:D
Last week, one of the catalytic converters in my Bassani x-pipe on my 03 Cobra came apart. (I'd had it happen before in an old Mac pipe, so I recognized the symptoms... way down on power, 1/2 of the car sounds like an old broke-a$$ truck with a leaking glasspack exhaust, rattling in the exhaust when you tap the throttle, intense heat radiating from the mid-pipe, etc.) So I parked the car and ordered some replacement cats (w/o even tearing it apart.)
While I'm sitting at work the other day (waiting for the new cats) I was talking to a gear-head friend of mine, and he said, "Are you sure it's a cat? I mean could an exhaust valve have let go, or a piston and that's what we were hearing? (He heard it rattle, etc.) So anyway, he had me 2nd guessing myself a bit on my diagnosis (it was wayyy down on power) and so tonight I got out there and anxiously yanked the pipes off (behind the cats.) I took the light and shined it up in the left side cat (where the noise was coming from) and OH #$%$!!! The substrate inside looked perfect!!! Oh no, I thought, there's a ton of engine parts rattling around in front of the cat. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!! I mean I let out a stream of obscenities that woulda made Gunnery Sgt. Hartman from Full Metal Jacket blush...
Anyway, so I climb out from under there, pound my beer and start thinking about starting to cry (ok, kidding.) Then, I thought, just for grins, let's look at the other one... Ok, I climb back under there, shine the light in... Whew! The substrate was completely broken off and turned sideways and I could reach in and jiggle it with my finger... just what I expected to find! I guess since the "X" is downstream of the cats, the sound with the rattle was coming out of the opposite side tailpipe!
Talk about scary!!! :D Man.... Whew!
Another uplifting turn of events happened when I came back in from turning wrenches...
My wife said, "What was that pounding noise I heard?"
Me: "Me knocking the cats off of my car."
Her: "Really, with what?"
Me: "A big f***ing hammer."
Her (with alarm) : "OMG, did you hit them!?"
Me: "Oh yeah, a couple of good whacks and that did it."
Her: "OMG! Did you hurt them?"
Me: "No, I had a clear shot to get a good swing, so just one good pop each was all it took, they didn't get mangled at all."
Her: "Are they dead!?"
Me: "Well, one is. The other one is probably fine."
Her (with a stare of shock and disbelief): "Awww, OMG I wonder whose cats they were?"
Bwahahahaha, it was at that point, I realized she thought I had just murdered two neighborhood felines with a sledgehammer. We both got a good chuckle about that! :D I mean my wife is a vegetarian because she's such an animal lover, so to see the look on her face when she thought I'd turned axe-murderer was priceless... Hahaha
