|
My major experience with driving without an exhaust system involved the S10 I had when I was in college. The original catalytic converter had given up the ghost, so my roommate and I drilled holes into it until I could get it replaced. You could literally hear it a mile away, and the lack of backpressure pretty much removed most of the already-meager low-end torque from that wheezy little Cavalier lump. When I finally did get it fixed, some half-assed welding and clamping meant that the joint on the back end of the replacement cat hand to be held together with hose clamps and cans after a short while. Needless to say, I'd find myself driving with open headers. Again, same loss of basic driveability.
Minimal exhaust backpressure is really only desireable in high-rpm turbo applications. Driving like a sane person on public roads pretty much rules that out. I think, however, the loss of FE from an open exhaust comes more from unconsciously trying to compensate for the low-end power loss while driving.
__________________
|