458 Can someone explain the stock 458 Valve operation, installing a Forza controller!

hey guys,

So I bought a new Forza exhaust controller for my 458 Spider and was going to install it today. I pulled the rear diffuser and noticed the top of the solenoid tubes were not connected to anything.

In stock form, the exhaust valves open in the "RACE" mode after a certain RPM, I wanted to keep it open all the time since I think it sounds great.

This is the Forza controller I planned on installing since I want to keep the valves open:




You can see in the red circle what I'm referring to, what are these supposed to be connected to? In my car both are just hanging there? can anyone tell me where those open hoses are supposed to go? If it's pulled why does my car still work properly with the valves opening at a certain RPM?





This is both exhaust valves that looks properly hooked up to the solenoid:

 

I had a Forza controller on my 458 too and it is a great product.
The third picture shows to me that the valves are connected as they should. I guess the open hose is for drainage or similar and have nothing to do with the exhaust valves.
Since you have the diffuser of you can always check if the valves function when starting up the engine and rev it up to about 3500 rpm.
Just connect the controller and you should be good to go...and enjoy the sound.


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Hi,
the system is based on a couple (one per bank) of open/closed (no modulation) flap valves that deviate the exhaust flow in or out of the main silencer. The flap valves are operated by the pressure difference between atmosphere and engine intake vacuum working on the opposite sides of the actuator; such pressure gap between the actuator surfaces becomes an actuating force that moves the flap valve rod.
The open hoses you ask about are the atmosphere pressure intakes, and the solenoids route (or don't) the intake vacuum on the other side of the actuator; the solenoids opening is controlled by the ECU, based on the throttle/rpm combination and the throttle/rpm opening threshold depends on the manettino position.
The system is "fail open", which means that if you want the flaps to always be open, what you need to do is to disconnect the rubber hoses that connect the solenoids to the actuators on the exhaust side and plug them on the solenoids side (so-called "golf-tee hack" as a golf tee is normally used to plug the hoses): this way there will be no vacuum routed on one actuator side and the valve will stay always open. You can do that (I did it) accessing the actuators from under the car by just removing the rear diffuser, a 1hr job the first time, anybody can do it in like half an hour the second time.
No CEL will light on, as there is no closed-loop check of the actuator position, and the system is ON/OFF and fully pneumatic, whereas in other systems (e.g. the new Mustang) the flaps are operated by electric motors (so they are not just open/closed, but they are modulated) that send a position feedback to the ECU.
I personally like the valves to be always open so this is what I did on my car, thus saving the cost and the install pain of a control module.
Whatever anyone says be confident you will have ZERO ISSUES in disconnecting and plugging the vacuum hoses on the actuators' ends.
I hope it helps.

 

thanks for the replies! Really appreciate it as we finished the install last night and took some fun videos of the BEFORE and AFTER, check it out here!




Hope you guys enjoy the video!

 

apologize: you will of course plug them on the actuators' side, but I realize it's too late and I hope you enjoy the controller!

 

I will try this. Thank you! Is there a photo showing the l rubber hoses that connect the solenoids to the actuators on the exhaust side that need to be plugged in on the solenoids side?


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I've just fitted one of these as I have also fitted a valved Titanium Exhaust with sports Cats so wanted to have the option of valves shut when in my neighborhood. I like some of them but always open when out on the open road.
Not sure I see the point in spending $400 on the device if you just want the valves always open. Just pull the vacuum tubes and be done.

 

Do you have any photos of the vacuum tubes to pull?


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Hi, apologize for my late reply. These are the hoses to pull AND PLUG. Capping the actuators' opened nozzles would be good, but not needed to work. Note that minutes ago I posted a wrong picture and immediately tried to cancel it; I hope I did it, if not THIS is the right one! I hope it helps.
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Thank you!

When I pull those hoses, do I plug the hoses somehow? Or do I plug the receptacle the hoses were originally plugged into? What should I use to physically plug them?
Thanks a lot


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What you MUST do is plugging the hoses, as they are under vacuum, and they would be sucking un-metered air if you don't do that. They call it the "golf-tee hack" because a golf-tee is what most use, I used a couple of bolts and a couple of zip-ties for extra caution.
As for the receptacle (it's a sort-of-mushroom nozzle, or dog's d**k if you want), capping it won't hurt, just to avoid crap and moist go into it, but it won't be under vacuum, so it won't be sucking by itself. I didn't do that because it's hard to work on that with the rear bumper on, and I didn't feel to take it off.
I hope it helps.

 

Double post

 

Thank you. I am wondering if maybe just capping the receptacle with electrical tape or something would be good.


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Great idea! Something that keeps dirt, dust and water out... or any contamination! A hard cap would be perfect!

SV

 

Thanks! Do you plug one hose or both?


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This is what you are ideally looking at:

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I'm planning to install this controller on my 458 Spider. RichReviews has a video about this, in which he says that doing it on his spider without removing the bumper-cover was an "8 hour absolute nightmare", and that if he had it to do over again, he'd remove the bumper cover straight away. In this thread, S4play has a short video on the topic in which he apparently leaves the bumper cover on, and doesn't mention any difficulties.

I am seeking additional feedback on whether I should be planning to remove the bumper cover or not for this project. TIA!

 

You should remove the complete air box and heat shields to be able to access the areas you need if you don’t remove the bumper.

It will 100% be a nightmare if you don’t pull the bumper. It can be done but you will hate yourself.

 

I just finished installing on my coupe. The Forza "tip sheet" is helpful. I removed the air box enough to get aacces to the wiring below. Meant removing the side air intake "tubes" and connectors to the air box, and teh main vacuum line. Little more work than I expected.

 

I have never done a Ferrari project that wasn’t massively more difficult and complex than it needed to be.


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I realize this is an old thread but I wanted to respond regardless because of the difference in my experience when compared to the info I discovered here. I removed the splitter under the rear bumper which took about 10 minutes (8 bolts I believe). Once removed, it took another 15 minutes (probably 13min) to pull the hoses from their respective vac cannisters and cap the canisters with an appropriately sized vacuum cap and plug the hose itself with a stainless (won't rust) bolt. I then zip tied up the hoses to make for a pretty elegant finish. This is about the most straightforward and basic modification there is for a Ferrari 458 in my opinion. NOBODY with even the most basic technical savvy should be the least bit concerned to take on this very simple project. The entire job took 30 minutes (or less) including the hand wash at jobs end.

I've had several different exotics over the years and I just got my 458 last week.This is the first project that I've taken on since it arrived. I see these posts describing an 8 hour nightmarish experience and I can't understand what I am reading. GO FOR IT. The change is truly night/day. Cracking the throttle now can only be described as "Hell with the lid blown off"!

 

We tackled this project a few years ago, here's our video:

 

S4, I'm going to restate a Q I had for you in October and hope you see it.

In this Rich reviews video of putting a Forza controller on his Spider, he says trying to do it without removing the rear bumper was an 8 hour nightmare, that you want to avoid by planning on removing bumper.

In this much more helpful video by Normal Guy, he details the Forza install on a Spider and does remove the bumper as the proper way to go about it.

In your linked video, you apparently don't remove the bumper, and the car is a Spider. How difficult was the access to the solenoid electronic plugs that you needed to get at? Do you, unlike Rich, think bumper removal is unnecessary?

I wonder if the difference is that it appears Rich spent 8 hours struggling with access from above, where in S4's video seems to imply that just removing the rear diffuser is enough to give good access from below?

 

Sorry, I missed your question as I don't check often....

The proper way to do it is to remove the rear bumper for sure! We did not want to go that route and managed to get it to work by having the car up and using a lot of patience, special tools and smaller hands do help. I can totally see why it would take a long time as it's a lot of swearing along the way. Our reason for not taking the bumper off was because we didn't want to risk paint chips for such a small job. We did end up removing the bumper at a later date when we did the exhaust and suspension work.

 

^ very helpful explanation, thank you! Confirms I'll be taking the bumper off, it will be fun to get a good full view of her rear workings anyway.