Re: gut the cat.

[SCIROCCO2@t-online.de (Dirk Schneider)]

Hello Aaron,


>
> Has anyone gutted their cat.?   I have an 84 8V, and the cat is falling
> apart from the inside out (lots of rattling).

I had the same problem on my '83 GTX 8V 2 weeks ago.
As it was the third cat that burned away ( due to my camshaft )
I was sick of replacing it and put in part Nr. 055 253 405 D
which is a cat replacement pipe from VW.
( later I found out that it was not really necessary to buy that,
as my cat already hollowed itself completely (!) , the rattling
was coming from the cat parts shaking in the rear pipe and muffler )

however hollowing the cat is no big deal, take a chisel and a hammer
and try to avoid to breathe in the dust when working (toxic )

>
> I think it's getting bad, because for about 20 minutes (out of a 50 minute
> ride) I felt excessive power loss.. and with a loud rattle from the cat,
> the power came back.

I had similar effects, broken cat pieces temporarily clogged your exhaust.
In addition, my water & oil temperatures were critical then.

>
> I've been told this is probably due to the honey comb guts of the cat are
> probably falling apart and shifting due to vibrations when driving.

yes

> Is there any danger in doing this with the 8V engine?  Will it cause flow
> problems / power loss?

no, there is no power loss at all, and no problems.
The sound of the exhaust is different now, but not much.

>
> Also, is there any easy way to pull the cat off?

no :-(

>It looks as if this my be
> the original cat (15 years old) and the bolts are rust-welded to the
> mounting points.  I've soaked them in a indutrial version of liquid wrench
> for two days now... no luck though (cant even see threads on the screws).

forget it !
the high temperatures in this area and he direct contact to water
and salt are causing severe corrosion here.

the nuts of the sixs bolts however, are made out of copper,
so you can crack them up and pull out the bolts then.
you can also use a saw  to cut the bolts, but especially
the upper one is difficult to reach.

FYI : you can see the cat replacement pipe from VW on my page:
http://home.t-online.de/home/SCIROCCO/repair.htm

HTH

Greetings
Dirk
montego-black '83 53b GTX 1.8l  carbed - no more cat
montego-black '84 53b GTX 1.8l  inj.







--
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe scirocco-l" to majordomo@scirocco.org.
If you experience other problems, email: scirocco-l-probs@scirocco.org