A lot of carbon on the tailpipe. And the exhaust sounds raspier than the stock sound (this only happened after I changed the cat and muffler). It almost sounds like an exhaust leak except the sound is coming from the tailpipe, not either of the cat conv/muffler connections. Used all new gaskets. Broke the "nut-bridge between the cat and the exhaust manifold. Using nuts/bolts right now. Did buy the replacement and plan on putting it in this weekend (I don't feel this is that big a deal).
The old cat seems fine. All the material is inside but I can't see "clearly" through to the other side but, I dod see light. The new cat looks small compared to stock cat conv.