When I first bought my car, a 95 Z28 A4, I had a cutout(cat gutted as well) welded in before the axle. I thought that it was great, sounded loud and obnoxious, the way i like it, and gave a slight performance gain. With just the cutout, I pulled a 13.858 @100 at the track.

6 months later(yesterday), i got the crazy idea to unbolt the I-pipe from the cat and rebolt the right side of the I-pipe to the left side of the cat, leaving the cat wide open. As soon as i started the car i could hear a difference. It was alot deeper and louder at low RPMs and downright NASTY at WOT. So i took it to the track and pulled a best run of 13.711 @101.

So i ask, why spend money on a cutout when all you one cat guys can just take the pipe off and get more results. It is just as easy to close up as a cutout and yields better results, so why not?

 

people like the cutout cause its legal to have on the car, it will pass inspection closed, just taking off the I-pipe is not, nor is having the exhaust not clear the rear axle in a lot of states.

 

A cutout is as legal and easy to close as what i did, I didnt take the I-pipe off, i simply moved it over temporarily. There is a bolt on the left and right of the cat. I removed the bolts, slid the pipe over and bolted the left side of the cat to the right side of the I-pipe. It took me 5 minutes to do and 5 minutes to bolt back up.

 

ttt

 

ya but a cutout is still way easier, if you have an electric its a simple push of a button. Where I live (Michigan) removing the two bolts would not be happening to often as the harsh winters rust everything together real solid, plus you must jack up the car to get under to do the work, etc. My homemade cutouts consist of plumbers 3 inch pipe with a cap on the end, all I do is unscrew the things, no bolts to mess with, plus it doesn't leak at all, no gaskets, and takes about 30 seconds. The only thing I do is put grease on the threads to keep them from rusting during winter. Far as price, I used some old 3 inch piping cost of 15 dollars for 4 ft section and less than 10 bucks for the plumbers pipe and caps. I would much rather have this than trying to unbolt my exhaust each time. In fact when I did my true duals I didn't even bother unbolt the ld exhaust cause it was so rusted together, much faster and easier to use the sawzall

 

The electric cutouts are even cooler. They kinda remind me of the old cable operated ones, which I think summit still sells, but they are only like 2 or 2.5 in. diameter.

I can think of nothing more pleasing than sitting in your car at a redlight somewhere next to a ricer w/a fartcan all revving wanting to race, flipping a switch and opening a cutout. Then you proceed to stab in the clutch pedal or shift the auto into N, and rev until the rice burner doesn't know whether to cry, wait out the green and go on the next one, or go ahead and race since his stickers add 50 hp. He decides to go for it, and as the LT1 blows him away, the sweet reverberations of an american V8 through open cutouts run through his mind for weeks. Never again will he even dare.

Oops, sorry, I guess I was daydreaming.

Well, at any rate, if you're just wanting an open exhaust for the strip I guess pulling the I pipe would be great, but you don't always want to alert the PoPo to your presence on the street, or wake the little old lady that lives next door.

---J.Bird

 

Legal? I don't know about that........

Technically there's nothing wrong with it. However, it's extremely techincal. In most states, you need to have a full exhaust. Cat, muffler, etc. If you don't have them, it's illegal. Cut-outs bypass all of that which make it illegal.

Also there's a decible level that cars can not exceed. It's basically discretion (to the cops) if they want to pursue it. At my local track, you can't have a certain decible on street nights, so I need to cap my cutout when I race.

 

if u ask me, 30 bucks for 10-14 hp isnt to shabby, so to answer your question, the people who need cutouts are the ones who dont feel like spending money on a catbacks. I chose mine because being stationed in alaska i just couldnt see spending almost the price of the damn exhaust for shipping it. Cutouts are way cheaper and flow better end of story.

 

not having the exhaust clear the rear axle is illegal in some states? ive never heard that before.... I might be introuble :/

 

Thats what i was trying to get at. Cutouts are not cheaper than unbolting the intermediate pipe. Its free, all you need is a 15mm socket and a ratchet and 5 minutes of your time. Plus it sounds better than a cutout and it dropped my ET about a tenth and a half.