Cat. Clog symptoms?
 

Probably been asked 1000000 times, but hey.

When I let off the gas, especially at the higher rpms, my engine kind of goes "whup whup whup whup" and the exhaust shakes a bit. Is this a result of clogged cats? Also, I can smell exhaust when the thing is idling, and I don't think it seems to be coming from the middle of the car.

Car seems to perform well, though. Never driven another FC though, and my other cars were a 77 pontiac wagon with a 400 V8, and an econoline van, so I have no basis of sports car comparison.

If the cats were clogged, would hollowing them out make my exhaust smell raunchy? Also, what would cause a clog in the first place?

clogged cat means NO Power, and sometimes maybe even red hot cat.

hollowing them out makes it sound really cool, like a flowmaster muffler.

it STINKS something fierce tho. my car has the first precat gutted, and then a full 2.25" exhaust leading to a J-spec style apex N1, and it smells REALLY strong. not to mention, i richened my fuel ratio to compensate for my extra air flow ability.

example, say you took a shower, have clean clothes on. if u walk behind ur car while its running, w/ a gutted cat, you will smell like car exhaust till u take a shower, it expecially lingers in ur hair. dont know why *shrugs*

it sounds cool, and i can shoot flames now. big, purple, foot long flames! i think its worth it.

chris

haha well on a good looking car the flames might look neat. On my car, they'd make my car look more like chitty chitty bang bang.

add some 'www.rx7club.com' 'mazdaspeed' 'mazdatrix' stickers to ur car, and cover up the ugly parts. lol. just as long as they arent stickers of parts makers that you dnot even have on ur car. like...puttin on an HKS stiker, and u dont even have an HKS part. know what i mean? hehe, thatll definitly set ur car apart from the rest of the junk. besides, u can claim they are battle scars from when u used to race SCCA. lol

chris