Auto Racing: Tweaking the ford sho, catylitic converters, o2 sensors

Question
I have a 93 ford taurus sho with manual 5spd.  I was told that I would benifit from a true dual exhaust, and have a friend willing to help me set it up, but he tellingme that the catylitic converters will restrict the flow, and advises against putting them on, but another advises that the car's coputer was design to get the best performance out of it with the cats on, both agree that it would be a significant power increase. which one is right?  Also do you know of places where I can get more specialized parts for it? I need an air bypass valve for it, and in the past on my regular taurus I unplugged it for a while which left it cold bloded, I don't want to try that bandaid on this car, due to it being a stick I think I will be asking for trouble. A friend has one for his mustang, and it looks the same, but not sure if they are that interchangeable.  Thanks for your time...Ed  

Answer
Edward-

  To be brutally honest, I don't know much about SHOs.  I just never could get into those Yamaha motors.  I can tell you that on many cars the catalytic conveters are, at the very least, a good idea.  The motor in the SHO is pretty well tuned from the factory and I would imagine it relies heavily on the computer to keep it that way.  Removing the cats can be a problem since some cars will have problems with the O2 sensors.  Some sensors are designed to use heat trapped in the converter to reach their own operating temp so removing the cats will cause the engine to run too rich since the sensors are too cold.  Also, a secondardy concern is emissions.  If that's no big deal where you live, forget I even said it.  As for more specialized parts, there used to be (and probably still is) a pretty large aftermarket for SHOs.  Just do an online search for "Taurus SHO performance" or something like that.  Should give you a lot of results.  Hope this helps.

Steve