DrRaySomeDay

Hey guys,

I can't afford headers or even a catback exhaust right now but still wanted to be able to crank up the exhaust volume for cruising around in the country. I know it's not a performance gain. I had a non-electric cutout on my LS1 Z28 before I redid the motor and exhaust and I thought it sounded great.

In addition to not-affording headers, I can't afford a set of dual-electric cutout openers. I was hoping to just install some manual cutouts for now and opt for electric openers when income allows. I don't mind leaving them open most of the time or having to raise the car to add/remove the plate.

I bough a pair of QTP 2.5" stainless steel cutouts. The exact ones that I bought can be seen by searching on Amazon for "QTP 10250 2.5" Stainless Steel Exhaust Cutout". I did not know if linking to them directly would violate forum rules, so that's why I didn't provide the link.

I brought them to my exhaust guy today to install and he looked at them and said they would not fit? He told me the only kind he's ever installed were side-opening electric cutouts and he installed them towards the 'loop near the back wheels'. Is he right that these will not fit? He said if he put them on, the 'cutout' opening would be facing down and scrape and that there was no way to install them with the opening facing out horizontal to the ground.

If he is correct, what non-electric cutouts can I buy to have installed on my car?

DrRaySomeDay

I will try to upload the picture of the style I got from Amazon, hopefully this works:

1Willy1

I still don't understand the cut outs......

"gee theres a group of cool guys walking down the road, lemme open my cut out to impress them with the sound of my car, then ill turn it back off once theyre out of sight"

Id feel so ashamed of myself after a few days of that

Anyways when my car was stock and I couldn't find a deal on a used exhaust, I just drilled a few holes in the stock one, helped a little bit and it was free.

If you want a lot of sound just cut a larger hole

1Willy1

A pair of those must of been $100 or more, theres a guy selling a set of borla straight pipes right now in the classifieds for $150

Try to return those man and just get a used exhaust set up

After install your gonna be in for $200-$300 for those things

DrRaySomeDay

I would like the ability to close them and have it sound stock during the week. I am a medical student and think it would look rather unprofessional to drive to school with straight pipes IMO, but I appreciate your second response in that you were actually offering up some advice.
I do plan on returning those. You were right, they were $100 right on the money. The install is going to be $60 if I can find a pair that fit.

If anyone knows which cutouts would fit, I appreciate your time in helping me out!

1Willy1

yea sorry I cant be much help in that respect

few guys here run cut outs, or used too , im sure they will chime in eventually

sirdano

A muffler bypass is only 100 at a muffler shop.

tmatthews

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ed-review.html

CactusCat

DrRay, it's pretty tight underneath a Vette. They're very low to the ground and exhaust tunnel is full (mid pipe). Just take a look underneath and you'll see for yourself. Your exhaust guy is correct in stating that the only place to put that extra pipe (the cutout with the plate on it) is pointing down because there's no other place to put it and with the car so low, it will scrape. There might be a possibility to install it on the catback right where it attaches to the mid pipe but I'd have to see the size of this part you bought... GL with this item.

pups

I think that may be true if you were to roll up in a Civic with straight pipes, but straight pipes on a Corvette sounds awesome. (or muffler delete, if you want to sound fancy)

I got mine done for $160 with dual tips

El original

I would be concerned with the carbon monoxide coming into the cab...call me old school but it doesn't get any less dangerous with age.

DrRaySomeDay

I have come across those muffler bypass's in my searches and they look like a good option. After listening to some video clips on Youtube, they don't really sound to extreme either. It's not like I am cruising in or out of my school's parking lot at WOT.

Is a muffler bypass something an exhaust shop should be able to fabricate on their own, or is there a kit I would be expected to supply them with?

If they could fab it up on there own, I would still appreciate any links to the muffler bypass kits that are available. I wouldn't mind saving my guys any potential headaches. I appreciate all the helpful replies to this rather basic post too, thank you everyone!

Corvette#2

Here's my Electric QTP cutouts. One of the motors died in the open position. Not expensive to fix but I haven't bothered. I leave them permanently open.






Yeah if the car is stock, it won't be extreme at all. It's not that loud considering the mufflers are totally bypassed. The sound is definitely better than stock. But when I get the spare money, I would still like a proper cat back system, probably Borla or Billy Boat.

BOTYNV1

not much cash for a decent set-up.

Not4spd

That is the link to my thread. Cutouts are still on and I still enjoy them and continually get compliments. They have held up fine for being a dirt cheap exhaust mod.

Patches

I have a set of those "Y" cutouts that came with my FLP headers many years ago and I placed them up against the exhaust in the wider section of the exhaust tunnel where the cats sit and they would not fit without hanging down low - they would scrape big time. I ended up installing a set of QTP cutouts near the tranny and they worked great. I ran them open most f the time, even with heads/cam/headers as the C5 sounds great with cutouts in that configuration.

Vetteman Jack

Until you can afford an electric cutout setup, I would agree that the muffler bypass mod sounds like the best option. Good luck in whatever you do.

Bill Curlee

Have you ever ridden INSIDE a C5 or C6 when it was running on STRAIGHT PIPES?

Yes,,, Its LOUD. We all like loud BUT,,,,,, You also have to deal with in cabin RESONANCE! The ear splitting resonance will get on your nerves really fast. You cant listen to the radio, hold a conversation or find women who will put up with it. Its just PLAIN NASTY.

The exhaust note is not only LOUD but its GUTTERAL and crude! Its not something that sounds good.

If you want to test it out temporarily, Unbolt the midpipe from the over the axel pipe. Find some LONGER bolts at Home depot and put some metal spacers (large nuts) between the two flanges and tighten the bolts. You will have a 3/4" - 1" space between the two pipe flanges and PLENTY of area where the NOISE will come out.

NOTE. DO NOT drive like this for an extended period of time because the exhaust is very close to the fuel tanks.

You will see EXACTLY what OPEN pipes sound like!

I bet ya wont want them as bad as you did before the experiment!

BC

Shakeydeal

I agree with Bill. It's not likely to be a pleasant sound. If it were me, I would just live with it and save my pennies for a real catback exhaust in the future.

Shakey

Patches

As long as a set of cats is in place, it should sound great. My setup was Vararam/heads/cam/headers/hi-flow cats and x-pipe before the cutouts and it sounded sweet. No resonance whatsoever, believe it or not. In fact, I had no cutouts with this setup but with a set of Borla 2-tip Stingers and the drone was so bad it would make me naseous within 30 minutes - I had to replace them with Ti's to be able to drive the car again. But with cutouts open, I could drive it for hours, no problem. It really depends on the setup.