I thought these cars had 2 cats - one on the dump pipe and another between there and the muffler.

Blew a hole in the second 'cat' the other day, called the local exhaust place for a chat about fabbing something up. He reckoned it's not actually a cat, rather it's a resonator.

Is he right? And if so, is the exhaust going to be noticeably louder if I just bolt in a straight-through piece of pipe (got a stupid loud cannon on the end) ?

Yes, GC8's only have one cat, in the mid section.

It wasn't until the GD models where they got a 2nd cat in the dump pipe

And having no resonator does make the exhaust louder... most of the Butler/MMS systems remove the resonator.

Hang on, the cat's the first one, isn't it? The one in the dump pipe....


The second one, which is the one I'm talking about, is the resonator, no?

Yep. Cat 1st, resonator 2nd.

I wouldn't have thought you'd have a cat in your dump pipe. Is the exhaust stock MY94 spec?

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Signarape!

The cat is at the end of the dump I think... not in the vertical section, but horizontal, before the join to the mid pipe. Pity I don't have one handy to clarify this lol

Anyways, ballbag, I think you might just have an exhaust leak or something.
What made you think the cat blew out?

Yeah, the cat is in the end of the dump. The resonator sits at about the end of the gearbox.

What made me think it (the second one - ie the resonator) blew out? Well, first it was the farty note coming from that general direction, second it was the two 5mm holes along the RHS seam!

Had to happen sooner or later. The poor thing's 17 years old. Yeah Matty, stock exhaust except for the 'muffler'.

Something else - it's been starting funny lately. Struggles to hold idle for a few seconds, then all is ok. Bogged the 2 holes up the other night with some liquid metal as a stop gap until I get it sorted properly, and she fired up nicely. Interesting.

If you are interested, I have a straight through mid pipe here to fit the standard system. No restrictions from dump to the rear muffler. Has only been used for a few months so still like new. PM an offer if keen.

Or go to MMS and ask if you can buy one from their pile.

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Beaten up old 98 Gen 2 Liberty, 13.0, stock V3 STI running gear.
07 Transit motor home
69 VF & 70 VG Valiants needing full restoration
Yamaha Zooma 50cc rocket hopefully going with the Transit.