Got a few bloody bites, but the cat is finally dead and gutted!

[Hogan]

What a pain in the butt, took me about 2.5 hours start to finish. Hardest part was getting the thing off in the first place without totally mangling it, which was made more difficult due to the fact that the muffler shop welded the tailpipe to the cat when I had it removed a year or so ago. The cat and the rest of the pipe back came out in 1 piece. Oof...

Using a drill, small tubing, and a sledge I was able to get enough material out from the center so it was the same diameter as the rest of the pipe, if not a little bigger. I was very tempted to just get a turndown and leave the rest off, but I don't think the wife would appreciate that.

Looking at the chunks of material that came out, I could see there were a lot of passages full of soot, so with 174k on the clock I think it was about time to do something anyway.

In the end, I'm pleased with the results. During a quick jaunt down the road I didn't notice much, if any, improvement in power or spool-up, but I didn't get a chance to really romp on it. I think I enjoy the sound of the turbo cruising around at 1000-1500rpm the best...ah what a sweet sound it is... Best part is I can't notice a difference in noise inside the cab with the windows up.