I'm looking for an exhaust cutout and have found a cheap one already but now the question of where to install it. I was thinking of right after the cat so I don't spit up any codes but will it be loud if its after the cat, I want it for noise Lol. Also whenI'm idling sometimes I get a crazy loud rattle, any ideas

 

I have a cutout on my 305 TPI camaro aswell as one on my 350 TPI iroc

Cutouts arent actually that loud if they are installed after the cat on a 5.0 motor. Its louder than stock for sure, but not what you would expect. I would find myself wondering if my cutout was open or closed at lights or cruising around town in my 305 camaro.

My Iroc has a 5.7 with a 3" exhaust and new cat.The cutout is installed after the cat. The cutout is much louder than my 5.0 z28. Much louder.

Heres the twist.

After driving around with the cutout on the 305 camaro, I gutted the cat on it and I noticed a HUGE difference in sound. Gutting the cat made the stock muffler sound alot more agressive and is a good bit louder. With the cutout open it is pretty loud. It sounds nasty in a good way at idle or low RPM's. However anything over 1/4th throttle sounds like crap. It is VERY raspy, to an embarrising point. It sounded like a farm truck that lost its exhaust years ago. I made a turn down pipe that attached to the cutout and simply pointed toward the ground. I experimented with differnt lenths of pipe. The longer the lenth, the less rasp. Doing this made the exhaust sound much better by reducing rasp. It actually has a tone unlike running just the cutout without the turn down.

As far as location I mounted my cutout underneath the rear seat. I had it angled slightly upward so that it didn't hang down at all. If you look underneath the car you will see what I mean.




The rattle could be a number of things
Bad Cat
Loose Exhaust Hanger
Peices inside Muffler Broken
Exhaust Leak

Get underneath the car and shake the muffler. If it sounds like coins in a bottle thats your problem. Same with the cat, you might have to try lightly hitting it with a hammer or rubber mallet.

 

I have a 3" QTP pre cat that is LOUD!!!, no joke I think I am going deaf because of it
It was originally mounted under the passenger seat, but after a bad mix of high speed and a hidden dip it was ripped out. Its now been re positioned more towards the back of the passenger seat. I was planning on getting a video of it tomorrow anyways so I will post a link to it so you can hear the sound. If Buggy has any sound or video clips of his that would be perfect to see the difference between pre cat and post cat, even though his is a gutted cat.
Cats really do kill the tone of a car. My buddy just cut out 2 of his 4 cats on a 2001 Mustang GT and did an X pipe and it made a completely different rumble.


BTW, what brand cutout are you going for?

 

Hope this helps a bit

 

That's sounds awesome! With it being before the cat, did you get any engine codes or anything? What about the thing plugged into the cat?

 

No engine codes yet, and it's been on for almost a year now so I don't expect it to be throwing out any ever, can't say the same for you. I do know it messes with the carb a bit as I am going from a some back pressure to free flowing air and back.

Someone much more educated in exhaust than me could probably know for sure, but I do believe it is the A.I.R. tube that comes off the smog pump. If I heard correctly, it was used to heat up our cats so they would be at full efficiency faster as a cold engine and cold cat will produce more emissions. I had mine disconnected and plugged after my first muffler 5 years ago and it seems to have worked out fine. Keep in mind where I live there is no emissions laws so I have no scientific proof off a test that it actually did anything different or not.

 

hmm iI think iI need to try this

 

It's a fun way to go, and very easy to install! Best part about them is when some guy pulls up in his Honda, all decked out with a foot high spoiler, performance stickers all over, under glow, and 18" rims, all which as far as he knows adds at least 30HP each Then he makes the mistake of revving his engine at this old car that doesn't look or sound like it's fast at all and bam, you open that exhaust up and watch his face as you fly off the line on green and blow his ear drums at the same time

So which brand are you thinking of going with?