Thinking about removing the cat converter for the following reasons: Pipes will not radiate so much heat so quickly; Deeper sounds; lets the motor breath better. Am I right? Advice? Thx

2004 FatBoy fuel Inj. Just bought her about 4 months ago so still tinkering with everything, lol.

- JJ

 

I think that Harley used to put cats in the right muffler from 2003 till 2009 and then in the headpipes after that for the twincams. So if you have aftermarket slipons already, you don't have any kind of cat on it.

 

??? I think it was 2010 that Moco was using catalytic convertors in their header pipe,but not sure that they had muffler catalytic convertors early as 2003.Could be wrong.I do remember the right muffler had it clearly printed on it that it had a convertor inside.

 

I have screaming eagle pipes thanks to the previous owner. I’ll check them closely tomorrow and look for any signs of a cat. I did find a YouTube video of a guy boreing out the Cat converter on his screaming Eagle pipes. Makes me wonder if I have a cat or not?

 

Yeah, I think CA was early, the rest of the country was in 2010.

 

IIRC if your bike has a 2-into-1 or 2-1-2 exhaust the catalyst will be before the mufflers, where the header pipes merge. if it has two exhaust pipes the catalysts will be in the mufflers.

 

What if I just bought a LONG drill bit. Say 5/8" or so and drilled through the baffle into the cat. Any damage I could cause? I know I wouldn't get all the cat out but at least it could breath? Thoughts? Thx

 

I have a FXDWG and milled the side of the cat all around it, pulled out all the CAT stuffing and welded the plate back on. I really found not much difference either in performance or sound.

 

Pull off the rt slip on and shine a light into the header to see if a catalytic convertor is there.I doubt it in a 2004.

 

I seriously doubt that your bike has a catalytic converter. Maybe you should remove and inspect the exhaust system before hacking into it with power tools?
Better yet, buy the Harley Davidson Service Manual for your bike, and look for any reference to a catalytic converter.