Back in December I picked up an 88SE/AT for $1600. The car was almost primo, I'd give it an 8.5/10. I drove it for a month stock, not as fun as a 5sp, and definately not as fun as a TII, but it satisfied my RX need .

My first mod was intake, took the old box off and put in an adapter plus K&N. Before the car would go up to 40mph fairly quick, now it would shoot to 50/60 easily.

The second mod was removing PS/AC. After doing this, first gear accelleration picked up really nice.

Now that I no longer have an air pump, it was time to gut my cats. This is my latest mod.

So yesterday I jacked the car up and finally got a real good look at the bottom. Damn it was rusty.

I found a rust hole under the passenger door and inside it was about 6 pages of crumpled up paper. (I have no clue if this helps prevent anything or not, so I just put them back)

I'm the second owner of the car so I don't really know what has been done to it, but what I could see is the previous owner had some exhaust work at Midas. The Cat to the mufflers had all been replaced. With some odd welding.

The precat unbolted from the header fairly easily. After that, the bands came off and I pulled the system from under the car. Holy crap it was heavy!

The first pre cat came off with no struggle, so I gutted it. The second cat's bolts were so rusted I managed to get one off with a lot of WD-40 and a breaker bar, but I stripped the other bolt, I stripped the bolts on the cat. It was all so rusted its impossible to get off.

So with the second pre-cat attached to the cat, I gutted it, this was really hard, but I managed. Having stripped the bolts, this is all I could do, so I bolted the exhaust back to the car.

Results - the car stinks a little more, but when I'm going 40 and step on the gas a little, it really takes off!

Questions:

When I took the exhaust off, the airpump line was welded to the cat, but it broke off (It was really rusted where they welded it). So I used a rubber hose and some clamps to hold it in place. Is the exhaust air going to go back into the engine w/o being pumped out? If I plugged the hole, do I need to plug the hoses in the engine bay as well or will this create a problem?

I've been told that without an airpump, the cat will clog, how long does this take before it happens, and with my precats gutted, will it be sooner?

Should have I just cut the cat, gutted it, and welded it back to the precats? Or does anyone know how to replace the exhaust bolts?

Or third, just I just reconnect the airpump?

 

Anyone know of mufflers for an s4 that would create 2lbs of backpressure? Someone told me 2 - 2 chamber stainless steal mufflers. I didn't understand.

 

You should consider getting a pipe and presilencer from RP or something. Not too expensive, and cleaner looking. Also don't have to worry about actuating the 5th/6th ports, 'cause you'll have enough backpressure.

Wont pass emissions, but you'll still have a cat to put on when ya need it.

 

what do you get outta gutting and no air pump????

 

POWER! You remove a restriction in the exhaust by gutting the cat. You also reduce the amount of drag on the engine when you remove the airpump. BUT, if you do either, you won't pass emissions.

 

Both are heavy too. Probably 15-20lbs of weight saving.

 

20lbs on its own isn't much. So if you're doing it for the weight savings, you're wasting your time

 

Do you really see that much of a difference just with the intake mod?

I have an 88 SE, MT completly stock right now, and wondering if an intake mod is worth it.

 

Um no youre not wasting your time, few free weight redux mods save more than 20lbs. Ya its not alot, but alittle of this and alittle of that adds up to something noticable. Its roughly .02 sec at a 1/4 mile, and even more obvious advantage at an AutoX event.

As far as intake, an intake alone will do little to a stock n/a unless the stock intake is damaged or the filter is bad. A cold air intake will give you 2-5hp at best on a stock motor.

 

That's why I said on it's own. If you do it with other weight saving mods then it's not, but on it's own it is a waste of time, unless you live in an area that doesn't have emissions.

 

You said 20lbs on its own isnt much, and doing it do save weight is pointless, both statements are false.

 

haven't seen your sig's picture in awhile. always get a laugh out of it though. thanks

i cant remember the catch line to it though? something about how you know when a christian is driving for his life, or soemthing to that effect