Electronic Exhaust Cut-outs...

[MTAMERC9]

I was at a meet not too long ago with a bunch of other Marauders and there happened to be a couple of the Impala boys there. One in particular stuck out b/c when he started the car it sounded mean. But then he flipped a switch and the thing sounded wicked. Has anyone toyed around with electronic cutouts on their Marauder? If so, does anyone know where to get them and what diameter? Any feedback?

[TooManyFords]

Ask and ye shall receive! I've got that 'wicked' sound on my Marauder. Here's a link for the entire story (http://john.frieltek.com/toomanyfords/marauder/Cutouts/default.asp)

And a picture:

http://john.frieltek.com/toomanyfords/Marauder/Cutouts/img/cutouts001.jpg

If you have any questions, just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

Huzzah!

John

[MTAMERC9]

Looks sweet!!! Do you have a pic of the switches inside the vehicle and where they are mounted? Also how much did it run you to have it installed? And when they are open, how loud and nasty is it? LOL

[TooManyFords]

Looks sweet!!! Do you have a pic of the switches inside the vehicle and where they are mounted? Also how much did it run you to have it installed? And when they are open, how loud and nasty is it? LOL
Thanks! I'm proud of how it turned out.

The switch, only one, is currently mounted on the left side of the center gauge pod down by my right leg. It is sort of hidden and out of the way. I plan on relocating it to the upper console sometime soon along with the Nitrous arming switch, the purge switch and the remote bottle opener and heater. Funny how these switches seem to multiply as fast as those silly computer power cables hidden in a closet. :)

It cost about $400 for the pair of cut-outs (2.5") and the y-pipe. All the electrical wires and switch were included in the kit. I had to have a local muffler shop customize the pipes as this is not a "bolt-on" kit. None of them are. I think I spent about $75 for the 'hot wrench' changes.

How nasty? NASTY! Check out some of the runs at the track and you can hear it from the stands. LOL!

Huzzah!

John

[Marauder2005]

How nasty? NASTY! Check out some of the runs at the track and you can hear it from the stands. LOL!

Huzzah!

John

DRROOLLLSSS mmmmmm swweeeetttt swwweeeeet sssoouunnddd

[prchrman]

Have you checked dynoed with closed and open...what's the delta...willie

[TooManyFords]

I have not had it on a dyno yet, but am shooting for early September. When I do and it is all 'dialed in', we'll make a second run with them open (film at 11) and see exactly what the difference is. I know it cut .5 of my 1/4 mile time pre-supercharged so it will be interesting to see.

Huzzah!

John

[TooManyFords]

Two weeks ago the local 70's musclecar group I hang with went out for a cruise and dinner to a grill-it-yourself steak house about 30 miles out of town. When we're all done with eating and bragging, we go out and treat the patrons of the restaurant to a burnout contest and film it.

Here's the group photo:

http://john.frieltek.com/toomanyfords/marauder/images/forum-08250500.jpg

All of these rides are restored muscle from the 70's except that one that mysteriously looks like an Iowa Hwy Patrol car, 5th from the left. (ahem..)

I'm still waiting for the video we made and will try to get it posted here yet this week, but rest assured that with almost 500 hp to the rear wheels, that 'cop car' with the cut-outs really looked and sounded good!

Huzzah!

John

[Vortex]

Im sure you guys have heard of Big Daddy Don Walser's "Down at the Sky-Vue Drive Inn" song regarding a certain 51 Mercury with toggle switch cutouts. Trust me and Google it.

[LeadSSled]

Although I don't think that I'm the "Impala guy" that MTAMERC9 ran into, I do have the e-cutouts on my Impy. It is one of my most favorite mods.
http://home.mindspring.com/~tkehne/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/ecutouts.jpg

I also had a pair of 30-degree turndowns made to keep the exhaust off of the floorboards. It's not an issue on a dragstrip, but can be with 20 minute long sessions of running on a road course which I do a couple of times per year. My switch is hidden in the back of the coin slot in the left side of the instrument panel. You would have to be familiar with the GM B-body to know where that is, but it is out of site and easy to reach.

As for dyno differences, it's about 12 more HP with the cutouts open for me, but my "cat back" is only a 2-1/4" system. It would be less with a 2-1/2" exhaust. I went with the e-cutouts made by Dave Hacker at DMH Performance becuase he offers a 4-year no questions asked warrantee. You can order his direct from his website: DMH Performance link (http://www.dmhperformance.com)

This is a great mod. I think that you will enjoy it.

[rumble]

Ask and ye shall receive! I've got that 'wicked' sound on my Marauder. Here's a link for the entire story (http://john.frieltek.com/toomanyfords/marauder/Cutouts/default.asp)

And a picture:

http://john.frieltek.com/toomanyfords/Marauder/Cutouts/img/cutouts001.jpg

If you have any questions, just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

Huzzah!

John

John, do you think that their is any way these could possibly be (on a stock system)
mounted in FRONT of the cats? Just looking at the stock exhaust manifolds and cats
I would think that you would need to put a flange on each end of the cut out. One flange
to mate to the manifold and one to mate to the cat pipe. I don't know how long this would
make the cut out from flange to flange and I don't know if you could drop the cats down
far enough to get them in between the stock pipes and manifolds. Obviously this would
eliminate the cat restriction when using the car on the strip or road racing. Naturally you
couldn't open the cut outs on the street because that would be illegal. The other issue
this would bring up is if the exhaust gas is exiting out the side and not going past the O2
sensors how would that affect the A/F mixture.

Thanks for paving the way....................

[Blackened300a]

Oh Boy Im feeling a trip to the muffler shop if this will not hurt anything on my Somewhat stock motor.

[Petrograde]

Naturally you
couldn't open the cut outs on the street because that would be illegal

...of course, no one here would do that! :P

[TooManyFords]

John, do you think that their is any way these could possibly be (on a stock system) mounted in FRONT of the cats?
No, the first pair of cats bolt directly to the factory exhaust manifold. Usually cut-outs are reserved for header applications. However, you could put them after the cats and you'd still be loud as hell!


Naturally you couldn't open the cut outs on the street because that would be illegal.
I just point at the closest ricer with the big fart can and shrug my shoulders (just after closing them and before LEO gets beside me!).


The other issue this would bring up is if the exhaust gas is exiting out the side and not going past the O2 sensors how would that affect the A/F mixture.
Which is why I have my rear O2 sensors turned off and not installed. The rear ones only tell you when the cats go bad anyway (right everyone?) and the fronts tell the engine if you're running rich or lean.


Thanks for paving the way....................
Caution! Road construction ahead!

LOL!

Huzzah!

John

[rumble]

No, the first pair of cats bolt directly to the factory exhaust manifold. Usually cut-outs are reserved for header applications. However, you could put them after the cats and you'd still be loud as hell!

John

OK, so unbolting the cat pipes from the manifolds and installing the cut outs there is not such a hot idea.
It just seemed real trick.

Thanks again for all the great info.

[rumble]

...of course, no one here would do that! :P

Naw, no one I know of, why that would be breaking the law.

[TooManyFords]

OK, so unbolting the cat pipes from the manifolds and installing the cut outs there is not such a hot idea.
It just seemed real trick.

Thanks again for all the great info.
I'm not saying it can't be done, it just depends on how much money you'd want to throw at doing it from there. It would be a LOT because there is very little room and adding a second 2.5" pipe to travel down and exit below would get spendy at a muffler shop. Ask TAF here what he thinks as he it the local Hot Wrench on the site.

Huzzah!

John

[John F. Russo]

Ask and ye shall receive! I've got that 'wicked' sound on my Marauder. Here's a link for the entire story (http://john.frieltek.com/toomanyfords/marauder/Cutouts/default.asp)

And a picture:

http://john.frieltek.com/toomanyfords/Marauder/Cutouts/img/cutouts001.jpg

If you have any questions, just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

Huzzah!

John


Thank you very much for the very fine photos that you took of your mod.

I may very well consider doing the same thing.

[TooManyFords]

This combo is going to be upgraded to Cutout V2.0 this spring. Todd doesn't know it yet, but I'll be scheduling a trip down there to have something -else- done after the new race motor is put in this winter.

Since these pictures were taken, I did have it on a dyno and we ran some tests. With everything closed up, the car made 471rwhp. With the cutouts open, it made 477rwhp but lost torque below 5000 rpm. The engine needs back pressure to build torque down low and the combination of the Kooks and the cutouts showed this. In other words, the cutouts only benefit the engine in the 1320 and then only worth a few extra ponies at that. I guess that is a testament to the ability of the Magnaflow Hi Flow cats to really be free breathing. All this was with a ProCharger running 12.5 psi at 6200 rpm.

My next system will still have the cutouts in there but with a twist. I'll take lots of pictures.

Cheers!

John

[LeadSSled]

I know this is a completly different animal, but I gained 12 HP and 14 ft. lbs at the peaks with the cutouts open on my LT1. The gain with cutouts open will be largely dependant on what you are running for an exhaust system. I have a fairly restrictive 2-1/4" dual exhaust, so my gains were a little more. And the change to a 2800 RPM stall torque converter completly negated the torque loss on the bttom end of the RPM range. Besides, it just plain sounds great! ;)

[SergntMac]

I know this is a completly different animal, but I gained 12 HP and 14 ft. lbs at the peaks with the cutouts open on my LT1. Indeed it is, your LT-1 has more torque to spend in the low RPM ranges. IMHO, if you added this mod to a relatively stock N/A Marauder, you could slow the car's performance in the first 1/8th mile of a race.

Looking at John's "open vs. closed" dyno test, it's a judgement call for the Marauder owner. Earning a few HP in higher RPMs (above 5500), vs. giving up a few pounds of torque in the low RPMs (under 3000). Since it's torque that moves the car, and if you're serious about your 1320 performance, it seems that cut-outs are not in your best performance interest.

But, they do sound very cool.

[glassman99]

LeadSSled: First...THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMUNICATION AND THROUGHNESS REGARDING SSHS5. We need as a GROUP to come fund and staff a SSHS6 in Commerce. I am wiilling to help in some capacity next year to keep SSHS6 alive. I live in Braselton and am very close to Commerce. Let me know what we can do to keep this going.

[Mike M]

Curious as to putting in the cutouts on a bone stock system (no headers). It might be worth something as it would eliminate my rstrictive exhaust and I might see a bit more H.P. gain.

[TripleTransAm]

Since it's torque that moves the car, and if you're serious about your 1320 performance, it seems that cut-outs are not in your best performance interest.

This is definitely applicable to the LT1... I recall when the LT1 F-bodies were current, the big exhaust "thing" was the Borla adjustable cat-back. All F-bodies from the 80s onward (maybe 1 year exception, in the mid 80s) had a single pipe coming over the axle and into a transverse muffler, with two exits (one per side). The Borla system offered a larger diameter pipe from the cat back, over the axle, with a "Y" split: one branch going into a transverse muffler with one exit out the driver's side and out to the bumper, and the other branch going straight out to the passenger's side of the bumper... straight through. A system of block off plates with varying size holes could be installed after the "y" thanks to a flange system... one could 'adjust' the amount of exhaust heading straight out and how much going into the muffler by restricting the open path. You had options from fully closed (all muffler) to fully open (all straight pipe with some allowances for pipe restriction, etc.).

Of course, the "in" thing was to use the system wide open (the fully open plate in place). But time after time, it was proven that the best track results came from using a plate that was one step up from fully closed, if I recall correctly. Not what one would initially expect. Proof that open exhausts aren't always the hot ticket for 1/4 mile.

[Petrograde]

My next system will still have the cutouts in there but with a twist. I'll take lots of pictures.

Cheers!

John

I look forward to seeing it John! :beer:

[jawz101]

I am curious if anyone has done an e-cutout group buy. You know... just for fun?

[TooManyFords]

Two weeks ago the local 70's musclecar group I hang with went out for a cruise and dinner to a grill-it-yourself steak house about 30 miles out of town. When we're all done with eating and bragging, we go out and treat the patrons of the restaurant to a burnout contest and film it.

Here's the group photo:

http://john.frieltek.com/toomanyfords/marauder/images/forum-08250500.jpg

All of these rides are restored muscle from the 70's except that one that mysteriously looks like an Iowa Hwy Patrol car, 5th from the left. (ahem..)

I'm still waiting for the video we made and will try to get it posted here yet this week, but rest assured that with almost 500 hp to the rear wheels, that 'cop car' with the cut-outs really looked and sounded good!

Huzzah!

John

Done! I was able to get the original S-VHS tape from this meet and the prior one and convert/edit them into WMV format 640x480 videos. For more info on these and links to download, CLICK HERE (http://john.frieltek.com/toomanyfords/marauder/videos) and be sure to select "Save As". I've only got 896Kbps upload DSL so plan on the downloads taking a while if you all hit this at once.

Cheers!

[Rider90]

I've only got 896Kbps upload DSL so plan on the downloads taking a while if you all hit this at once.

Cheers!1%! :banana:

[Mike M]

The links do not seem to be working correctly, after almost 5 minutes and only 5% buffered.

[TooManyFords]

I only have 895Kbps upload with this DSL and the files are really big. Start the download and go out and race some ricers for a while. LOL!

John

[jawz101]

TMFords, thanks for the pm's. I'm an insurance claim away from getting the headers and e-cutouts. I'm chomping at the bit right now to get it done.

You may want to try a free, open-source video editor called Virtual Dub (http://www.virtualdub.org/)
and trim the video quality down so we don't hit your server hard.

Shoot... I think I'm going to post a few media resizers app tips in the forums somewhere. I'm sure someone might like them.

By the way, what's with the Samurai sword killer:D

[TooManyFords]

If you had a problem with the downloads, I had to enable QoS so my VoIP would continue to work. I promise not to reboot the DSL box again.

I'm going to go experiment with resizing these for the web downloads and even a little streaming since my IIS supports it.

jawz: The Samurai Sword is for honorably sending ricers to the great beyond.. LOL!

John

[jawz101]

Ha! Well I guess they get what they deserve.

[jawz101]

I don't want to hijack this thread. I'll post a cutout question on a new one

[edit] Sgt/TMF- could you take a look at this thread? I'd appreciate your input
badlanzhpe.com Y4 e-cutout (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23429)