Let me put it this way for you... (archive)

I read about many people who cut off their catalyctic conv. for a horsepower gain (where there aren't laws to prevent this), i'm all good with the HP gain, but the fact that a car polutes an insane amount w/o a cat. annoys me.. I read an article in Scientific American about catalyctic convertors, some actually help clean up the air by taking emmsions of vehicles w/ bad cats, or none and making the air cleaner then it was in the first place. So my basic questions is, is the hp gain worth fucking the enviroment over? ... I'm not some hippy activist or anything, just that article got me thinking a bit.. i want your input on this issue..
Thanks,
Julien

If a car is brand new, then the cat converter will serve its purpose for a few years to prevent a car from polluting the air. But if a car is a few years old depending on driving style and weather, then the cat will actually help the car in polluting the air because the cat has been deteriorating. Look, here's an example. I know of a guy who took his car to get inspected at a private shop with no cats on his car, just straight pipes to the muffler from the exhaust manifold and passed. When he did have his cats on the car, he failed inspection. So i hope that this helps you. I am not telling you to go ahead and cut off your cats but the final decision is yours.

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