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You have a pretty old Astro. The small "cover" as you call it on the catalytic converter may have been used to fill it with catalyst or cushion material when it was manufactured. Some of the old converters used pellets of catalyst rather than a ceramic matrix. It may have some other purpose as well. I suggest you replace the catalytic converter if it is making funny noises, the internals are probably breaking up or fused. Aftermarke units are not expensive. As for the brakes, why not just turn the adjustment back a few notches? Its obvious your cables are corroded and siezed, and should be replaced. If you replace the cables and set the adjustement correctly, you will not have a problem. Grinding down the parts or leaving them out is not the answer. The strut that you want to modify not only activates the handbrake feature, it is part of the auto-adjuster assembly, and fiddling with it will ruin it's ability to adjust your brakes.
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