It doesn't need it. is there an easy home-brew way of removing the cat converter from my 72 swinger?

Get a hacksaw or sawzall, chop off both ends, then link the rest of the pipe together with flexible exhaust pipe replacment by clamping it on both ends. This stuff should be availible at your local auto store.

Or you can reach in with a long screwdriver and push all the stuffing loose, and it will eventually blow out the tailpipe. Depending on your mufler design this could clog it though.

A catalytic convertor!?.....on a '72?!

Roger

Roger, thats what my thoughts were. I know cats started in 73.. maybe this is a later 72 model that was made close to the cutoff?

You mean my 73 is supposed to have one?

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Slant Six... out of the ordinary - just like me!

Catalytic converters did not appear on Slant-6 cars until 1975, and then only on some of them. In the USA, the first year during which all Slant-6 cars had catalysts was 1977. In Canada, it was 1980.

So no, a 1972 or 1973 is NOT supposed to have one.

WOOHOOO Canada!

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

I'm pretty sure that I've seen earlier then 77 cars in the wreckin yard with cats in them.

1975 models were the 'beginning' of the end with the introduction of the Monolith Cat convertor in many models. I've never seen one in a pre-75 unless someone either transplanted 1975 + pipe or had to do it for 'emissions reason's '....(like those 'third brake lights' in the rear window).

You'll find a fair number of F-bodies with them, and most A-bodies from 1975-1976 have them, there is 'sometimes' a silver sticker with black lettering (colors did change) attached to the driver's door above the latch that would say something like 'Catalytic Convertor Equipped' or 'Non- Catalyst Equipped Car'....Some cars in other brands made it all the way up to 1978 with no cats...(A buddy had a Numbers Matching SD455 4 speed Firebird with no cats, and the nice 'no cats' sticker). I'm sure destination state or 'export' cars had something to do with who got cats or not, along with powerplant and drivetrain options....

-D.Idiot

No no no, you need a rigid piece in there so the rest of the pipe stays up in place. A Flexible piece will let it sag and drag on the road.

The flexible pipe I've seen isnt that flexible Craig. If you want a solid pipe there you can always take the car to the muffler shop and give em $20 bucks to weld on a length of pipe.

Check what I wrote: *SOME* Slant-6 cars got them starting in '75, *ALL* Slant-6 cars in the US got them starting in '77.

No cars got them before '75, and there have never been any emission laws in any state or Canadian province that would require the installation of a converter on a car not originally so equipped.

This got me to thinking, (dangerous, I know ), is this car in California? If it is, it may be that someone added the cat to it in order to comply with California emissions laws. If I'm not mistaken, doesn't ALL street-driven cars have to have a cat as far back as the mid-60's ?

Maybe a west coast guy can enlighten the rest of us.

Roger

Well, let me rephrase my statment, I'm pretty sure I've seen pre-75 cars with cats.

Roger, in California any car older then 30 years is exempt from the smog program entirely. That's why pre-74 cars are hot now and those are the first to go.

I live in CA and have a 65 and a 68 B'cuda. Neither has a cat and they never needed one when they had to be smogged.