Joe_G

Had QTP cutouts installed by Florida Performance in Fort Lauderdale. Overall very pleased with the job Rob, the shop owner, did. This was his first C6 and he found a great place to put them and made the custom mandrel bent Y-pipes to maximize flow from the cutouts. We found no way to put them right after the collectors but they fit well by the trans. I have the DTE brace too but it wasn't in the way.

Installed the wiring myself along the drivers side rocker panel, behind seat then out the wheel well under the carpet. Removed the rear inner fender and drilled a small hole in the wheel well then ran the wire down to the cutouts. Hardest part is finding a hot wire when the ignition is on on these C6's. I ended up tapping the seat heater fuse as others here have done.

They are loud and DEEP when open at idle. I've actually heard louder exhaust though, I was kind of surprised they are not louder. I think it is because of the turn downs and the fact that I have cats and the pipes are pretty long before the cutouts. On the track they have a nice race car sound - I'd say like Borla Stingers plus 25%. When you open them at a stoplight you will turn heads, that's for sure.

I did not see any track gain with them so far - but we had an unusually cold day at the track Saturday (negative 230 DA and 53 degrees and 70% humidity) and I could not get any grip at the line, spinning every time.

I did notice on my HP Tuners logs at the strip I was running lean so I added some fuel, but I can't say if that was because the cutouts or the cold weather but I will find out soon. We don't stay cool long.

Overall happy with the mod, it gives me quiet during my morning drive but loud when I'm at the track which is what I wanted.

Here is a video of idle with cutouts open and closed. The gain on the mike makes the closed sound much louder than it is, it's really quiet with factory mufflers even with my cam.



Here are some pics:

dennis50nj

looks nice joe. that good da gets me everytime

LS2-Zomb!e

schilitj

Joe

, can't wait to hear what your vette sounds like

What did the total setup cost? How long did it take to install? You know me, never stop with the mods/add-ons. Maybe this is something I need to consider after the Z06 fenders

Jeff

cmb13

I don't know, Jeff, don't you think the Corsas with the headers are enough?

Looks like a nice, clean installation, Joe!

glennhl

Joe, great job, they look great! I picked up 26 rwhp with my cutout on my 01 cammed Z28, but I keep hearing our catback is not that bad. However, I would still hope you will get 10 rwhp with that mod. You should pick up 1 mph on the top end. As soon as you have a similar day, go to this website and correct both your old speed and new speed and see if you get that 1 mph:

http://www.modulardepot.com/density.php

schilitj

It's never enough

ShockerRacing

I would love to hear what it sounds like. Any possibility of getting a sound clip or video?

VET4LES

Looks good.

Joe_G

Thanks for the nice comments all!

Jeff:
The cutouts are $330 and the shop charged $400. McCord cutouts are about $100 cheaper but I tried in vain to reach them in 2005 and they never returned my call so when I was ready to buy this time I went with QTP. Rob the owner did the job while I waited, took a couple of hours. Have a listen before you do it, your car is pretty loud already!

Glenn:
Thanks for the link, that is a cool website! I hope to get a few ponies. My main reason for getting these was I needed some more sound out of my car and I just didn't want to pony up the $1k for Borla Stingers. I have the Magnaflow 14336 mufflers but they weren't loud enough for me. So now I have the choice!

Shocker:
My buddy got a set installed the day before mine and he has some video. He posted to youtube and I'll post a link here when it's live.

C6Rluvur

damn...$400 labor for 2 hours work? sounds like your Exhaust guy thinks he's a young attorney

Joe_G

Yea, kind of pricey. I've yet to find a cheap exhaust shop here and I've been to three. This is the only shop I'll go back to, he did a nice custom job. He rebuilds headers for Ferraris for warranty work (you should see those spaghetti messes, I couldn't believe it - they literally cook themselves in use) so he's a true craftsman and gets paid accordingly. I would have liked to pay 1/2 what I did but they fit great and don't rattle so I'm not complaining.

BTW I (my company) pay my lawyer $600/hr! Not happily mind you. Way too many lawyers down here. You need to hire a good one to keep the lousy ones off your back.

glennhl

I had a Street Pro cutout on my 01 Z28 that had a set of Stainlessworks headers and a 224/.581/112 cam. I know what you mean wanting more sound out of your car. I would open the cutout anytime I was at the track and I had people with race cars come up and tell me how good my car sounded.

However, part of the sound was the cam. I miss that sound, but I'm not sure if I want the cutouts on my Vette. I just hit the button way too often on the street and I was just plain lucky I never got a ticket! I'm 53 years old and I still have no self-restraint. :o

calemasters

Joe,

I am concerned about damage or fire due the heat from the exhaust gas and also the carbon monoxide gas under the car when the valves are open.

Joe_G

I would not sit idling with them open for a long time. I have a convertible so I'm less concerned as my top is normally down, but even so, I really just use them at the track and I don't smell exhaust (and mine smells due to HF cats). They are 95% of their volume at 5% open. As soon as you crack them they are loud. If you just want the sound you can barely open them and get your sound so that cuts the heat & exhaust under the car.

I have heard tales of rear springs melting from excessive use at road course events if the turndowns aren't used or if they improperly blow the exhaust on the spring so be careful to get proper turndowns. Again, my short use at the 1/4 mile track (11 seconds, right?) doesn't concern me.

Patches and SpeedyZ have had these for years in the C5 tech section. I searched many threads before I went this route.

Joe_G

I completely agree with you on all points! I normally hate the sound of open headers on a stock cam car. But this isn't bad... the cutouts are so far back that it's not just obnoxiously loud, just deep and loud. At speed it sounds like the Stingers to me but a little louder.

And there might be a cam in my future.

glennhl

Nice! I kind of thought you would cam it sometime in the future. I'm not sure, I really like the way my car idles and drives. The 224 I had in the Z28 was OK, but shook pretty good at idle and had the cruise control affect. Maybe I'm just getting old! Hey, but that LS1 sure ran like a raped ape with that cam and open cutout.

ben dover

Joe, can you give me a rough idea how long it takes to go from closed to open?

c6speedjon

those cutouts from qtp look a little more revised from when i had them on my T/A they really didnt work well, my other friend had them on his and they kept breaking... broke on me twice had to modify it with a set of washers to make it stronger so it wouldnt break! hope they fixed their issues! other than that i loved the cutouts!!! congrats cant wait to hear it also! get that vid up!

Joe_G

It takes 5 seconds from closed to full open. QTP posts here from time to time and they say they did revise and upgrade the cutouts a few years ago. Several people on the C5 tech section have years of trouble free action so I hope the bugs are worked out!

My buddy Wanttospeed got the video up, his were installed the day before mine and sound pretty much the same. He's got headers and hollowed cats and stock TI exhaust.

Of course his cam sounds a little better than mine...

Great job on the video, but I'll have to speak to him about the radio station they are playing at his shop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6R1NXesihU