Hello Scotty and moderators! I have a 1999 Lincoln Town Car with 93,000 miles on it, as many of you probably know by now. I am thinking of installing an exhaust cutout valve as a fun party trick of sorts so the car can be either straight piped or muffled at the push of a button. Since this system would bypass the cats and muffler when the valve was open, could it possibly damage the engine or cause it to run poorly? For the majority of driving, the valve would be closed and the fumes would be running through the cats and muffler as normal. Thank you for any help you can give me!
what about oxygen sensors? Engines need those to run properly.
I wouldn’t disconnect the sensors, I would just have a bypass pipe connected before the cats and reconnecting to the exhaust pipe after the muffler. Unless there is a sensor in the cats, in which case I would just bypass the muffler. I’m just going for a sport exhaust I can turn on and off. I don’t know if it will cause the engine to run poorly though.
well "sport exhaust" usually involves a whole new exhaust system, starting at the headers. You won't gain anything bypassing the muffler except racket.
Well, it’s a town car, all I’m really going for is the racket 😂. It’s just for fun since the engines in town cars sound surprisingly muscle car mean when straight piped. I’m just want to make sure it won’t damage anything since I remember a video Scotty posted where he said running a car without a muffler could make it run poorly.
crazy idea: draw attention to yourself by being a productive member of society, developing interpersonal relationships, and cultivating a charming personality, not by annoying everyone with your loud car.
Well, the whole point is that I can turn it off at the push of a button when I’m in a residential area or a town or something lol. The sound is just to play with by myself on country roads. You make a very good point though! 😁
It will get old, trust me. My friend put loud pipes on his Tacoma, and we drove it out to the Rockies for an ice climbing trip. (12hrs each way). We had to shout to talk to each other. I actually started wearing earplugs. That was one of the worst rides I have ever experienced in my life.
Where exactly are you installing the exhaust valve cutout? Before the catalysts or after? Probably not a good idea messing with the exhaust right after the headers and before the catalysts. But you can definitely install one after the catalysts before the resonator and muffler...it will definitely be louder AND you won't have a raw fuel smell. I don't understand why people just love trying to bypass/remove the catalysts for sound purposes...a typical muffler and resonator delete is PLENTY of noise.
Noted. I’ll install the cutout AFTER the cats. Thanks.