Toasted air control valve
 

Does anybody know how long it would take for a (bonez) cat to clog if it was driven without a working ACV? The air pump still works and all but the ACV seems to be toast.
Peejay said he saw a cheap cat clog in about 5 miles without an air pump. My air pump is still there and I just threw in the cat and after a couple miles in 100 degree heat I noticed the tachometer start to waver... that makes me nervous.
Would it be any better if I routed the air pump straight to the cat? Or will it be ok for a while how it is?
Stupid smog station was full when I got there... #@$$#@% *waits*

Others have bypassed the ACV to push air to the cat fulltime. A search should turn up some relevant threads.

Have you tried cleaning/freeing up the ACV diaphragm? I never tried; just yanked mine off cuz Kansas doesn't have emissions testing. :D

Hmmm I haven't had time to pull the ACV yet, would I be able to easily pull it and clean it out? However, I have routed air straight to the cats before. I just didn't know if there was still a decent enough amount of air getting through without having to do that. I've tested the ACV a while back while pulling the solenoid valve(?) and it didn't seem to work, but I haven't recently just tested the split air pipe to see if anything was coming out.
When the ACV is bypassed the car seems to run hotter and it doesn't like going past 4k soo I wasn't sure if that's the smartest thing to do in this weather/if the added air was that much more help.
I might be wrong on this but it seemed like my old cats started to clog worse after I bypassed the ACV?

edit: I sent Gregs some money for an ACV and I haven't heard from him for a looong time :(
I'm also in California so emissions are strict here.