97 Chevy 1500 Catlytic Converter

[JustJCarr73]

Hey everyone.
The catalytic converter on my 97 1500 is goin up and I'm looking to just by the part and do it myself but I'm a little confused. I looked for OEM replacements and found ones in the 450$ range. Then I looked for hi-flow performance cats and found them for 75-80$... this doesn't make sense, can someone please explain this to me as well as an problems i can expect to encounter. thanks in advance.

JCarr

[robertjr]

Well 450 is a pretty good price but if you found them for 75 or so I would say one of two thing its either a piece of crap or its almost like stealin'. If you can get a hi-flow cat for that price and its of good quality go for it. As far as problems you may run in to with replacement fairly straight forward but may have trouble removing the old one especially if your retaining your exhaust pipes, they tend to be stubborn. Good luck and hope this helps!

[Riche]

I just replaced mine on my 97 K-1500, I used catco's I can't say anything about the quality but I got them shipped to my door for 250... and my light hasn't come back on (knock on wood). The only big snag I ran into was fighting with the trans mount. That bugger is heavy.
Although I had dreams of putting random tech. cats and Tri-y headers on... Reality slapped me in the face.

[starfiresx]

try this one on for size.

my 91 needed a new y pipe. took it to the muffler shop. most the shops wanted like $250.00 and higher just to replace the y pipe. that was not even the cat. so I decided to look in the phone book. just so happens there is a supplier near me that sells to most of the local shops. I call them and ask if they sell to the public. and they do! got the y pipe and the 6 spring studs for like under $70.00.

also try your older local parts stores. they also can order this stuff. and save you some money.

A guy I work with had a motor in his 97 or 98 go bad and clogged up the cats. he replaced with Catco cats. and has been over a year now. so far so good.

here is some more info if you do not want to do the work your self. try looking at local schools in your area. many high schools have shops with students needing something to do. or even try to local college. many have the same classes. one near my trains tech's for GM.

Joe

[67malibu]

I've run a pair of Catcos for about 7 years now, no problems. Got them for less than $100 each (don't remember exact price.)