cat-less exhaust

Here's the deal
i really had no need for the Thermal R&D exhaust that i bought and installed on my 92 civic LX so i traded it to my friend for his civic rims and his stock exhaust. he has a 96 civic but with brief inspection i saw that the exhausts matched up
upon actually swapping exhaust we found out that his doest have a catalytic converter in the same place mine does and his midsection pipe is just a straight pipe where mine has a cat
but since they were the same lenght we swapped anyway
it actually seams like my car is faster with the stock cat-less exhaust than it was with the aftermarket exhaust with a cat

what i'm wondering is is this could cause any problems down the road. Minnesota doesn't do emissions testing anymore so that shouldn't be a problem, i'm just concerned about engine life and fuel consumption

thanks
Sean


PS.
i also installed a Solo short throw shifter while i had the exhaust off and it was a snap, i love the shifter!