'97 4.2L w/210K miles:

I'm going to butcher my stock exhaust by gutting the catalytic converters out. Will this cause any problems with the ECM? I have the "simulators" in line with the 02 sensors already.

 

I just had mine cut out of my 2002 4.6 last night. I have heard that it will actually give you a tiny boost in horse power, something innsignificant like 2hp. But drop you about the same in torque. But it was not enough to base my decision on. The new sound it has is f#$king sweet! So even if it did take or add just that small HP and torque it was well worth it. I can make the power up with some other add ons. As for the simulators, I have some on order from a local shop, but my check engine light has not come on yet. Not sure if they are needed or not.

 

The reason I wanted to was my check engine light would come giving me a catalytic converter code on the driver's side. I figure they are going bad after 210K miles on them and don't feel like paying for new ones. I got the "simulators" from casperselectronics.com and they work fine. Actually felt a slight improvement in driveability.

 

i just got done gutting the second cat (they are in line) im not quite sure if i got everything out but i figure it will break up sooner or later
the new sound is beyond awsome, at idle there is no difference, half throttle wow
i think my cat had two parts and i only took one part out and it is still awsome sounding
i do have a question tho.... since i did this it seems like the exhaust pipe is hot!, i mean really hot, my tips are hot enought o burn me i dont know for sure but i dont think they ever got that hot before
would gutting the cat cause this, and if so are there any other issues i might have