides those two problems, all is well. I will be taking it tomorrow to get it piped with 2.5 turboback, without a convertor, but with a flowmaster 50 series muffler to quiet it down a bit.
I want to thank everybody for their input, it has help out quite a bit.