We are asked this question quite often and thought it was worth an in-depth post. Many wonder if it’s okay to run the larger tunes (Level 3-Up mostly) on the cat delete, instead of purchasing an aftermarket slip-on or full exhaust. The answer is maybe, and here is why:
The catalytic converter increases heat in the exhaust system as it burns off unburned fuel. This heat under longer pulls and higher load increases more and more. This will eventually heat soak the motor making it more likely to see detonation and the engine protection system will retard timing (decreasing power). When you remove the cat this is less likely to happen. The big difference between a gutted cat exhaust and an aftermarket exhaust like ours is the amount of flow. The stock exhaust is still more restrictive with baffle plates and those also create more heat. The name of the game on a turbo motor is to create less restriction (less heat) since you can run harder for longer as heat soak takes longer to occur. Yes, a gutted cat exhaust is better than a stock exhaust with the cat in, but an aftermarket exhaust is one step better than a stock exhaust with the cat gutted.
Dune riders and those holding the XPT at wide open throttle for long amounts of time or riders in high load situations are in greater need of shedding heat than someone riding 0-60 MPH on the trails. 2017+ XPT models are okay to run Level 3+ on a gutted cat exhaust if you only run trails with the occasional burst of wide open throttle. A dune rider (high load) might not be okay with that same setup.
Our exhaust has a free flowing chamber design and even with our quiet cap installed still has much more flow than the factory exhaust. Exhaust is typically not a huge horsepower difference on the XPT, it’s just needed for sustained horsepower through shedding of heat build-up. This is something you don’t normally see on dyno pulls but we do see it in our data logging while extensively testing real life riding situations.
-Mike
