hi im new to the site i have a 1985 el camino 305 engine i have to find a bigger motor to rebuild but in the mean time i would like to get my 305 to sound like its big i'm in illinois so edmission control is out i here that you can remove the catilac converter for a better breathing better sounding system is this true and could some on tell me how thanks a lot to anyone who is help full i will post pics soon on my project its coming along great www.mrccustoms@live.com (http://www.mrccustoms@live.com) with any answers or my inbox here

While they may not check emissions, removing it is a federal offense. With that said, you can get a "test pipe" to replace the Cat, or you can take a large screwdriver and hammer, and "punch out" all of the insides of the converter. You will get a slightly better sound, but nothing dramatic. For that, you will need to do something with the mufflers. On a scale of 1-10, if your sound level is now a 5, you might go to a 5.5 by doing the cat. Not a great difference.

Instead of removing the cat why not put a high flow cat on and build a exhaust out of stainless steel tubing and follow the original pipe to use the old hanger placement, once you get over the rearend ad a magnaflow muffler for say a Camaro/Firebird maybe.Thats what I did with mine and it sounds damn good also it doesn't sound like V6 anymore.I also added a Dynatech stainless steel cone to the pipe just before it went into the muffler and trimmed the end of the cone to get the sound that I wanted.Oh personally I wouldn't go over 3" on pipe diameter for a V8 and 2 1/2" for a V6.

Magnaflow high flow cat and the 13" (I think) muffler make my 4runners 3.0L sound meaner than my 70s 350 lol and it's loud! It sets off car alarms all the time

insted of doing all that why dont you gut the cat and stick a pipe in it and weld it to make it look like its factory, then all it is just a straight through pipe.... I dont have cats on mine, I have antique plates on mine and I dont have to go through inspection.. so i just have them off.

If Ur not worried about money I would go with some headers and a 2" pypes exhaust kit w/ or w/o cat. I wouldn't go bigger than 2" tho I remember a thread about diameter and I believe they said too wide of pipes will reduce back pressure therefore causing Ur cylinders to not fill all the way up, if I remember correctly

http://www.elcaminocentral.com/showthread.php?t=33027 here is the thread about exhaust diameter