As the interior was being ripped out of the Catalina, the sawzall was broken out and two cuts were made, then a large lump that looked kind of like a muffler was chucked out to the side. A much younger me looked at it and wondered why we were chopping out the muffler. I wasn’t exactly wrong, we would hack out most of the exhaust system on the poor Pontiac, but it wasn’t the muffler I was looking at. That day I learned about the catalytic converter as much as anyone though to tell me: they were a power-robbing device that would set grass on fire if I was stupid enough to park on it after driving. They were worth more removed from the car than they were on it, and to shut up and throw it into the back of the truck.
The catalytic converter gets a bit of a bum rap. Yeah, it’s introduction happened right when performance got flushed down the tubes and plunged for good measure, but the thinking behind the cat is solid: chemically altering the exhaust to reduce carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen has gone a long way towards actively helping clean up air quality. Yeah, we know, greenie topic and all that, but if the LS engines, Coyotes and Hellcats can make mechanical violence with cats in the system, they aren’t that freaking bad. Certainly, they can be better than what was slapped underneath that Pontiac, that’s for sure, or the obnoxious three-cat system that was attached to pretty much every rear-drive Mopar made after 1976.
But have you ever wanted to see what happens inside of the catalytic converter? Usually, you don’t notice anything from the cat unless the system is plugged up and the underside has a orange-red glow that indicates something is severely wrong in the program. Well, this guy built two see-through catalytic converters, one full-sized and the other a scaled-down model. Satisfy your curiosity by hitting the play button below.
“Mr. Wizard’s” stupid son …do you always run an engine with the garage door closed?….and are you getting sleepy?
Would’ve liked to have seen the temp of the outlet. Excellent work.
Insightfull. Thanks for the effort and time