Misfire and Catalytic Converter Damage

Blaine, You'll just have to wait until you get your car inspected and see if it passes. If it doesn't then you should get the car properly diagnosed and then fix it then. There's no need to worry about a mis-functioning catalytic converter unless you have a better reason to worry. If you're worried about needless emissions, then you shouldn't be driving an F-body with a 305 in it. BTW, I live in Dallas. If you've ever seen a red Firebird with a primered hood, that's me.

Gee, Brucie Chang's judgemental advice is quite condescending.........and, by pure luck, correct. Only pinheads worry if their catalytic converters are "working".

If you want to test for any backpressure from your "bad" converter, just get a cheapie combo guage (fuel pressure/vacuum) and shove it into the smog pump hookup on the exhaust manifold. If it reads more than +5 psi you've got an exhaust restriction, but I doubt it will.

Or you can go buy a new converter, have it installed, and then all you'll need to worry about is how to pay for it, pinhead.

And, by the way, I live in Detroit and sometimes L.A. If you see a light-blue, clapped-out and dented '70 Nova with Michigan plates, that's me. But the 350 motor and Turbo 350 slushbox run freakin' strong, stronger than my B.O. and my bitch's cuny stank combined.

Happy motoring. See you in Beverly Hills.

And Brucie's "primered" hood explains it all.

I wouldn't imagine a trip of that length would cause major converter damage even if it was misfiring significantly, unless you were running heavy throttle enough to heat it up every quickly.

However, unless this car has low miles, I wouldn't guess that the catalyst on a 1986 vehicle with V8 engine is likely in that great shape to begin with..