Tim is absolutely not telling porkies. Basically rsport have experimented with a wider bore cat-less and silencer-less exhaust and say they had 200+bhp results just doing that and a grpN ECU (latter simply increases torque mid range). As I said above, I am not aware of any company rsport or any other that has come up with a decat pipe that allows the second lambda sensor not to report a fault. Frankly I dont see how such a pipe could exist as the second lambda sensor cannot sense any difference from the first one if a proper cat is replaced with a bit of pipe. So the choices are:
1 dont remove the cat
2 remove the cat, get some benefits - maybe 3-4 bhp - and wait for you second lambda sensor to put a fault warning on the dash and on the diagnostic system. that will be easily spotted by renault next time you service it
3 same as 2, but if you dont care, you might as well go to the extreme of fitting a large bore straight through exhaust decat, no silencer etc. problem is you will look like a right moron, get earbleeds and you will never be allowed anywhere near a track because of the noise..
4 remove the cat and attempt to trick the second lambda sensor into thinking everything is aok. A simple resistor circuit can be used, but to my best knowledge this will only r****d the inevitable fault/diagnostic warning.
5 replace the std cat with a less restrictive cat. Sounds expensive for 3-4bhp?
If anybody knows better /different about decating a mk2 172, please let us know.