ZephTheChef

I'm super pleased with how this turned out. It clears all the stock plastics, dumps early enough that it eliminates virtually ALL of the stock kinks/bends, sacrifices absolutely no ground clearance, and is completely invisible from behind the car (unlike a lot of other installs I have seen).


I haven't completely finished wiring it yet, but I did locate a spot for a pass-through into the cabin (through the heater hoses grommet on the passenger side) and just have to decide where to tap into power and where I want to mount the switch (want to keep it pretty well hidden, I like to preserve the clean stock look as much as possible).


Having trouble getting the pictures linked, the uploader is acting weird. Working on it.

ZephTheChef

Pics:

ZephTheChef

I am currently on a borrowed phone and it's pretty old, I haven't been able to get videos to work but I will see if I can get a friend to take/upload some for me at some point. It sounds about like you'd expect though...100% stock quiet until I flip the switch and then 100% mean. Amazing how quiet these cars still are with cutouts relative to other cars I've done with open exhaust/cutouts though. Even compared to other turbo cars. Those baby turbos really do a good job of muffling.

compaddict

iTrader: (1)

Like.

ZephTheChef

Here's a shot of the final switch mounting.

tusabes

We need video clips with the sound !

Photobucket phone app makes it easy to link video

ZephTheChef

The problem is that this borrowed/temporary phone I have will not take video...and also will not download apps, lol. It's a complete piece of crap from like 6 years ago. Am just dealing with it until HTC launches their next phone (probably May).

I will see if I can borrow my dad's go-pro or something.

ZephTheChef

I am actually strongly considering trying to figure out where to stuff some extra mufflers/resonators to cut down on the very slight drone the stock exhaust has at lower RPMs. I get a very noticeable exhaust tone around 1500rpms, especially on decel. I did notice it before, but it's slightly more pronounced now that I have no cats. I want it whisper quiet unless I want it loud. Surely I could squeeze like 4 extra inline resonators into the stock system. Those are all straight-through type so it wouldn't really hurt the performance any (plus, I've always got the cutouts when I'm after performance).

Benzman33

No videos Come on man, get a new phone LOL

ZephTheChef

You're just jealous I'm the only one getting to enjoy the sounds

Oh, I forgot to mention the price tag on this setup for anyone that is interested. This little project cost me a grand total of just under $350 (USD). The cutouts were $330 shipped and I used about half of a 3" mandrel bent 90 (which I had laying around anyway, but they are like $17.95 shipped).

However, it was about 2.5 hours of fab/welding time, and like an hour or so to get the pipes off, and 5 FREAKING HOURS to get the vbands clamped back onto the turbos...that two-bolt clamp with no space to get at is about the worst idea I've ever heard of. I can't imagine even being able to do it with the cats still in place. Getting them off was one thing, but getting the clamp back in place and bolts started would be a miracle with those giant barrels in the way. So in other words if you aren't doing your own fab and labor, I can see how it would be a $1,500+ upgrade.

tusabes

You're going to wait till May for a decent phone ?
buy a $30 android phone with free basic service and no monthly charges at freedompop.com

Where did you buy the exhaust cutouts ?

ZephTheChef

Meh, this one texts and snaps pics just fine. But the internet browsing sucks and I can't seem to download any apps. I'll get by for a few more months. I'm not as addicted to my phone as like 99% of the world.

I bought the cutouts here: http://www.badlanzhpe.com/

I have used them in the past and they have been great with exchanges/making me deals on replacement parts that I lost before getting around to installing the kit. 5-year warranty, and priced a lot better than the QTP kits.

michael neyman

This is a bit late but I had cutouts right after the headers, two transmissions later I realized the cutouts where causing my Trans to overheat. This was on an fbody with a lsx but I moved the dual cutouts back behind the transmission on another build and didn't have the over heat ing issue. Food for thought if you leave them open for an extended period of time.

ZephTheChef

Thank you for that information. I did actually very strongly consider that, and they do dump right in an area that could cause that exact problem, especially with the rear belly tray in place (a small portion of the cutout may dump above it, right beneath the trans). I literally only have them open for a minute at a time though, and I am planning on creating some additional shielding, and short turndowns as well.

ZephTheChef

Ordered a pair of these to install at the muffler outlets to further hush the stock exhaust at cruise/low load without affecting WOT performance. Should dampen the irritating deceleration drone I get quite nicely. Hopefully I will get a video of all 3 "modes" (catless stock, catless stock with these dampers installed, and open cutouts) of the exhaust once I get these installed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161363690869?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

shooffnyc

Damn I completely missed your thread all this time searching for V12 exhaust setups. I was thinking of doing this as well to bypass the stock exhaust BUT keeping all the parts intact. Wasn't sure how the clearance would go. Congrats on that.

BUT the question that I have for you is, are you planning to attach exhaust piping after the valve? Or leaving it as is? I'd love to have true dual exhaust setups. But that seems impossible running quad pipes all the way back lol. One for the straight exhaust and one for the stock.

Doesn't eliminating the piping right after the electric valve cause drone inside the car?

ZephTheChef

That's basically the idea. It's stock quiet (maybe very slightly louder since no cats) until I open the valve and then it's full on race mode...essentially open headers. I don't drive around with it open, it would get annoying in a hurry and probably overheat the transmission. I just open them if I'm going to do a WOT blast and want the extra power/sound. You could put pipes on it, but I don't see how you'd ever have room to run them all the way to the back of the car. I just left them that way for clearance purposes.

With the turbos, it's really not THAT loud. I will try and take a video sometime this week now that I have my new phone. Not sure how good the microphone is. The weather sucks today, but hopefully in a day or two.

shooffnyc

PLEASE make a video!!! There are too many threads with V12 TT exhaust setups that never put up videos after they get the work done.. I'm itching for it as are so many others. lol

ZephTheChef

I will for sure. I have meant to for a long time but then the car has been down for radiator replacement and heat exchanger upgrades. It's pretty much back together and driveable though. As soon as it's not raining I will.

ZephTheChef

Here's a quick clip of my car that I took tonight with the cutouts open and closed from inside the car with the window open as well as just outside. Note that it was in the shop on the lift and missing all the fender and underbody plastics due to intercooler line install in progress so it sounds louder in the vid than normal due to being indoors and lacking those sound-dampening layers. I don't know how good the audio quality is because my speakers on this laptop suck. I will take some drive-by and in-car acceleration videos once I get everything back together after the intercooler lines are done.

Jack_88

I look forward to hearing what it sounds like under load, good work.

Jack_88

Any video for this under load, Zeph?

ZephTheChef

I still haven't gotten WOT misfire sorted out. All I could afford at this point was a used coil which seems to have moved the point at where a misfire happens but not completely solved the issue. I have an in-cabin clip of moderate acceleration with the cutouts open I will try to upload tonight.

ZephTheChef

Crappy cell phone video in-cabin and windows up. The phone mic is crappy so it sounds louder in person. It's essentially silent with the cutouts closed so I'm not going to bother posting a "closed" video at this point. This is getting on the highway probably a bit over half throttle.

Jack_88

Interesting. The exhaust note reminds me of a Diablo, if tamed slightly. It doesn't reach the higher RPM's needed to get that wail, though. Still, nice.