Has anyone done an exhaust cutout wired to their upfitter switches on their 7.3?

[ACoumbe_Matata]

Long time fan, new member and first time poster. I have been following a few of the aftermarket exhaust options on the 7.3 Godzilla. I currently have a 2020 that I left stock and am waiting on my 22 which is pretty much my dream truck. I've always done custom full deletes from the cat back on all my V8s but with these trucks I pull a large camper and don't want to listen to any exhaust while towing with the lady and dogs. Has anyone done an exhaust cutout and wired it to their upfitter switches? I would love the "straight piped" sound for when I'm not towing and stock sound for when I am. Any brands, ideas, etc are welcomed. Thanks in advance!

 

[Forever & Ever Woods]

I installed a cutout on my Raptor quite a few years back. I LOVED it! However, the issue I found was that after about 1 year, the flap became "Lose" and I could NEVER again get the valve to shut at 100% any longer. It really bothered me - it was either all open or there was a distinctive whine due to the flap having a leak in it.

I ended up going to a Corsa Extreme on my Raptor and loved it. Too bad they don't offer for Super Duty Gassers.

 

[ACoumbe_Matata]

Thanks for your response, what brand of cutout did you use? Since they don't seem nearly as expensive as many of the aftermarket exhaust options for the 7.3 I suppose I could cut and reweld another one on if the valve does fail...or hopefully get one with some time of warranty/guarantee. Thanks again!

 

[Hopsferdays]

I’m a bit late to the game but I think I’m gonna give this a go til a full stainless exhaust is in the budget. I want to put a full stainless headers and all on after several miserable experiences replacing exhaust on old trucks. Will report back with cutouts installed.

 

[ACoumbe_Matata]

I’m a bit late to the game but I think I’m gonna give this a go til a full stainless exhaust is in the budget. I want to put a full stainless headers and all on after several miserable experiences replacing exhaust on old trucks. Will report back with cutouts installed.

I'm still planning on doing a cutout...when and if I ever get my Tremor...I look forward to hearing your update!

 

[richtor]

I love my exhaust set up, any good shop will be able to fit you with a custom set up including cut outs.

 

[ACoumbe_Matata]

I love my exhaust set up, any good shop will be able to fit you with a custom set up including cut outs.

What did you do for your exhaust set up?

 

[TJ Carr]

I love my exhaust set up, any good shop will be able to fit you with a custom set up including cut outs.

What did you do?

 

[richtor]

What did you do?

@ACoumbe_Matata

 

[Hopsferdays]

@richtor is that all stainless? No matter what it is b-e-a-utifulll…

 

[richtor]

@richtor is that all stainless? No matter what it is b-e-a-utifulll…

Yes I believe so. It a complete one off system from local shop. It was bent and welded before my eyes.

 

[Hopsferdays]

Update. There may or may not be a cutout getting installed on a truck this week and wired to the upfitter switch. And it may or may not be used for off road use only. Will report back.

 

[Hopsferdays]

Initial follow up.
Chapter title: “I am not this kind of engineer”
Seeking input.
The cutout valve needs power supplied to open or shut duh my idiot self should have foreseen that he just didn’t think about it. So The factory switch needs to have constant power in order to actuate the valve and It is arranged as follows click one way to open - resting position center - click the other way to close. Would there be a way to work that switch with the upfitter switch that anyone can think of that isn’t stupidly complex? I have considered using two switches one to open and one to close but that seems stupid however I’m open to it since this is a temporary experiment.

 

[ccw]

Initial follow up.
Chapter title: “I am not this kind of engineer”
Seeking input.
The cutout valve needs power supplied to open or shut duh my idiot self should have foreseen that he just didn’t think about it. So The factory switch needs to have constant power in order to actuate the valve and It is arranged as follows click one way to open - resting position center - click the other way to close. Would there be a way to work that switch with the upfitter switch that anyone can think of that isn’t stupidly complex? I have considered using two switches one to open and one to close but that seems stupid however I’m open to it since this is a temporary experiment.View attachment 45635

Have any details on the valve used?

There’s no natural way to replace that switch with the upfitter switch simply because one is momentary (the provided switch) and one is latching (the upfitter switch).

You may be able to provide constant power to the “Off” side of the circuit when the upfitter switch is off, then send constant power to the “On” side of the circuit when the upfitter switch is on. But that carries a risk of damaging the valve circuitry if it isn’t designed for constant power.

 

[Hopsferdays]

Have any details on the valve used?

There’s no natural way to replace that switch with the upfitter switch simply because one is momentary (the provided switch) and one is latching (the upfitter switch).

You may be able to provide constant power to the “Off” side of the circuit when the upfitter switch is off, then send constant power to the “On” side of the circuit when the upfitter switch is on. But that carries a risk of damaging the valve circuitry if it isn’t designed for constant power.

Concur.
The current plan is to hook the whole shit up to power and put a continuity tester on the wiring and figure out what the “brain” actually does. My current thought is the motor that actuates the valve is very simple and on causes current to flow through the motor one way and off causes current to flow the other way opening and closing. If continuity confirms this is the case my plan is to hook switch one and two to The 5 amp fuse and wire switch two in reverse so switch 1 to on until cutout is open then turn switch off then use switch two to on to close until closed then back to off. Thoughts?
First photo is brain.
Second is the plug that supplies power to the valve.
Third. Duh

 

[ccw]

Concur.
The current plan is to hook the whole shit up to power and put a continuity tester on the wiring and figure out what the “brain” actually does. My current thought is the motor that actuates the valve is very simple and on causes current to flow through the motor one way and off causes current to flow the other way opening and closing. If continuity confirms this is the case my plan is to hook switch one and two to The 5 amp fuse and wire switch two in reverse so switch 1 to on until cutout is open then turn switch off then use switch two to on to close until closed then back to off. Thoughts?
First photo is brain.
Second is the plug that supplies power to the valve.
Third. Duh

View attachment 45641View attachment 45642View attachment 45643

Does the brain have its own power continuous power feed? Or does it solely get power from the switch?

 

[Hopsferdays]

Does the brain have its own power continuous power feed? Or does it solely get power from the switch?

Continuous. Really need some electrical and mechanical engineers to jump on here. Max draw is also 5amps for what it’s worth. And based on the gauge of the supply wires very short durations I could cut them with my finger nails.

 

[ccw]

Continuous. Really need some electrical and mechanical engineers to jump on here. Max draw is also 5amps for what it’s worth. And based on the gauge of the supply wires very short durations I could cut them with my finger nails.

Ya I'm not a mechanical or electrical engineer, I work with bits and bytes (programmer), but do have a decent knowledge of how these systems tend to work. Here's my educated guess:

When you toggle the switch it sends low current power to the brain box. The brain box sees that power and activates the motor in the appropriate direction, running it until the motor sees high resistance resulting in high current (because the valve is mechanically prevented from going further). At that point it cuts power to the motor.

That power from the switch is essentially a pulse. It could last a half second or could last 5 seconds. Either way the motor will run a single time.

I'm wondering if you could utilize a time-delay relay (or a combination of them), such as I linked below to allow a single, latching upfitter switch to act as a momentary switch:

TDRx Automotive Time-Delay Relay

 

[Cory]

My guess is that it's grounding or putting voltage(maybe not 12v) to the red and white wires and the "brain box" is just a couple relays that send power to the motor to open and "reverses" to close.

Let's assume the black wire is ground and the red wire when ground opens the valve and the white wire when grounded closes the valve.

OR

Black wire is 12v(or some other voltage because they're jerks) and when you put 12v to the red wire it opens the valve and 12v to white closes the valve.

Now the question is how to check. Take a multi meter and measure if there is voltage potential between ground(battery negative) and the black wire, red wire and white wire. If not voltage then check for continuity(ohms) between ground and the 3 wires. This will tell us how the brain box works.

It comes down to it's just a simple 12volt motor that you need to spin one direction to open the valve and spin in reverse to close.

Here is an example of a reversing relay, it even has a nice label on it to show how it is grounding the wires to change direction. That is my guess for how the brain box works.

https://www.amazon.com/Forward-Reverse-Module-Actuator-Reversing/dp/B0879GGVPZ/ref=sr_1_27?keywords=12v+reversing+solenoid&qid=1643841982&sr=8-27

So let's assume you can ground the wires to change direction and you don't mind using 2 up fitter switches. 2 relays is all you would need to replace that switch. You won't want to leave the up fitter switch turned on, it'd be like holding the original switch in one direction. So you'd turn on either the Open or Close up fitter switch, wait for the sound to change and then turn the up fitter switch off.

 

[ccw]

My guess is that it's grounding or putting voltage(maybe not 12v) to the red and white wires and the "brain box" is just a couple relays that send power to the motor to open and "reverses" to close.

Let's assume the black wire is ground and the red wire when ground opens the valve and the white wire when grounded closes the valve.

OR

Black wire is 12v(or some other voltage because they're jerks) and when you put 12v to the red wire it opens the valve and 12v to white closes the valve.

Now the question is how to check. Take a multi meter and measure if there is voltage potential between ground(battery negative) and the black wire, red wire and white wire. If not voltage then check for continuity(ohms) between ground and the 3 wires. This will tell us how the brain box works.

It comes down to it's just a simple 12volt motor that you need to spin one direction to open the valve and spin in reverse to close.

Here is an example of a reversing relay, it even has a nice label on it to show how it is grounding the wires to change direction. That is my guess for how the brain box works.

View attachment 45667

https://www.amazon.com/Forward-Reverse-Module-Actuator-Reversing/dp/B0879GGVPZ/ref=sr_1_27?keywords=12v+reversing+solenoid&qid=1643841982&sr=8-27

So let's assume you can ground the wires to change direction and you don't mind using 2 up fitter switches. 2 relays is all you would need to replace that switch. You won't want to leave the up fitter switch turned on, it'd be like holding the original switch in one direction. So you'd turn on either the Open or Close up fitter switch, wait for the sound to change and then turn the up fitter switch off.

Ohh you could combine that with the timed relays I linked to above to make it all work off one upfitter switch! The timed relay would mean the upfitter switch could stay in one position, but power to the brain box would be cut off after a moment by the relay timer.