Exhaust smell in the cabin
 

I recently purchased a 99 base. The previous owner told me that he removed the cats and welded in straight piping. The car sounds fine but the biggest issue I'm having is that there's an exhaust smell inside the car. And I'm not hearing the classic "hole in the exhaust sound". It's making the interior smell and my clothes even smell after just a short drive.

I'm planning to get under the car this weekend to get a real sense of the set up and whats going on but thought I'd check to see if anyone had ideas or suggestions of what the issue could be. Would I really get that bad of a smell just because the cats were removed? would you suspect theres a small leak near the header? Or could it be something completely separate from the exhaust system?

Appreciate any insight!

Did you figure out what the issue was?

I hate when a poster doesn't write a "follow-up"......it would help all of use to learn and for future reference.

The poster didn't get a response to his question for a month shortly after registering here. Why would they care to write a follow-up?

My 1978 Porsche 928 euro, that doesn't have cats smells like an old carbureted V8. The smell I most often get with my Boxsters is burnt oil... why do all oil leaks fall directly on the exhaust system (or so it seems)?