REMOVED CATS Your EXPERIENCE

PapichuloMKIII

New Member
Nov 15, 2007
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Georgia
HI, first of all i would like to introduce myself. I'm From GA and im coming from celicasupra.com. I've been searching over supramania.com, i-supra.com, celicasupra.com, 7mpower.com but i really did not find anyone who asked this or maybe not as unfortunate as I am . But believe me i did my research first, so that you guys would not get annoyed seeing this from a previous thread.

I own a 85 Celica Supra NA 5mge which i gave to my stepbrother and a 1989 Supra 7mgte white Hard top 5speed. I recently purchased this car over a month and half ago, which came bone stocked!! The previous owner which was a lady, had her son who worked for NAPA replaced blown head gasket and replaced all hoses with new ones which i checked. After i purchased it, I had a friend on mine who works only on RX7's and Supras, work on the car. He did block test which came out great, adujusted valve clearance, retorqued heads to 72lbs, MSD wires and installed AEM boost/gauge 2in1 controller. It currently has a 3" straight pipe from the turbo all the way back with NO CATS NOR MUFFLER. SOUNDS NICE!

But Anyways, since i removed the primary CAT and replaced it with a TEST PIPE, i noticed that there's a lot of smoke than usual coming out from the back, before this never happened. This happens in the morning when its 29degrees and i leave it warming up and also after driving it and coming to a stop at a red light, tons of smoke come out, but it only does it when i stop and then it goes back to normal. When driving the car, no overheat, no loss of coolant, no oil in coolant and Definitly no loss of power just MORE POWER! Now the thing i hate also, if i drive car hard or race it, and then later get out of it, I SMELL LIKE GAS or like a refinery. Its ridiculous, and this all happened after i removed the primary cat and replaced it with a test pipe. My question is, anyone had this same problem who removed both cats on their cars? If you did what did you do resolve it? I was thinking since i have a Apexi SAFC2 controller, i was going to install it and have it tuned since i know it is running richer and hopefully help the problem a bit and gain more HP.

By the way, someone else i know who owns a SUPERCHARGED corvette Zo6, 700WHRP, and told me if i remove both cats, Since they have charcoal in them, that is what helped keep the exhaust gases Down to a minimal. If this is the case then i'm going to put the CAT back on. what do you guys think? Thanks guys for your help and hope to hear from everyone soon.
 

Mr. Sinister

Member
Aug 30, 2005
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Chicago
What color is the smoke? The smell is something you'll have to live with if you want to run w/o a cat. Otherwise, put one back on.
 

MRSUPRA

New Member
Apr 11, 2005
838
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Maryland
Without Cats, you will smell the difference for sure. But it should't make you smell like gas. I'm not sure what kind of driving you do, but you shouldn't smell anything once your moving. You will smell it when your stopped and idling, but it won't be strong enough to make you smell like gas. Are you sure you don't have an exhaust leak around the manifold or downpipe?
 

PapichuloMKIII

New Member
Nov 15, 2007
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Georgia
Mr. Sinister said:
What color is the smoke? The smell is something you'll have to live with if you want to run w/o a cat. Otherwise, put one back on.

WELL since its very cold at this time of the year, you see just white smoke like you see on other cars. But it has exhaust gas smell no sweet smell like everyone else say if there's cooleant mixture in the oil. At rare times i see a little blue tint, but hardly noticeable. I had a previous NON TURBO supra which had worn piston rings, because i constantly had to put oil almost every 4 days before it was very low and everytime i stepped on it it was blowing BLUEISH SMOKE badly plus it was a little sluggish.
 

PapichuloMKIII

New Member
Nov 15, 2007
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Georgia
MRSUPRA said:
Without Cats, you will smell the difference for sure. But it should't make you smell like gas. I'm not sure what kind of driving you do, but you shouldn't smell anything once your moving. You will smell it when your stopped and idling, but it won't be strong enough to make you smell like gas. Are you sure you don't have an exhaust leak around the manifold or downpipe?


No leak around the manifold nor the downpipe. I recently took it to the shop for them to remove the primary CAT and replace it with bolt on test pipe. That is when i started to have that smelling problem. Im going to go back today for them to take a look at it and hopefully they did not undertorque the bolts, for it to be causing some leak. By the way, in the car on the center console, i put in a aftermakert radio but it has no dash kit, meaning i can see the transmission. Maybe since i removed the primary cat, the gases, WHEN i step on it hard, they seep through there since its a big hole there. What do you think? Man you guys are awesome for replying so quick, Thanks!!
 

SilverSupraT

7M '78 Toyota Pickup
Oct 3, 2005
556
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40
Eastern WA
www.geocities.com
I put in a test pipe and the tip of my muffler turned black (only on the inside) because I'm running on the rich side. And mine will only smell like gas on start up and maybe a LITTLE bit when it's just at idle.
 

ms07s

TORGUE!
Sep 29, 2007
1,083
0
0
Memphis,Tn
Fuel smell and black residue on the back of your car are normal if you don't run a cat. A cat burns those off and keeps the air clean. With out the cat there is no restriction and therfore more power. If you want power without all the black carbon and fuel smell get a highflow cat.
 

PROJECT N00b

XBL: Mkiii DriFt3r
May 22, 2005
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honolulu, california
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Well, for one thing my furniture isnt fucked up anymore...it doesnt smell like acid piss in my house anymore AND i dont find dead vermin around my house anymore. So all in all removing the cats was the best decision i ever made.

:sarcasm:
 

tekdeus

Pronounced Tek-DAY-us
Jan 23, 2006
2,115
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Vancouver Canada
www.bitrontech.com
My car came with no cats, and since it is tuned to run rich, the smell is annoying. I reek like exhaust and gas if I've been driving hard, the fumes gets through the rear of the car somehow... I'm installing a Magnaflow high flow cat to make the car more pleasant for me and any female passengers ;)
 

Doward

Banned
Jan 11, 2006
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Alachua, FL
jetjock said:
Charcoal in the cat. lol..

LOL! Will it make diamonds? ;)

Anywho, stock, our cars run pig rich. Get a wideband O2 sensor.

With a proper AFR, I have almost never had a vehicle that reeked of gas after tuning.

Yes, the smell is more noticeable than if you DID have a cat, but it shouldn't be bad!
 

cheverlot

auto tec
Nov 5, 2006
70
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south carolina
the supra did not use carcole in its cat but the guy that had the vett does have carcole in his cat chevy used a charcole cat from 70s to about 93 they sucked I always puled them off they get a hole lot more power and better fuel mileage but you need to keep some back pressure but with a turbo car the turbo itself has back pressure
 

PapichuloMKIII

New Member
Nov 15, 2007
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Georgia
Oh Carcole,lol. Sorry i heard wrong then. But i found out where the smell was coming from, the flex pipe by the turbo is broken, so there is leak in the engine. We noticed it when i took the car to muffler shop and revved it a bit. I guess when i was riding with the windows down and gases coming the engine into the car cause me to smell like fuel. That day also i went up against a wrx STI on the highway, so i was driving kind of hard. :) On monday i will be taking it back to custom shop for them to fix that for me. Tomorrow i will be installing the Apexi SAFC2 and tune sometime next week. Ill get back with the results and I really appreciate everyone's help!!
 

cuel

Supramania Contributor
Jan 8, 2007
1,536
0
0
Baytown, Texas
There's a big rubber boot that is supposed to cover that hole for the shifter. It bolts to the tunnel, and seals on the shifter. That will help with a lot more than the obnoxious gas smell. The tuner would help to, as long as you have someone with experience set it up. Put a good, high flow stainless cat. on it, and call it a day...

Oh yeah, cats: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/catalytic-converter2.htm (pay attention to what they are made of)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalytic_converter#Three-way_catalytic_converters (read the three way cat. converter part)

After you read that, go educate your buddy on what cats are really made from(not charcoal), and how they work.
 

AJ'S 88NA

New Member
Jul 26, 2007
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Florida
PapichuloMKIII said:
By the way, in the car on the center console, i put in a aftermakert radio but it has no dash kit, meaning i can see the transmission. Maybe since i removed the primary cat, the gases, WHEN i step on it hard, they seep through there since its a big hole there. What do you think? Man you guys are awesome for replying so quick, Thanks!!
You need to cover the hole up. Probably another reason you were smelling the gases so bad, also the "bolt on" test pipe could be leaking a little around the gaskets. Not good for the brain cells:3d_frown:
 

cuel

Supramania Contributor
Jan 8, 2007
1,536
0
0
Baytown, Texas
PROJECT N00b said:
Well, for one thing my furniture isnt fucked up anymore...it doesnt smell like acid piss in my house anymore AND i dont find dead vermin around my house anymore. So all in all removing the cats was the best decision i ever made.

:sarcasm:

:yelrotflm :yelrotflm