do I need a cat?

[wireman121]

I currently have a custom magnaflow exhaust. It has a high flow cat, a resonator, and 2 mufflers, with all new piping. I recently started hearing a rattle under my car - and I checked it out today. The cat is bad. I am wondering, do I need to have a cat? If I remove it, will that improve my performance, or hurt it? I can't remember if it is this or the 4.3L S-10 engine that runs worse when you pull the cat. Before I do anything I want to make sure I am gonna improve, not hurt.

Thanks

[Doubt_Incarnate]

thats trial and error. pretty much your just removing backpressure so it should be a good thing, i cant understand why it would hurt. i guess as long as you dont have an o2 sensor after the cat, you should be fine, that way the ecm's not getting a wrong signal.

[your_I.D.]

Do you have emission test for vehicals were you live? If you gut the cat you may fail the test. Just a thought you may want to consider.

[wireman121]

I'm not concerned about the emissions testing. I just want to make sure I am not going to have a power loss if i gut it.