2004 mountaineer exhaust question

[MattB2091]

For Off-road Use Only!!

I want to know about the catalytic converters on this. It's a 4.6, I see what appears to be 2 cats then after the 2 pipes meet there is another cat or resonator or something. What is it and can I remove it safely without problems. Obviously for off road. Then if I ever jump on the road I'll slap it back on. I want a good exhaust tone. Also where can I find the tailpipe for this car, it has 2 sections that join together over the rear axle. I currently have the exhaust dumping out the side

THANKS

 

[Drewmcg]

Rockauto for your last question.

Its a cat, but an exhaust shop in Austin that recently did some work on mine says "it doesn't do much" and was willing to replace it with a weld-in pipe after material from the upstream bank 2 cat dumped a bunch of debris into the third cat, which they couldn't pull out.

 

[MattB2091]

Ok I'm going to take it off, does anyone know the outside diameter of the exhaust pipe that's before it. So say I cut it off and I put a adapter there to run tubing out the back what size adapter will I need. Also is my car gonna throw codes?
Thank You

 

[TechGuru]

Just thought I'd add this.

 

[Drewmcg]

I didn't measure mine, but I assume 2.25".

No codes, since there are no O2 sensors downstream of that cat.

 

[Drewmcg]

For what it's worth, I'm now getting a brief (but obnoxious) drone on spirited acceleration from stop. Almost sounds like a bad exhaust manifold gasket, but only at a given rpm/load, so I think its the exhaust. This happened after the "third cat" was removed. Makes me wonder whether its really a cat (what the shop called it), or maybe a resonator. Could it be both?