Started strong, but quickly turned downhill.

[four20]

sup. The name's Cody. I'll be around here often, and hope to find a few people in my area that love their cars as much as I do. I have a question that I am sure isn't already answered, well, it could be in a way, but not my specific one...

Anyway, I have a 1990 KA24e powered 240sx with 114000 miles purchased a month ago, max. It has run fine since I bought it, I mean, a few problems... the speedo doesn't work, the wheels need aligned, and the clutch is, well... needs replacing.

The thing I'm worried most about is, earlier today I was driving and noticed a very rapid, very large decline in power since yesterday. Actually it started happening last night. At first when I would shift I would here a slight rattle that sounded like it was coming from the exhaust, but later turned into what sounds like the exhaust has come off... Firstly, the amount of air coming out of the exhaust tips has dropped by at least 60%, the engine is running very... "airy", and performance is down by at least 60% as well. I don't know if I am explaining my situation well enough, but I hope so.

---------------------------------------------------------(ADDED info)

Ok, so I believe it is the catalytic converter. Most of the noise is coming from a cylindrical shaped piece of exhaust. It's got heat shielding, and seems to be what I would think would be the catalytic converter. If that so happens to be the problem, I'll probably end up replacing the entire exhaust. If I go that route, does anyone have any input as to which exhaust to use. I would like a deep, throaty sound... something similar sounding to the WRX Sti.

Modified by four20 at 1:43 PM 2/24/2009
Modified by four20 at 8:40 PM 2/24/2009