i was talking with my buddy today about open headers and what to do to make the exhaust street legal. he said you can get a y pipe that has a valve that opens when you want streetable exhaust and it closes when you want open headers or something like that so if someone starts revving their engine at you you can put em to shame lol. is this true?

 

he was more than likely talking about an exhaust cut out, you just unbolt the cap at the y and there ya go, open y. You can also get them electrically operated versions.

 

Yeah, he's talking about a cutout.

The manual ones are on summit for like $30 bucks. QTP sells a good electric one, it's like $150+ though.

 

do you think the electronic ones are worth the money?

 

no, electric ones can be really crappy if you dont get a good one

 

The plus side is you don't have to crawl under the car to open them up. Just flip a switch. This is useful at stop lights.

 

thats what i was thinking. can give someone quite a surpise when they think their car is faster than yours

 

just so you know, running open headers can makes your car faster and a lot louder but its actually really bad for your valves. No back pressure means your valves are going to get worn out faster.

 

That's a load of crap.

 

I've only heard an electric cutout on a car once, 86q_ta's car. 305 LG4. it sounds awesome, i'd highly recommend it.
They tend to leak, so even with it closed, it's more rumbly than stock.


and yea, that's crap. There is some correlation to running open headers and burnt valves, *I think*. But that's due to running lean.

 

I think it also had to do with valves getting bent/warped due to heating up and cooling too fast. Still though, that may have been true in the 60's but not with todays parts and it has absolutly nothing to do with back pressure.

 

in that case...i can run open headers on my car all the time with no damage to anything... well unless it melts something?!?!

 

umm yea, but you'll go deaf first.

 

my car is loud with headers open, but only when your standing by the engine, like with the hood open revving it. I can deal with it from inside the car as long as the windows are closed. I just dont feel like modifying my y pipe right now. lol

 

Open headers wont hurt the valves, it will just kill your lowend torque. Idealy, you should have the cutout closed at take off, then open it as the rpms go up. Cut outs are fun, but the rasp and 5 hp lost isn't worth it. Just get a test pipe and 4 inch mufflex. that will be loud enough.