I like the throaty tone the car has now but I believe I can with just under 50 bucks total I can make my car sound much much better and possibly add a good 5hp to the wheels and engine...

I have a 91 RS 305 TBI and I want to get exhaust cut outs for it, is this a good idea and for those who have done it, is it worth it? I don't want to spend 300 bucks on a new exhaust system just yet, I think the exhaust cut out is cheaper and does basically the same job (I may still get a new exhaust down the road just not yet)

About how much more hp does it add to the car? Does it sound better than the stock exhaust system? Is it loud? Does it sound intimidating?

Thanks...

 

A cutout is loud. You're opening a gaping hole in the pipe so that the exhaust doesn't have to go through the muffler. They're not really for driving on the street.

 

well I mean I guess I forgot to mention the fact that I can screw it up and cover the cut out and unscrew it off anytime I want.

Thats why I would want it...I am just kinda scared when I do emmissions or smog test they will tell me oh you have that on there? FAIL!

I like the idea of being able to control the tone of my car, and the cutouts will do just that. I have control of whether or not I want it loud or regular stock.

 

Well, they are great for 'every now and then drag action'

As for passing smog, if they are capped, you should pass.

 

disconect your exhaust before the cat so it is just an open pipe. go for a quick drive and you will then be able to make an educated decision on cutouts.
that is when you are done soaking up the blood from your eardrums. and hiding from John Q. Law.

There are electric cutouts that you can adjust anywhere along their range from full open to full closed. but if you do go that route you will still spend about 150 bucks for one of them. Thats almost the price of a dynomax catback. Wide open is not the best thing for all RPM ranges. Also it is believed that parking a car with dumps when the engine is hot alows cool air to rapidly and ununiformly cool the exhaust valves causing warpage of the valve. This is in cases of high heat like drag racing but I would still be paranoid on my own car and probably would not like climbing under my car after parking it all of the time.

 

soooooo its a bad idea...I just want something alternative to an exhaust system. I am eventually going to get Flowmasters down the line but I like the way the exhaust cutouts sound when they are open.

I know of some people who have cutouts installed on their car, as far as the electrical switch goes to cap them and uncap them, they are like 110 bucks if you look around...

 

For the track I ran a cutout on my GTP. I kept it capped on the street because I like it quiet with my girlfriend. But, for $60 bought and installed, and the 5 seconds to uncap/cap, it's an awesome $$/per hp mod.

However, a nice catback will sound awesome 100% of the time, but a cutout will make more power.

 

yeah I like it when my girlfriend is quiet as well

 

Sounds like true love.

 

Just buy the cutout and install it, you will probably like it. I have a pair of them on my Monza and also on my Firebird. it only takes a couple minutes to pull the caps off and throw them in the trunk. It's not that loud to me really, not any worse than the harleys running around here.
They make about 3 tenths difference on my cars at the track when I open them but every car varies.
As far as the electric cutouts are concerned, it is a neat idea but they are overpriced in my opinion. For the money they want for those I would rather get my knees dirty and just pull off the caps, no big deal to me. I run around on the street occasionally with them open, it's not that bad, even passed a few cops like that, they didn't seem to even notice, there are so many crappy cars running around with the exhaust falling off nowadays, plus the loud harleys and kids with there foreign cars with fart cans on them that you kinda just blend in anyway Goodluck, Larry.

 

Also, the electric motors go out on most of them. Then theres the pull string ones. You actually have a pull string that you can push/pull inside the car. My bro got one but for whatever reason the shop couldn't weld cast IRON to the exhuast. So he got the capped JEGs one that I had and loved.

But it is a good performance peice on the cheap. Like FirebirdJones said, 3/10's for $60 installed, you aren't going to beat that.

 

Cut off the catback:
free, saves weight, flows the same, less fabwork.

Personally I'd get a good catback, cutouts remind me of people that pull their seats when they race their imports at the track.

 

Naaaa, cutouts are not like the import seat pullers, the cutouts are nothing new, they have been around as long as I can remember and I am an old fart. They were very popular in the 60's, they had a cable system back then, I have a pair of them laying aroung the garage I used to run on my 56 Nomad. It's a very old technique that has been around long before most of you were born. Alot of cars even came from the factory with them, including Super Duty pontiacs of the early 60's, anyone remember those? It was also an option in 1970 for a short time on Pontiac GTO's, they had a special muffler that had a valve on it that worked off of vacuum, you flipped the switch on the dash and the mufflers were simply bypassed, Honest to ***, a factory option, can't remember the RPO code off the top of my head but I have seen them in the past. Pontiac got rid of that option after about 6 months into production. Anyway, this trick is as old as dirt. Actually to me, just cutting off the cat back is kind of hillbilly. I also agree though if you have a well designed exhaust that is big enough to support the motor, you probably wouldn't need the cutouts. My father runs a dual exhaust system on his 69 GTO that is 3 1/2 inches, Dr. Gas X-pipe, shootout mufflers and torque tech tailpipes all the way out to the bumper, this stuff looks like sewer pipe and flows awsome, he doesn't bother opening the headers at the track, just yesterday on a Mustang chassis Dyno he pulled 510 ft. lbs. of torque at the rear wheels through that exhaust system and had a pig rich 11.7 air fuel ratio, there is still more left in it. We need to lean it down some more with a jet change and probably the highspeed air bleeds also. Anyway, don't mean to get off subject, the cutouts are cool go for it. Larry.

 

I just think the whole concept of "I can go fast, let me crawl under my car and unbolt my exhaust system" is a bit hillbillyish as you'd put it. If the car's a race car, get a high flow system that supports it. If its a drag strip only car then get rid of the exhaust.

 

I guess it just comes down to what you like, you really have to be from the old school generation to understand the cutouts, 30 years ago they were cool and even available from the factory, now they seem to be making a come back and people think it is something new Oh well. To each his own. Just do what you like and have fun doing it Larry.

 

Not really, they're just as common now as they've ever been.

 

Yeah ok I'll go spend the 900 bucks that I dont have on a good catback system...Jeez, I never said I wouldn't get a new exhaust system, the one I have now is going to have to go eventually, I just want something to keep me busy in the meantime. I dont even know what you mean by hillbillyish, that's just childish and not a good excuse to not get an exhaust cutout. Come on guys I'd expect better.

 

I agree 91chevrs, I don't see where the cutouts fall under hillbilly mods either, but some people are too young to remember how popular these things were in the 60's and 70's. Even with a great exhaust system it is still interesting to see how much the car picks up by opening the headers, and the cutouts just make it much easier to do that. I use them more as an exhaust tuning tool more than anything else, if the car goes faster than I know there is more to be had in the whole system, whether it be mufflers, piping etc....Besides, nothing sounds better than a screaming V-8 with open headers to me. And it's fun to run around once and a while with the headers open, and the nice thing is, you can cap it up easily without hassle. Like I said before, I generally run my Firebird through the mufflers all the time at the track, on occasion I have pulled the caps off of the cutouts to experiment, the car has picked up as much as 3 tenths depending on the weather. My monza has cutouts also but that is a whole different story when I open those, it goes so lean it requires jetting the carb to get some benifit from it, thats how restrictive the exhaust system is on that car. I find it interesting and fun at the same time. Larry.

 

I did the whole exhaust system on my car all at once... Hedman headers and Y-pipe, Hooker catback, and a $25 Summit 3" cutout. The whole system sounds fantastic, but IMO, sounds even better with the cutout open. What I like about the cutout, is that it has the open exhaust power (and sound), but you don't have to live with the noise all the time, or always be on the lookout for cops, because its only 3 nuts to cap it or uncap it. Doesn't require removing the entire exhaust system.

Best $25 I spent to-date on this car!

 

"Hillbillyish" was used in response to firebirdjones and I discussing sort of half assed mods and was used by him first. I think any obnoxiously loud car is just plain stupid and reminds me of the stereotype of a "hillbilly"'s muffler falling off and he never repairs it. Anyway, I'm sorry my opinion on a public forum offended you. Catbacks don't cost $900. 3" pipe and high flow muffler and you're looking $200. So let me tell you what you want to hear:
"D00d cut-outs R so C001 gEt 1!!!!!!!!!!"

 

Only benifit to a cut out is the oh **** effect of the guy next to you. Get the elcetric motor one dont get the cap on or off one. That way when you get some ***** or whatever messin with ya you can open your cut out and scare em hehe. As far as performance gains, go buy a big sticker that says Camaro or Firebird and put it on the windshield, you will see about the same gains lol.

 

Thats entirely not true. Cutouts especially on a stock system will make a large difference.

 

I see about 3 tenths on my 70 Formula with a real dual system. It's a flowmaster kit that is 2 1/2 inch pipe with the same style 80 series cross flow muffler that is similar to the 3rd gens, only this is a dual in and dual out system just like a factory 2nd gen would have had, and opening the cutouts on that still nets me 3 tenths. I would imagine on a 3rd gen with the single pipe all the way back, plus some run a converter too, that even with an aftermarket system there is still alot of restriction and a cutout may even yield more benifit, but you still have that stinkin y-pipe and everything is getting sandwiched down to one pipe and trying to come out of one cutout, so it is hard to say. I can tell you on a true dual system there is benifit.
My monza has a healthy 406 in it, it is built on the same platform at the 3rd gens only smaller. I have a true dual system on that car, full length headers and both pipes running down the same side of the car, over the axle and into a dual in and dual out flowmaster muffler and then factory looking tailpipes, similar to what you would have to do to a 3rd gen for true duals all the way out the back. I have cutouts on this car also, I have found that this system is extremely restrictive. When I open the cutouts I loose .5 tenths of a second, it goes so lean it pops all the way down track, I have to fatten the carb up so much that when I cap it back up it goes pig rich and runs terrible. When the jetting is right with the caps off I can pick .6 tenths of a second compared to a good run through the exhaust. So this car flops back and forth more than a full second depending on jetting, I almost need another carb ready to go when I pull the caps off, that is how restrictive the system is and how well the cutouts free it up when opened. This is an extreme situation though, a better system on the car from the get go would be better, and I am working on that. Sorry for the long post, Larry.

 

It makes 3-tenths difference, and about 4mph, between capped and uncapped for me. Like I said, best $25 I ever spent on the Camaro.

 

uh no one even mentioned how much low end torque you loose but removing the exhaust from the equation.....

i ran open headers on my car when i dropped my exhasut to fix my torque arm.... for just a trip around the block..... the car sucked to drive... it lost all of its fun but sounded cool and loud.....


900 for a cat back.... uh which ones are you looking at... cuz i price out makin a system for mahself, a new better designed true dual system including new mufflers for like 200- 300 bucks only cuz i need 2 new mufflers at $100 piece

 

You don't *lose* any low-end power when you remove the exhaust. All that does (removing the exhaust) is move the powerband up in the rpm range. How much it moves depends on how restrictive the exhaust you removed was.

Mine feels a little more 'soggy' at the lower rpms, but what it supposedly loses there, it GREATLY makes up for with the increase in mid range and top end power. Like I said... 3-tenths difference in ET.

 

true true, but when i was drivin around with open headers it was loud as hell and smelled like exhaust and was not much fun to drive unless i was flooring it..... lol none of which are good in daily driver situations.....

IMO i like the sound a proper exhaust

 

The gain from a cutout is awesome!! And I don't think anyone here thought they were new, but didn't know the benefits of them were as great as they are. For $60 welded in, you gain 3/10's and 4mph. There isn't 1 single mod that will give you those gains for that cheap.

 

Well, different cars will have different results... thats just what I got out of it

 

Well you see that's the thing, the RS is my daily driver and an exhaust cutout would be a little loud and endearing.

As much as I like the sound of a loud car passing by me on a roadway or somewhere, I just can't stand being in a loud car for long periods of time, it starts ringing in your ears and you cant carry a conversation. The RS stock exhaust is throaty, deep, and a growl, its loud enough to intimidate those stupid ricers, and yet quiet enough so that you can hear the response and still carry a conversation.

I may just get a good catback for now...I want to install flowmasters on my car but I heard they were not the best choices. Texas Speed and Performance Exhausts are quite nice and they are not that much more expensive than Flowmaster.

 

To what you said above... When the cutout is open, yes thats what life would be like, but they come with caps that you put on, and its just like having stock exhaust. When that cap is on, it sounds no different than if it was just a stock exhaust or whatever catback you have. It only gets loud when you take the cap off (3 nuts, or wingnuts to remove it). Heres mine.

 

I am personally interested in the cable operated one and would like to know more about it. It seems just as good as the electric one but cheaper and without a motor to replace. Plus you can drive around with them open and then close them while merging onto the highway. Or like someone said earlier, open them up at a light to scare some one .

 

the only cable one I have ever seen was the 2" cast iron unit from summit and jegs. Then again I have never really researched it. I guess from an airflow standpoint a 2" hole into the atmosphere would let the majority of the exhaust out even though it is small. I would think It would be about the same effect as a larger one. With it closed it migh suck to have a 2" restriction in the system. The cast Iron thing is kinda strange too. There are probably other ones out there.

 

I would never put cutouts on my car as I preffer the sound of the right exhaust but if you are going to do it do something more trick that just the wingnut style.

try so find some nice electronicly actuated ones or something so you don't have physically cap them or uncap them.

the borla system on my 88 was ajustable. sounded best capped off though. It was just obnoxious with one of the open plates in there.

 

all electronic here

 

Physically uncapping them is not a big deal, takes a whole minute or 2. I do it all the time. I have 2 cars with a pair of cutouts on each, they are affective and have no ill affects on the exhaust system when they are capped up as some are led to believe. The electric version is neat but at $150 a pop thats $600 to do both of my cars I think I will continue to just get my knees a little dirty I can think of alot of other speed parts I would rather spend $600 on and go a hell of alot faster in the process. Nitrous kit comes to mind Larry.

 

I got an electric cutout and was wondering if you guys that already have them would help me out. Where would be the best place to run the wire from the cutout?

 

If you run open headers then (I may be wrong) but don't you have to retune your carb? I mean you are flowing ALOT more than stock, your AF ratio will be completely different. I do love an aggressive exhaust rather than a loud popping one.

 

Depends on how much of a change there actually is... Is it a really radical engine? Does it still have stock exhaust? etc...

I know with mine, my Hooker system is a VERY small restriction on my 350, so I don't have to retune the carb every time.

On the other hand, my cousin has a pretty stout 390 FE Ford big block, with SMALL 2" dual exhaust on it. Its got cutouts as well, and once he gets it tuned right for capped exhaust, open exhaust doesnt run right, and vice-versa...

It really depends on what you are working with...

 

Hey, come on now. Id like it to be known, that I have a big Camro sticker on ym windshield, and YES i did see huge performance gains. Come on, id expect better from you senior members. At leas tim good for a genuine laugh huh? Im looking into a cut-out as well, my brother has one on his 4thgen T/A, and its amazing. Im ocnfident mine will sound a bit more throaty than his. The only drawback on the higher compression motors, is the obnoxious backfiring sound, and raspiness. howeve,r he did opt for the borla cat-back, notorious for that, I guess its a matter of opinion. Next mod: A Giant Bowtie on the rear window!!

 

The differences in opinions here are due to the differences in how each of us use our cars. I personally would think driving around on the street with open exhaust is obnoxous. But I have a cut out. I did not buy it so I could drive around setting off car alarms (I might have years ago in high school) I got it because it is a hell of alot cheeper than a high flow catback and highflow cat. I dont street race so do I need all my power on the street? no. I have stock exhaust from the cat back aside from a flowmaster 80 series that gives me the sound that i want. If you are thinking about doing exhaust mods to get better track time i say go for it! Get the cut out. If you are wanting exhaust for the sound or to show off, I would not sugest it. Oh and on the power plates or cables... i really dont see the point. Take the damn wing nuts off when you are gonna race. Having the ability to open and close it in the car while driving seems like you would just be asking for trouble.

 

Anyone have problems with the electric cut outs leaking?

 

do you guys think its worth it to get the electric one? seems way cooler. if anyone has an electric one that had some cool experiences with it please tell stories. you never know who youre going to bump into when you leave wherever youre parked.

 

It'd be niceto have if you like to crack it open occasionally for a little fun on the street or whatever.

If you only use it at the track, and rarely (if ever) on the street like me, then just one with a 3-bolt cap is fine.

 

i personally love my cutout, even more so now that i have an electric valve. the only think that could make it "hillbillyish" is if you drove this mustang

 

Whats the difference in that and "I can go fast, let me pop my trunk and open the valve to my bottle"

 

My point exactly, nitrous is lame too. Same with going to a track and pulling half your interior out to get that extra .1 second in the quarter mile.

Also, cutouts being removed when you head to the track is entirely different, that makes perfect sense.

 

Why is nitrous lame?

 

I personally feel, and I know many will argue with me although I could care less, that a good sports car should have the power all the time. I think using nitrous is like strapping a rocket to the back of a car, sure it makes you faster, but its not power always available.

 

he didnt imply that it was lame. he implied that controlling your power and being able to turn it on and off isnt hillbillyish. basically, one person said it was that to close and open your exhaust. and he answered with basically thats what nitrous is.