ktlocklear

For kicks today, I manually opened the flapper on the muffler while the car was idling....and man, what a difference it made in exhaust tone. Quite a bit deeper with exhaust coming out both tips vs one tip when the flapper is closed.
My question........I would like to pop the actuator arm free from the flapper, so I can test drive it and see how it sounds while driving with both ports open, but i don't see a way to pop the rivot off without making it permanent. With turbo wastegate actuators that i've messed with, there is a c clip that holds the rivot in place, which just slides out, then the rivot pulls out. Worst case is I grind out the rivot, and if i want to re-connect the actuator arm to the flapper I can hold it together with wire maybe.

545felix

I used an s-hook with some mild success, but in the end I just had it welded open for $10.

ktlocklear

Hmm, interesting. Did they just leave the actuator arm intact, then weld the flapper open? How is the sound while driving?

ADD

It is vacuum operated. I noticed a thread around where a guy put a clamp on the vacuum line to hold it open.

Easy.

ktlocklear

Yes..it is vacuum operated, but the actuator is spring loaded, which keeps the flapper shut until vacuum pulls it open. Simply unplugging the vac line will not keep open the flapper

545felix

yes, they just held it open and tack welded the joint between the arm and the flapper in place so it couldn't rotate. the sound is nice, not a whole lot louder than stock (remember, the valve would open under power, so you're hearing the same exhaust now under load at speed.) it really only makes a difference at start-up, idling, and low-speed (ie right when you start moving.)

of course, I replaced the whole thing with an eisenmann about 4 months after that. I can take pics of the weld tonight, the muffler is still in my garage.

ktlocklear

I got it.....
I just grinded down the rivot, until I could pop it loose, then held the flapper in the open position by connecting a zip tie from the hole in the flapper arm to the hole in the actuator bracket. Took like 8 minutes.
I know it will only make a difference in sound while idling, and cruising.....but it will do for the time being until I can replace the catback. I can snap some pics if anyone likes.....
Thanks for the help Felix