Saw on ebay a pair of electric cutouts for a 3" exhaust for about 200..

Anyone ever use off-brand cutouts? Any known issues with them? I figure it's not a constantly moving part so there isn't a whole lot of wear-and-tear..

 

nobody?

 

Common issues are leaks and electronic motor failure on cheap cut outs. It's not the point of being a constant moving part as much as its heat, inferior components and moisture that kills them.

 

Based on what I've heard the eBay ones commonly have issues like stated above

 

Ah dang. Figured as much but still coulda hoped lol. Thanks guys, DMH or QTP here i come

 

I'd recommend QTP if you're choosing between the two. Had a DMH that needed a new motor and the guys were impossible to get a hold of, there is a fairly large thread around here some where full of people who have had a similar experience. Ended up just buying a QTP and haven't looked back, its been going strong for about 3 years.

 

not to hijack a thread here but would you see significant gains going with dual cutouts on the y-pipe vs a single cutout on the i-pipe with stock cubes?

 

Significant gains are unlikely. You'd lose more ground clearance, and it would also cost a good bit more for dual cutouts as opposed to a single one. I'd stick with a single cutout in the I-pipe IMO.

 

I won an ebay cutout for $28 shipped and couldn't resist installing it into my OEM exhaust.

Well, it turns out they ship them pretty much loose. Within the first week it fell off the car, bolts backed out. All of them. No permanent damage though, I re-installed the bolts with red loctite and its been good ever since now, for about 10,000 miles. However, recently it started not fully closing, which is annoying, so I think it needs me to remove it again and do some more maintenance. It came with a little computer that auto-closes it when you first power it up and I think that is what wore it out quickly (I might disable that feature after I get another look at it)

Basically don't buy one unless you get it for a steal, are willing to maintain it, and are prepared to junk it at any minute if it fails. I put it on my OEM exhaust which is worthless, so I can throw the whole thing away and go back to a real system whenever I need to.

A little update. I got under the car and pulled it off tonight (bored) and took a look inside. Yep, some of the thin bolts got little loose (I never took those out to loc-tite them, I never went this far into it until now). I cleaned it, greased it(MOLY failed. USE WD-40! WD-40 works GREAT), and put it back to good use Probably could have avoided this situation if I took apart the whole thing and tightened everything when I first got it. that is what I recommend you do if you get one, take it completely apart and tighten everything.
If you are curious how they look inside

Surprisingly, there is no wear and no visual indication of any trouble, not even "normal wear marks", and I used this thing every single day for a year, multiple times, multiple situations, half open, quarter open, full open, several 250 miles drives of open and closing on the highway every ten to thirty minutes. I thought for sure it would have worn out by now. The gears mesh together very well, and the whole unit fits snugly together, it even has a little race for the shafts to spin on where they fit into the end plates. The reason they have all the gears is probably for gear reduction (the motor spins quickly but the valve moves slowly with alot of torque multiplication thanks to the gearing) Its also very easy to remove, only 2 bolts + 2 minutes. The cutout "device" does not interfere with the V-band/exhaust, i.e. you do not need to fool with any of the exhaust hardware to remove the cutout device for maintenance.

And I almost forgot, this little gadget is the most fun I can't even describe, the kind of tricks and situations I have created with it, definitely one of my favorite modifications per dollar spent.