97 5.7L Vortec: can I delete the post-cat OXYGEN SENSORS without much headache? (non-emissions test)

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miroslav

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I obviously don't need them, but I am curious as to what type of simulators they are. I know that there are some simulators that are just a plug and play, and use resistors to make the voltage correct. The ones I made are mechanical as they use a small piece of the cat honeymoon material. IMO that is why they work so well. The rear o2 sensor still sees exhaust coming through the same material as it did when there was cats.

They were the ones made by Casper's Electronics and sold through Summit Racing back in the day. I'm pretty sure they are discontinued now because I can't find any info on them anywhere. They were nice back in the day because they had the factory style connector on them and they were epoxy potted, so no worries about them being exposed to the elements under the truck. I just unplugged the sensors and plugged these in. A little zip tie magic with the connectors and you couldn't even tell the sensors were not actually connected. Never had a problem passing a visual inspection.
 

Rayfer

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Kenny, I believe the ones Miroslav has are indeed discontinued, as the "HELP" brand spark plug non-foulers grew more and more popular for this purpose, and the folks who made them were having a harder and harder time making a profit (or, perhaps I should say the folks selling them were having a harder time selling them!)...as the internet has grown, information has spread like wildfire amongst populations who previously had nothing more than the local parts store and the greybeards in their area to glean their wrenching info from...heh...

As for my problem (because I hate it when people ask for help but never come back to the page to fill us in on how things went)...

Ended up replacing both cats after all. Wasn't my first choice by any means, but we live next door to an emissions county and the wife was concerned about the "what if". As in, what if our county gets sucked into the emissions inspection testing, or what if we decide to sell the truck and someone from that emissions county wants to buy it, or what if the custom tune causes the truck to be down longer than we expect (we did need it running quickly), or what if the moon crashes into the sun...etc etc.

That being said, I have a second truck in the works. It won't be a daily driver. I'll be able to use this info on that one in the near future...so SINCERE THANKS for the replies to my original post, and SINCERE THANKS to Miroslav for the offer on the simulators. I'm gonna experiment with putting the honeycomb material into those spark plug foulers and see how things go.
 

kennythewelder

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Kenny, I believe the ones Miroslav has are indeed discontinued, as the "HELP" brand spark plug non-foulers grew more and more popular for this purpose, and the folks who made them were having a harder and harder time making a profit (or, perhaps I should say the folks selling them were having a harder time selling them!)...as the internet has grown, information has spread like wildfire amongst populations who previously had nothing more than the local parts store and the greybeards in their area to glean their wrenching info from...heh...

As for my problem (because I hate it when people ask for help but never come back to the page to fill us in on how things went)...

Ended up replacing both cats after all. Wasn't my first choice by any means, but we live next door to an emissions county and the wife was concerned about the "what if". As in, what if our county gets sucked into the emissions inspection testing, or what if we decide to sell the truck and someone from that emissions county wants to buy it, or what if the custom tune causes the truck to be down longer than we expect (we did need it running quickly), or what if the moon crashes into the sun...etc etc.

That being said, I have a second truck in the works. It won't be a daily driver. I'll be able to use this info on that one in the near future...so SINCERE THANKS for the replies to my original post, and SINCERE THANKS to Miroslav for the offer on the simulators. I'm gonna experiment with putting the honeycomb material into those spark plug foulers and see how things go.
I have had my simulators on my 97 since 2015. Never had a code, and my truck runs grate. I understand the what ifs. You never know who will try to sue you for everything.
 

Rayfer

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I have had my simulators on my 97 since 2015. Never had a code, and my truck runs grate. I understand the what ifs. You never know who will try to sue you for everything.

Well, that's about as clear-cut evidence as anyone can ever hope to hear for the simulators! I'm a little curious how long the simulators without the honeycomb material would have worked... but I think it's safe to say it'd be not as long, not as well, or not at all. Also curious if those who had bad luck with the simulators or spark plug foulers had followed these instructions, if they'd have had better luck. And since I don't know anyone who *enjoys* taking their O2 sensors (or simulators) on and off all the time for experimentation purposes, I'd say you've hit upon the Golden Ticket for simulator fabrication, installation and use!!! Well done, man, that's the kind of knowledge I enjoy learning! Two thumbs up! :)
 

kennythewelder

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Well, that's about as clear-cut evidence as anyone can ever hope to hear for the simulators! I'm a little curious how long the simulators without the honeycomb material would have worked... but I think it's safe to say it'd be not as long, not as well, or not at all. Also curious if those who had bad luck with the simulators or spark plug foulers had followed these instructions, if they'd have had better luck. And since I don't know anyone who *enjoys* taking their O2 sensors (or simulators) on and off all the time for experimentation purposes, I'd say you've hit upon the Golden Ticket for simulator fabrication, installation and use!!! Well done, man, that's the kind of knowledge I enjoy learning! Two thumbs up! :)
I tried to use the SP NF with out the honey comb first. It lasted about 10 mins and then triped the CEL. By this time, I had already gutted my cats, so I was stuck to find a way to make something work. I keep thing I needed something between the exhaust pipe and o2 sensors. Since I already had the SP NF I keep thing about maybe a piece of steel wool, then I hit me, why not some of the honey comb I busted out of my cats. It's worked grate ever since.
 
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