The Mighty 258 > Exhaust System.

Converter Delete Questions

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Freeagle:
My ignition coil wire came loose at 70 mph, cut the ignition, and loaded my exhaust up with raw fuel. That raw fuel hit the converter and caused a backfire so massive that is blew glowing red hot chunks of converter honeycomb out the tailpipe.

Pretty exciting, huh? No, it wasn't, because I was 800 miles from home on a road trip when it happened and I was dead on the side of the road for half an hour until I found the loose coil wire. I made it home ok.

Obviously the muffler and converter need replaced now. I can hear chunks of converter rattling inside the muffler.

The thing is, I am not too enthusiastic about continuing to have a catalytic converter on this car after seeing how something relatively minor like a coil wire coming loose becomes a massive problem with a catalytic converter. That problem nearly blew my entire exhaust system apart 800 miles away from home. I cannot believe it didn't split the muffler open.

I'd rather not have a converter and just avoid the problems. Carburetors and converters just do not mix. Someday, something will happen to make it rich and fry the converter. There are no inspections where I live, and I know an exhaust shop that would delete the converter for me. I'd have them weld a resonator in it's place, like on Canadian Eagles.

I have some questions for you all:

1. How often do Eagles experience some kind of fuel system or ignition system failure that ruins their converter? Is this a frequent thing? I mean, the Duraspark ignition modules die all the time and that could be enough to fry a converter when it happens, right?

2. What are the odds of me getting in trouble? I don't think any person of authority around here will ever look under my car and get mad that it doesn't have a converter, but do you think I could get in trouble if I drove through somewhere like California without one?

Illeagle1984:
I see converters explode every now and then on fuel injected cars, and it can be quite spectacular.  But it usually takes a lean condition followed by a partial meltdown and high exhaust pressures.  On the other hand, raw fuel hitting a cat at operating temperature would auto-ignite...

1.  I don't know how often it happened in the carb days, but with newer cars it's pretty rare.  I've seen an 02 sensor stuck so lean it made black smoke pour out the exhaust like a hopped up diesel and the cat turned out okay.  Also a fuel pressure regulator leaking so much it hydrolocked the engine; no converter problems on that one either.

2.  I think you'll be okay even in California, your emissions rules apply to the county you registered the vehicle in, not where it's currently at.  State Patrol seems to focus mostly on safety, like broken lights and bald tires.  Even if you had to pass emissions, the people there will see it has no OBD-II port and pretty much just take a tailpipe reading.  They know even less about these old emissions systems than we do.  :rotfl:

I plan on ditching the converter on mine when it's time to do the exhaust; my current county does not test emissions either.

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