I have a 96 f250 with the 460 (2wd). I'm looking to get more mpg's. Would removing the cat and replacing it with a straight pipe and keeping the rest of the stock exhaust including the muffler benefit me? What about noise? I don't want uncomfortable noise levels inside the cab. The rest of the truck is stock other than the removal of the horns on the intake, and the advancement of the timing to 12 degrees.

I would keep the cat on. The truck is designed to have them. If you want to have a better flowing exhaust, you can get high performance cats and you will keep your truck smog legal and running properly.

Goodmorning Roy et all
With respect for your opinion about the cat.... A Ford cat is a non regulated cat. that means, that it only operates due to the choking which it does. In the beginning there was the engine; the cat appeared later on the scene. I swapped my cat for a straight pipe and okay, there's some rumble at the tailpipe, but not in the cabin BUT.... MPG is better and my truckie is faster and accelerates better. One must not forget, an EGR and cat are invented under pressure by the environmental lobby.

best regards Ton

Hi Ton, I guess it depends on where you live for passing the emissions test. I no that on older trucks you can remove the cats without any adverse affect, but if it has all the sensors, it's opening up a can of worms. I, myself have true dual exhaust, no cats. It came from the factory without any emissions being a F250, so I went with dual instead of single exhaust. It's how do you say, LEKKER !!

p.s. my wife is Dutch

We are pretty lucky out here with no emissions testing ...... Just before christmas i had a 3 inch single system fitted to my truck (302 ) and got rid of the cat which gave her a wee bit more grunt a little more economy and also dropped my egt down 100 degrees ..... i only notice a slight drone in the cab between 2200 to 2600 revs so i never notice it unless i'm towing in 3rd.

Well, I have no emissions here, so I don't have to worry about that. Also my cat has no sensors, so I don't have to worry about that either. Although, there is a hose on the cat going to the air pump which brings me to my next question.....do I plug that hose, or can I remove that pump all together? Or does that pump serve another purpose?

I'm of the opinion that emissions equipment was once an after thought...and more modern vehicles are designed with the equipment for a reason. Removing that equipment is an antiquated mindset, keep it and opt for high flow alternatives.

Yes. You're right....the equipment was designed for a reason. And that reason was to pass emissions, which I don't need to do. I don't believe I need to spend top dollar on a high flow converter when it serves a purpose I don't need. Why not just eliminate it. I want to know if removing the cat would benefit me by gaining mpgs and power, setting everything else aside.

With it being a 96 I would hazard to guess your MPG would suffer and you would get a CEL with no cats.
Removing the Cats is a federal offense not just a state thing.

natechesna said:

Yes. You're right....the equipment was designed for a reason. And that reason was to pass emissions, which I don't need to do. I don't believe I need to spend top dollar on a high flow converter when it serves a purpose I don't need. Why not just eliminate it. I want to know if removing the cat would benefit me by gaining mpgs and power, setting everything else aside.

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My response should have offered my opinion to your questions. No it won't help those things, if anything it'll hurt them. To elaborate on my earlier post, yes, I agree that the equipment was once in place merely to pass emissions, but now it's so integrated into the performance of modern vehicles you're setting yourself up for failure if you remove it.

UTfball68 said:

My response should have offered my opinion to your questions. No it won't help those things, if anything it'll hurt them. To elaborate on my earlier post, yes, I agree that the equipment was once in place merely to pass emissions, but now it's so integrated into the performance of modern vehicles you're setting yourself up for failure if you remove it.

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Thanks for your input UT

Goodmorning Roy et all...

Indeed!! that's a way we express our happiness; LEKKER!! I know, a regulated cat (with a bunch of HEGOsensors) is not to remove. My sensor sits in a tube between the two pipes who come from the headers and then comes the cat. Here in Holland we do have the yearly emisiontest... Because I welded a stainless tube (I welded a Y-section first) at the end of the pipes and the straightthru tube is also made of stainless... Before going for the test, I swap it for a cat.... one hour later again! Police is never checking anything; they are to stupid here .... the policestate here is BIG business... making money by giving fines for nuthing. Bastardo's!!

best regards Ton

Ton van der Sluijs said:

Goodmorning Roy et all...

Indeed!! that's a way we express our happiness; LEKKER!! I know, a regulated cat (with a bunch of HEGOsensors) is not to remove. My sensor sits in a tube between the two pipes who come from the headers and then comes the cat. Here in Holland we do have the yearly emisiontest... Because I welded a stainless tube (I welded a Y-section first) at the end of the pipes and the straightthru tube is also made of stainless... Before going for the test, I swap it for a cat.... one hour later again! Police is never checking anything; they are to stupid here .... the policestate here is BIG business... making money by giving fines for nuthing. Bastardo's!!

best regards Ton

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So does it help your mpg, though?

natechesna said:

So does it help your mpg, though?

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Old truck yes, New truck no,will hurt the mpg! Old being early 80's and down, new being late 90's and up. Sorry to say, but your truck is in the new. You can have a great flowing exhaust, great sound, and great performance even with cats! We drive trucks that are pre good gas mileage, fact of life. Only the new trucks will deliver more car like MPG.

Hi everybody
I do not know if it has improved my MPG, because my truck uses LPG but, 1 liter to 5,5 km and that is very good for a big 5,8l engine! Accelerating is improved and more bottompower.

best regards Ton

Roy and Ben are right when they say that as emissions systems are so embedded in the more modern ecus fitted to our trucks any change you make can and most likely will affect mpg's.
If you really want to modify your truck then i would suggest you look into aftermarket ecu's such as quarterhorse , megasquirt etc ..... none of these options will be cheap but they will give you a lot more control over your engine and there are plenty of "maps" out there that are designed to improve your performance.
I'm currently experimenting with hho and have used "fooler technology" on my O2 sensor to modify the signal to the ecu ...... it's surprisingly easy to manipulate some of the basic inputs once you do some reading and research.
Once i have some more time i will post up my findings on hho as i have kept records of what i have done with it over the last few months but just briefly i've gained more power and only slightly more mpg.
Again as the guys have said it's just not that simple to "mod the hell" out of your truck and get away with it as you would have with an earlier model ...... even the late model trucks with obd2 are much easier to mod and if you want to go down that road as there are a lot of "plug and play" solutions out there.

Yet, another useless thread

natechesna said:

Yet, another useless thread

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You've gotten several replies regarding your question(s)...useless or just not what you're wanting to hear???

natechesna said:

Yet, another useless thread

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sigh, I've been watching this thread, and trying to hold my tongue... It's your thread bro, you drive a 400 and 60 cubic inch engine, 7 and 1/2 Liters! It ain't gonna git "good" fuel mileage, get a Ranger or Focus if that is what you want, or suck it the ef up! You could try to swap in different gearing, different tires, a transmission splitter, etc. but it's all gonna cost money.
And sorry if I'm busting your balls, but I'm pretty sure there's a Federal law about not removing catalytic convertors, (I'm assuming you are in the U.S.). So if you wanna spew out more pollution to get maybe another 1/4 mile per gallon, let us know how that works out.

Chop it off and see what happens and then let us know. People answered your question and you say it is useless which I don't understand. Maybe you should do a little research and actually gain an understanding of what the components actually do.