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I have the Hooker Blackheart duals on my 02 Camaro. Have been considering adding a set of cutouts to the exhaust, but curious if placing them before or after the merge/X would be better for performance.
My thoughts are that before the merge is less overall pipe the exhaust has to travel down, which would benefit overall flow. Downside is that the exhaust has to make a sharp 90 to exit out the cutout.
If I place them at the rear, where the pipe starts to bend upwards to go over the axle, I have the benefit of making it more in-line with the exhaust flow, and it's post merge so the scavenging effect from the pipe is still there. I will have to do some measuring to ensure I can actually fit two cutouts side by side (and that they will clear the axle) though.
I may be wrong but I thin wherever you put them is not really going to matter. If you dynoed both before and after both installations, the hp difference is probably 5 hp. I would put them where they are the most easily installed. I was going to do this on my C5 and was talked out of it by my exhaust guy. He said, "You're cutting up a perfectly good (expensive) exhaust. Why would you do that?" I answered for the sound! Not real sure how much cutouts add to the hp of a car but I bet it's not much.
AI says, "Exhaust cutouts can potentially increase a car's horsepower by reducing exhaust backpressure, but the actual gains vary depending on several factors. Generally, you might see an increase of a few horsepower, potentially up to 10, especially in vehicles with restrictive factory exhaust systems."
This is why I reconsidered my installation. Good luck to you. (I would put them in the back as the front may cause too much noise in the car?)
What's stopping you from the install? I'd have had these on and THEN would've come here asking for advice. You know, just to confirm my decision. I really wanted these on my Vette but my exhaust guy talked me out of it saying, "You're cutting up a perfectly good exhaust system." An expensive one at that!
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Which location for cutout? 
