Ok so my t4r is having a few problems after 230k miles, such as,

Rough idle at stoplights
Shut offs at stop lights after highway driving
High rpm shutters 4-5krpm's
Strange smell from exhaust if i dont run high test gas
Long starts on first startup, atleast 5 or 6 revolutions of the motor before it fires

Ive already changed the fuel filter, spark plugs, wires, air filter and thats all i can think of to do.

Im wondering if my cat is stopped up and causing this, or do i need new coil packs, i have no check engine light on, so im stumped.

And if i were to bust out the cat temporarily until i can afford a new high flow cat would i be at risk of setting off the check engine light and if so what could i do to keep it from coming on?

I had a similiar issue - Would go full out on the highway, exit the freeway, stop at a stop light, and the engine starts to loose RPMs and almost stalls. For me, the problem was a corroded fuel injector that needed to be replaced. Which makes absolutely no sense since I only put in Chevron or Shell gasoline, and fuel injector cleaner every 6,000 miles. However, the majority of my driving was start-and-stop driving, for 3 miles to and from work. Never gave a chance for the gasoline additives and fuel injector cleaner to do its work properly. Anywho, you may have a faulty fuel injector. Hope this helps.

The long start is due to a weak fuel pump, just did mine a month ago. Also try disassembling the throttle body and cleaning the IAC. Do the MAF as well.

On to the cat... if you bust tit out it will more than likely set of a P420 cel. I have one and still have yet to even try to remedy it. But my experience with other more high performance turbo cars leads me to believe putting a 1" bung spacer in the aft sensor will give it a cleaner read being out of the main stream. Not for sure, all ecu's have different tolerances and levels of sensitivity.

Ruining your cat is not the fix. That would be going the other direction. What kind of gas are you using? Some small QuickStop around the corner? Test the fuel pressure. Check for codes. Sometimes pending codes will set even though you don't get a cel.

I run only shell v-power or bp gold

and i never thought about the fuel pump getting weak

and as for the cat my buddy has a 2001 runner with dual cats and was having the same issues as me as far as shuddering at stops and low idle after highway driving, he busted out his cats and it fixed it, and it would only be temporary until i can afford a magnaflow high flow cat or other company so would i be safe busting out the cat for maybe as long as 2 or 3 months or would i be running the risk of tearing up the engine.