ponie1992
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
Hey, all! I recently finished up my DIY active Roush quad exhaust. I've been running the quads for quite some time with turndowns, due to having the base rear bumper. I finally got my premium bumper painted and installed the Roush valance and inner tips. It turned out great!
While just having the quad exhaust is fine and dandy, I wanted to take it one step further and make it active. Not wanting to pay $1600 for the Roush active kit, I started researching what I could buy that would accomplish roughly the same thing. What I ended up with is a pair of eBay cutouts and a QTP wireless controller. All said and done, I have roughly $140 in my setup! I will explain how I accomplished this the best I can. If anyone has any questions, please ask.
I had a horrible time finding cutouts with a 2 bolt flange (what Roush uses). I researched several 3 bolt cutouts and it appeared to me that I could simply drill another hole to make them fit the 2 bolt flange. So, I ordered some cheapos off eBay and hoped for the best. When I got them, I laid the Roush blank plate across them and what do you know, they will work! I scribed an outline of the plate, lined up one hole and marked for the new one. Since I have a small drill press, drilling the hole was simple.
With a quick test fit, everything looked good. Now, how was I going to control these? I thought about a 3 position momentary switch, but couldn't find one that I felt would look good mounted somewhere in the dash near the driver. I had an even harder time finding one that was labeled for open and close positions. I had noticed wireless controllers during my search for the cutouts. I ended up going with the QTP wireless controller and found the best price on eBay. When it arrived, I tested it with my cutouts and it worked great. Both the cutouts and controller have male connectors, but luckily my cutouts came with female adapters. I believe the connector size is a 2.1mm. One thing I'll mention is the cutouts worked in reverse of which button was pressed on the remote. I solved this issue by swapping the two wires on the motors. An easy quick soldering job. I also sourced some longer power supply wires, just to make sure I had enough to reach because I wasn't sure where I'd mount the controller box at that point.
So, with all parts on hand, I began the install. The passenger side cutout gave me a little issue. The motor was contacting the top edge of the muffler. To solve this, I hammered on the muffler just enough to gain the space needed for the motor to clear. I'd estimate it was about 2-3mm. I positioned the motors so they would be up. If positioned to the inside, they would have hung down a little and I didn't want them to be very noticeable or get damaged in any way. The only other major issue I had was the Roush flange studs are not very long and once everything was bolted up, there was very little thread engagement between the nuts and the studs. To solve this issue, I grinded down the tip flanges where the nuts sit against. I only took off about 3mm or so and gained a bit more thread engagement (at least enough I felt would be ok). I may at some point have longer threaded rod welded in if there are any issues.
Next I ran the motor wires. There are two grommets in the trunk, inside the spare tire well on each side all the way to the back. Perfect places to run wires through. I was already using the driver side grommet, so I ran both wires through the passenger side. This was not an issue for me, as I had extended the wires already. Since I have a PP car, I have the air compressor and foam mount in the spare tire well. I removed the air compressor and there's a perfect spot underneath and to the rear of the foam mount that the wireless controller could fit in. Using 3M tape, I mounted it there. Wiring is simple, needing only power and ground. I grounded the controller to the bracket that's attached to the well bottom that's used to secure either the spare or compressor foam mount. Since I was mounting my sub amp at the same time, I got power from the same wire that powers my amp. The only other thing to wire is plug the cutouts into the controller wires and that's it.
I then tested the cutouts and they worked great! This is exactly what I wanted and was extremely cheap to do. Below are some pics showing progression through the install and some video of them in action.
[ame]
[ame]
[ame]
eBay links:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/371313335110?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/131500359507?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
Hope this helps anyone wanting to do the same. I'm gonna try to get some more video this weekend.
While just having the quad exhaust is fine and dandy, I wanted to take it one step further and make it active. Not wanting to pay $1600 for the Roush active kit, I started researching what I could buy that would accomplish roughly the same thing. What I ended up with is a pair of eBay cutouts and a QTP wireless controller. All said and done, I have roughly $140 in my setup! I will explain how I accomplished this the best I can. If anyone has any questions, please ask.
I had a horrible time finding cutouts with a 2 bolt flange (what Roush uses). I researched several 3 bolt cutouts and it appeared to me that I could simply drill another hole to make them fit the 2 bolt flange. So, I ordered some cheapos off eBay and hoped for the best. When I got them, I laid the Roush blank plate across them and what do you know, they will work! I scribed an outline of the plate, lined up one hole and marked for the new one. Since I have a small drill press, drilling the hole was simple.
With a quick test fit, everything looked good. Now, how was I going to control these? I thought about a 3 position momentary switch, but couldn't find one that I felt would look good mounted somewhere in the dash near the driver. I had an even harder time finding one that was labeled for open and close positions. I had noticed wireless controllers during my search for the cutouts. I ended up going with the QTP wireless controller and found the best price on eBay. When it arrived, I tested it with my cutouts and it worked great. Both the cutouts and controller have male connectors, but luckily my cutouts came with female adapters. I believe the connector size is a 2.1mm. One thing I'll mention is the cutouts worked in reverse of which button was pressed on the remote. I solved this issue by swapping the two wires on the motors. An easy quick soldering job. I also sourced some longer power supply wires, just to make sure I had enough to reach because I wasn't sure where I'd mount the controller box at that point.
So, with all parts on hand, I began the install. The passenger side cutout gave me a little issue. The motor was contacting the top edge of the muffler. To solve this, I hammered on the muffler just enough to gain the space needed for the motor to clear. I'd estimate it was about 2-3mm. I positioned the motors so they would be up. If positioned to the inside, they would have hung down a little and I didn't want them to be very noticeable or get damaged in any way. The only other major issue I had was the Roush flange studs are not very long and once everything was bolted up, there was very little thread engagement between the nuts and the studs. To solve this issue, I grinded down the tip flanges where the nuts sit against. I only took off about 3mm or so and gained a bit more thread engagement (at least enough I felt would be ok). I may at some point have longer threaded rod welded in if there are any issues.
Next I ran the motor wires. There are two grommets in the trunk, inside the spare tire well on each side all the way to the back. Perfect places to run wires through. I was already using the driver side grommet, so I ran both wires through the passenger side. This was not an issue for me, as I had extended the wires already. Since I have a PP car, I have the air compressor and foam mount in the spare tire well. I removed the air compressor and there's a perfect spot underneath and to the rear of the foam mount that the wireless controller could fit in. Using 3M tape, I mounted it there. Wiring is simple, needing only power and ground. I grounded the controller to the bracket that's attached to the well bottom that's used to secure either the spare or compressor foam mount. Since I was mounting my sub amp at the same time, I got power from the same wire that powers my amp. The only other thing to wire is plug the cutouts into the controller wires and that's it.
I then tested the cutouts and they worked great! This is exactly what I wanted and was extremely cheap to do. Below are some pics showing progression through the install and some video of them in action.
[ame]
[ame]
[ame]
eBay links:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/371313335110?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/131500359507?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
Hope this helps anyone wanting to do the same. I'm gonna try to get some more video this weekend.
Sponsored
Last edited:
