Wife calls today while out driving the Bonne and said that it shut down on her in the Taco Bell drive thru. It fired back up but was hard to keep running. She got it back on the highway to get home and said that it wouldn't go past 2K rpm and was struggling to keep 50mph.

She limped it home and I take a look underneath and the cat is just smoking hot, literally. Smoke coming from every part around the cat. Almost smelled like it was cooking the floorboard, lol...

Car has 202K on it. Prev. owner had the exhaust replaced once, but I don't know if the cat was done as well or not.

Is Magnaflow still my best option here? Or should I just call a shop and see what they get for one + install?

It depends. Some shops have universal cats for a dime a dozen some don't, so shop around, and its not exactly a cut and dry science installing them. Depending how old/bad shape the existing exhaust system is, they may recommend a complete swap out.(you can't weld rust)

And don't let them fool you. Your 95 doesn't have a downstream O2 sensor.

On another note, depending what state your in, you could gut your cat and be done with it. PERIOD. Just as long as it looks like it is installed, unless they do an actual smog test.

Magnaflow is fine, but any high flow cat would be fine too.

The current exhaust system is in fine shape rust-wise (no issues). Would just need to be cleaned up and welded.

Yup, gotta love OBD-I. No downstream sensor.

I live in Missouri, but in one of the few counties that doesn't smog test at all ( Lincoln County).

Since I have no downstream 02, if I gut the cat it shouldn't throw a CEL correct?

My Dad can weld so I'm tempted to just cut the pipe a few inches back from the exit of the cat, remove the downpipe from the rear mani and just gut it and weld it back up for now until I can afford to find the replacement for it.

Question is with a gutted cat will it have any adverse side affects (fuel mileage, etc.)?

On a vehicle with NO downstream O2, it will not throw a CEL.

If I remember the exhaust correctly, you can disconnect the exhaust from the cat, stick a pipe inside, break it all up, start it up and rev the snot out of it. But its really up to you how you disconnect it.

You might notice a slight increase in MPG/and power with a "less" restrictive exhaust.

And I must let you know that its against federal law to remove the cat or cat material. But I'm sure you already knew that.

i gained almost 2mpg on my 89 350 pickup going from the stock setup to cat delete w/summit muffler

Cat delete is more efficient.

I'll see if I can get the exhaust off after the cat w/o cutting it. I'm just now getting the time to deal with it. I pulled the O2 sensor and fired it up. Seemed to be a bit better this way. I smacked the cat w/ my hand and I don't get a rattle or anything. Sounds solid. Can a cat clog up and not rattle? I thought they usually broke apart internally and then jammed it shut? Hopefully I don't do all this just to find out the cat is fine, lol...

Well, after fighting with her most of the night last night I finally got it solved. It was a 3 part issue.

1. The cat was clogged. Excess unburnt fuel caused this. Fixed this issue.

Still ran rough and smelled like fuel. Pulled the plugs and 3 & 6 were wet.

2. Replaced the coil. Still running rough and fuel smell.

3. Broke out my in-line spark tester and hooked to the coil side and tested each one. All cylinders but 3&6 showed a strong light. 3 had no light and 6 was dim at best. Pulled the ICM off my 00 Grand Prix and swapped it in. Diabled the fuel pump and spun her over a few times to clear the cylinders.

She fired right up nice and smooth after all that. Gave her an oil change this am to make sure there wasn't any fuel floating around in the oil and so far so good.