96 f-150 catalytic conv

||Help. When my son went off to college, I let him buy my 1996 F-150 4x4 from ||me. He plays in the mud some, but mostly likes it for deer and duck ||hunting, so I had no problem with the 4" lift he installed, but he recently ||had a friend try to talk him into gutting the catalytic converter. He said ||that the decrease in backflow pressure will increase horsepower. As the ||truck has aged, it has gotten a little slower, but this seems extreme to me. ||Other than being illegal, could this be bad for the truck? I have told him ||not to do it for now. TIA.

I doubt you would notice the difference, either way, unless the cat is restricted.

Texas Parts Guy

He won't notice any difference, and it may lower the mileage due to the o2 sensors being "mis-informed" from the lack of temperature. Tell him to drive it and leave it alone. If he wants more power, then buy a good truck (mid '70's) with a 460 in it.

I wade into this. No it won't help and probably will hurt hp numbers. Newer cars/trucks are designed for the backpressure caused by having the catalytic converter installed. Now then I could be wrong but many years ago I seem to remember that without back pressure you could burn an exhaust valve and that also back pressure helped with low end torque but I could be totally wrong. I do know that if he pulls it off chances are he'll have to put it back on to past emissions.