Cat or silencer? :S

[jbrady72]

Hi
I have a Mk2 VTR and in the centre pipe I have something that I always thought was a silencer but to me it looks more like a cat! Whatever it is, it doesnt look standard because on closer inspection you can see that its been welded in!
Anyway, it has a big hole in it as you can see in the pics, so I thought simply weld it up but there is something loose inside of it!
Occasionally it sounds fine and goes fine because im guessing the loose bit inside goes over the hole but most of the time it sounds like a tractor and performance is very limited! Struggles to rev high and just doesnt move half as fast!
Any ideas? Is it worth trying to repair or cut it out and weld a pipe in for a straight through or what? I have very limited budget!
Cheers

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab353/jbrady72/WP_001428.jpg (http://s879.photobucket.com/user/jbrady72/media/WP_001428.jpg.html)
http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab353/jbrady72/WP_001429.jpg (http://s879.photobucket.com/user/jbrady72/media/WP_001429.jpg.html)

[Bim]

Cat. Suggest change it. Cant weld it.

[speedzx]

I would say Cat.

[axsaxoman]

maybe a cat that has had the insides removed --if nothing in there --weld it up