Take a look at this:
This is what I found after I pulled the cat off the muffler. The CAT is completely empty, except for this wire mesh. Light shines right through it.
As you may know, I have been contemplating a cat-bypass, and the promised 8-10hp gain and richer sound. I have spent the better part of two weeks heating, banging and ultimately cutting out the nuts and bolts to get this thing off. I destroyed my muffler straps, heat shield brackets, cut off every heat shield bolt head, and imbedded about 5,000 small, metal filings in my fingers. I spent ~$130 on air grinders, carbide burrs and dremel cutoff wheels....
So, with some humor, I share this amazing picture. After all that work, I guess my new Bursch Test Pipe is pointless. I already have a "test pipe".
Oddly, I passed an emmisions check last spring. Doubt that all of the ceramic blew out this past year. The muffler seems to be empty, so it's not in there either.