I have the car on jack stands to get to some projects, one of which required removal of the exhaust. Was thinking before I reassemble, consider removal of the catalytic converter, replace with an M&K pre-muffler and also replace with a lighter weight M&K single in/out (I like reducing the weight of the car). As shown, the rust on the cat is serious, and I've been using a sawzall to attempt to cut off bolt heads. Not much room so thinking about getting a dremel with a cut off wheel for better access. Any other suggestions welcome on how to remove the bolts rust-welded to the cat.
Second photo shows a colonoscopy-like view of the "catalytic converter". Which begs the question: is my cat a pipe? Looks like it has been gutted. The white tab is the oxygen sensor (the photo rotated 90 degrees). Now thinking about getting the M&K bypass pipe rather than the pre-muffler. Looking at the inside of the cat, would it be correct that a bypass pipe would be no louder than the cat on the car now?
Suppose I could leave as is, but the rusty mess compels me to replace the "cat" with something.
