Does the cat on a 75 (6cylinder) have a heat shield? Carpet was smouldering nicely after I let car run to warm up. Burned a nice round hole over a bolt which seems to do nothing. It was so hot it boiled the water I doused the carpeting with. Put car up on a lift and found the underside of the floor pan well scorched. There was no heat shield between cat and and floor. Plan on putting some heat shielding in real quick. This may have been a long term problem; the carpeting was discolored in the fire area. I had presumed it was a stain when I bought the car 18 months ago. Thanks in advance RichK
Its time to replace the cat. I don't think they have a heat sheild. I never notice on mind. You have a bad cat. I'm glad you caught it in time. It could have been real bad.
Mine used to until one of the mounts rusted apart, so I cut it off. Can't remember if there was a shield on top though, or just on the bottom...
Probably oil on top of the converter. Start by chasing oil/transmission fluid leaks and cleaning the thing up.
if a cat is getting that hot it is clogged up REAL BAD.... get a new cat and it wont do that again.... since you know its a problem... yes.. put in your own version of a heat shield...i would suggest a piece of stainless steel found at any ace hardware store... and bend it in a few places and bolt it on place... make sure that it doesnt hit anyhting or you wil hear a vibration...
friend of mine had a 80 t bird, he was letting it idle in his front yard while we moved a stack of plywood out of his garage. The cat got red hot, set the grass on fire and caught underside of car on fire...luckily we put it out in time and it had a heat shield...moral of story buy a new cat or cut the thing off...
Thanks for input guys. Question 1: If the cat is clogged wouldn't that be too much back pressure for the motor to run cleanly? I haven't noticed any performance change. Question 2oes anyone make a replacement cat? I check the local NAPA and they don't list one. RichK
Well.... Your car could be running way too rich also. The whole idea of the cat is for it to act like a sponge and catch any unburnt fuel that has passed thru the engine and then as it gets hot from the engine, it burns the fuel it collects therefore lowering your emissions. Emissions are actually judged on how many ppm of unburnt fuel leaves the exhaust pipe. So if your car is running really rich you are actually overworking your catylitic convertor making it hotter than it should be. Another thing you should know about and should check is under the passenger seat there is a small (what looks to be an upsidedown top hat with a wire running to it) sensor that is mounted inside the car right on the cat hump that is either supposed to shut the engine off or send to a dummy light on the dash (that im not too sure about) my 75 has one and I am assuming that put this on all of them. Since yours got so hot you may have to bypass that sensor if you have any problems
Oh BTW if you want to replace the cat and are building your engine up a little www.jegs.com carrys a high performance cat
