I still have no power, as far as i can tell.  I have no other rig to compare to. I just did cap rotor and plug wires, again in hopes to solve something. I didn't change the plugs yet again. I thought that it could be the ignition timing but I dont know. Now its onto the fuel system I guess. I just did the fuel filter. I don't know if its the fuel pump. If it was the fuel pump wouldn't it just quit? I am at a loss and becoming really frustrated. I have the 16 valve its an automatic. I can't even keep speed up hills and traffic gets pissed at me. Any help is appreciated.

Hey Speedracer,

Many moons ago on my first Sammi I had a no power problem.  Turned out to be a blocked catalytic converter. The thing would start and run but had zero power when I applied the gas. After spending a weekend w/ the FSM I couldn't find anything, except that all the gadgets and gizmos I was checking for this problem were vacuum operated. I called the Zuk dealer and explained my problem and asked " is it possible there's no vacuum like the exhaust is plugged?" His reply was "didn't you get the recall for the bad cats?"  OBVIOUSLY NOT!

They put the new cat in and man what a difference! Race car power!  Apparently the thing had been slowly deteriorating over time and I never noticed unti it gave up the ghost.

Hope your problem is that easy!    Later

But There is plenty of exhaust coming out. Or it seems liek there is anyway. Especially when it is cold. I don't have money to buy a new cat right now. SO I guess I can try gutting it.

Look at it this way, if you gut it and if fixes it, it made for a really easy diagnosis as well as fixing the problem.  If you don't have emissions to worry about anytime soon then don't worry about replacing it anyway.

nope no emmisions. Hopefully the studs don't snap. Thanks for the help guys. Now when i gut it. Do I just drill a bunch of holes in it or something I don't know

Unbolt the cat and as little of the rest of the exhaust as you can get away with.  

Get it to where you can stick a broomstick in the end of it and then put the broomstick on the floor and bang the cat on the end of it which will break apart the mesh stuff on the insde of it.  You could use a steel rod or whatever else fits the bill.  Just empty all the crap you break out of it out and that's pretty much it.  

If you can only take the exhaust off from the cat back then you'll have to use a big piece of rebar and a hammer to do it but it works the same way.

Ok sounds good, I'm a little aprehensive because there seems to be plenty of exhaust coming out but who knows....

Well other than unofficially being on the EPA's naughty list, if you don't have emissions testing where you're at it's not really going to do anything other than destroy an otherwise functional cat if it's not plugged.  It's not going to affect your driveability or anything else.  If you don't get smogged you might want to look at having someone help you weld in a test pipe instead of the cat instead.

Basically the only downside to doing this is that you're technically breaking the law and might not pass a smog test, other than that there's really no problems you're likely to run into.

No smog here, So i guess i'm set. I'm headed out to do it now. Wish me luck

FWIW, I said the same thing to the dealer.  I can hold my hand over the exhaust of the 1.3 when it's cold for quite a while until enough pressure builds up to force me to let go. It aint no small block chebby! So if you think about it, the least bit of exhaust restriction on those 'hamster motors' has a fairly large effect on performance.

Good luch on the carnage!  

BTW if the exhaust is still stock, you can replace it w/ a Walker for about 100 bucks.

Good luck and don't worry removing a cat is not gonna hurt that zuk. A plugged cat is kinda like when you gotta fart and can't ya feel like sh** ! or u wanna
so think how that zuk will feel and run after it gets to let a big one!  

Can't beleive I posted that!

Yeah just look at a plugged cat as the Zuke being constipated and/or "corked."

Well I just gutted my cat, and I think that some of it went into the muffler cause now it is completely nutless. I cant' get the nuts off the flange in from of the muffler so It looks like tomorrow its getting cut off and a new muffler is going on...bah

Not even with vice grips and a ton of penetrating oil? (NOT WD-40, there's better stuff than that)

What about a blowtorch?

Absolute worst case you could just take the rest of the exhaust off on the hangers, pick it up and shake it to empty it out.

how ion the hell did you gut the cat out from on the ground?