Replacing hollowed out cat

[brsteinbach]

Well a little while back I made a thread about not having high end power and deeve told me my hollowed out cat may have a bit of a reason for it.

Well along with the power problem I also am having a really loud rattling around 2000-2500rpms and it has been driving me absolutely nuts for the past year and a half. It seemed to start making noise after I installed my header off ebay which I know are not made with quality but I'm not sure if that's the problem because I can't remember when I hollowed out my cat. Well I noticed the dp flex pipe was rusted stiff so I thought I'd replace it with a new flex pipe from oreilly a couple weeks ago. Well that didn't make a difference which pissed me off a lot.

I don't know what to do next, so I'm hoping to knock out two/three birds with one stone by getting a test pipe. The birds being the power loss, the rattle and take away a bit more rasp.

Well my biggest question would be will this help at all with the rattle? The nest thing I could think of doing would be taking off the heat shield because it sounds like it is coming from under me or a little further up.

Sorry about the long post and kinda jumping around but I figured I'd ask all of my questions in one topic.
I would really appreciate the help or input on your thoughts and experiences if you have any. Thank you.

[brsteinbach]

Oh yeah and here are the test pipes I figured I'd get. I didn't know if there would be a difference between them so I figured I would post both. I would get a legit Megan one but I figured for $23 the worst that gonna happen is it's not going to line up perfect.

Test Pipe 1

Test Pipe 2

[deevergote]

Just get a cat. Trust me. You won't feel any loss of power, your car will sound better, smell better, and not destroy the environment.

[wherm]

when you hollowed out your cat are you sure you got it all? I had a high flow cat and the stuff inside broke loose and rattled around. It sounded terrible. I chiseled it all out which then gave me that raspy sound.

Just wondering if maybe there's still a chunk in there that could be rattling?

I had a rattle on my old civic hatch that ended up being the heatshield. Those come off pretty easy.

[Kboers]

don't even bother with a test pipe, there is a prelude I hear driving that sounds awful because of one. Just chip the little extra money for a high flow cat, Honda's actually run better with a certain amount of back pressure unless you're willing to get ecu retuned for less.

[deevergote]

Actually, that's total BS about the backpressure.

And a "high flow" cat doesn't really do that much more than a regular, quality OEM or OEM replacement cat. Many of the "high flow" designs are just cheaply made parts... though they can often be purchased for less than a quality OEM replacement.

[brsteinbach]

I would buy a cat but I just dont have the money. Maybe I could get a used one from the junk yard.

Wherm: I did get it all out but thanks for saying something.

[deevergote]

Junkyards usually don't sell cats. Most junkyard cars have them removed. Maybe look on ebay, or find someone parting out their car....

If you're going to spend money, do it right. So many people on here say "I don't have the money to do it right, so i'll just spend what I can afford right now to halfass it"... That's just not the way to go.

[wherm]

I would buy a cat but I just dont have the money. Maybe I could get a used one from the junk yard.

Wherm: I did get it all out but thanks for saying something.

cool. I'd check the heat shields then.

[brsteinbach]

Yeah I know, I read it all over. I'm going to check around and see if I can get/find one some where.

Any other ideas on what the rattle could be guy's? As long as my car will be in the air I may take my heat shield off and see if that's what it is.

[Accrdwgnguy]

Magnaflow direct fit high flow cats for the Accord are 100-140 depending on where you look. If you have a custom built exhaust like mine, a universal cat is 60-90. Not too pricey man.

[brsteinbach]

Cool, thanks for letting me know. I'll just go check at a few exhaust shops.