PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - Anyone disassembled a Catalytic Converter?

Jim B. · #2 03-04-2007, 01:58 AM

I gutted one once on a 1977 Olds 88 Delta royale coupe that I had. It was a 350 4 bbl.V8 with a single exhaust, and one of those Monolith GBM converters.

Drove the front of the car up onto a set of ramps, turned off the motor, crawled underneath and with a HUGE allen wrench loosened the plug on the bottom of the cat, got in the car and started it up, in Park, and revved the engine again and again.

It sprayed platimum pellets out the hole all over the place, then all of a sudden I realized they might be worth something. I gathered them up off the ground and put them in a metal honey tin (Damn near filled it up, too!).

After a while, no more of them sprayed out the hole, so I figured they were pretty much out. Then I simply screwed the allen screw back into the bottom of the converter. No one would ever be the wiser, it would pass the visual inspection just fine! Car ran fine, maybe even better, after that.

But that wasn"t enough for me. I drove it to Nevada and found a VERY accomodasting exhaust shop who fabricated a dual exhaust system without any cats at all.

THAT REALLY woke up the car, it was an instant hit on the schnellstrasse.

Of course it was a big problem when I sold the car, had to eventually get it put back to factory, again, to pass California smog, so I threw out the dual system, a single exhaust with a used cat on it. :fork_off:

If the catalyst has a drain plug on the bottom, maybe this would work on your car too?

Mercedes cats are pretty expensive, and maybe if you removed it, and EVERYTHING inside, and assembled it back it could pass the visual if you got into it from the top side..maybe?