ok so i have noticed that when i drive my a 89 na for a little while mabe 3 or 4 miles my gear shift get really hot and hot air shoots up the shift boot i mean abnormally hot. and while installing a stereo i took the shift boot off to take a look and i can see where there was a rubber boot around the bottom of the shifter that has gotten so hot its melted the only thing i can think of is the cats are heating up. so i was going to gut the cats the weekend but after reading about how the aux ports need the back pressure from the cats to open i do not know if i should. Ive read a lot on here but most everyone says something diff about the subject. so i need to know if i do gut my cats will my aux ports open???? and please no telling me to do a search bc i have.

 

I doubt that the cat is so hot that it melted anything and the overheat exhaust light didn't come on... Probably much more likely is that the boots are worn out or partially missing (there are three that act as a seal- not one).

The assembly looks like this:


But it is made up of pieces that look like this (minus the 5th hole):



and this:




And yes if you had a S4 (86-88) you can gut the cat and have the aux ports still work as long as you don't bend or clog the air tube that goes into the cat.

 

It's an '89. The aux ports are activated by the ECU / 6PI solenoid and air pump pressure.

Only S4s need the split air pipe for activation.

 

oh trust me man its MELTED like u can see where the rubber dripped and ran. it can actually get so hot that if i hold the metal on the shifter it will burn my hand maybe i need to look at the sensor or somthing.

 

dude, it would have to be above 500F for that rubber to melt... The paint and carpet would have caught on fire.

 

Maybe something's wrong with your trans, causing freakishly high amounts of friction and heat? Any grinding sounds or anything?

 

no only this i really ever notice is its a little hard to shift into 1st while moving and on really cold mornings its a little rough from 1st to second thats really all. and im not saying ur wrong dude but i saw that thing melted with my own eyes i promise

 

perhaps someone tried to repair worn out boots with some substandard material that melted.

The factory boots won't melt unless there is a fire.

 

i dont know its been like that since i got the car mid summer. what ever it doesn't matter because im guttin those ******* this weekend

 

Fix the problem instead of busting the car up further.

 

dude chill out im not busting the car up im just gonna run straight pipes on it and im going to buy a new rubber boot also geeze.

 

Maybe somebody was welding on something under the car once upon a time and the torch melted the boot. The exhaust can get hot, but not THAT hot.