Ordered this valve controller as well. Attaching some pictures, and possibly a sound clip. Im sure everyone knows by now, the G8X valves from factory do not open all the way even in the most aggressive setting. The valve controller is a must if you really want to have full control over the valves. I chose the following configuration, similar to OP but reversed:
Activated: Open - Valves are fully open at all times even after restart
Default: Auto - Valves are factory controlled(essentially a bypass) even after restart.
Installation Guide:
I had the liberty of using a lift, but this is totally doable on jackstands. There are 4 10mm screws holding the muffler heatshield in place. I have a valved exhaust installed on my car(will do a separate post on the exhaust
), so access to the screws were super easy as you can see in the pictures. (Side note: my valved exhaust uses a slightly different valve spring than the G8X OEM muffler, as you will also see in the pictures. You can ignore that if you are installing this on an OEM muffler, your valve spring area will look slightly different)
Once the 4 bolts are off of the heatshield, it gives you just enough room to pull the heatshield down very slightly and snake the wires across both of the valves. I decided to mount the valve controller on the Driver side(Im not sure it matters where you mount the controller though, but lmk if this isnt true and I just got lucky). Plug the controller in on both sides. Once it's all plugged in, I'd give it a test to make sure it works. I found that you have to start the car fully to actually activate the valve on/off.
Once everything is working, you will see the valves fully open in the open position. Not just the half open that the car does normally. Now you are ready to actually mount the controller. I found there are two E14 bolts that are above the muffler, almost right above the valves that don't seemingly hold anything in place(if this is in fact holding something in place, and I totally glanced over this, someone lmk). I used the one on the driver side, closest to the rear bumper, and it worked perfectly. I will also highlight this in the pictures. At first, it seems like the bolt doesnt go through the controller fitting, but with some slight finesse it goes through. Just use a power tool. Its pretty straight forward once you are looking at it, but you basically mount it so the bolt goes back into place where you took it out. This may be the most complicated step, but I hope this makes sense.
Once the controller is mounted to the car, you can reinstall the heatshield. Just make sure you aren't crushing the wire as you put the heatshield back into place. The heat shield should go back into place pretty easily, it has some slight give.
At this point, I zip tied some of the wires together, just to make sure nothing was hanging around under the car. I used regular plastic zip ties, but now that I think of it, Im probably going to go back in and use metal zip ties to make sure heat isn't an issue.
All of this to say, it really shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes
Thanks OP for the suggestion. The VSC2 Controller is awesome!
Oh and btw, pro tip: The remotes they provide with the controller are pretty lackluster, especially given the price of the car, you probably dont want to install that onto your keychain lol. SOLUTION: You can very easily program your car's garage homelink to take the action of the on/off of the controller. It programs just like you would program a garage door opener. Bring the remote close to the mirror, hold an UNPROGRAMMED garage button under the mirror and simultaniously hold either the on or off button, whichever you want to program. After holding the mirror button AND the remote button for a few seconds, the garage homelink light will turn green, and that will mean success. I programmed my middle garage homelink to the Off button, and the rightmost garage homelink to the on button. Works perfectly, and now I never have to look at $3 plastic remote. But to each their own, maybe you like plastic. It's 2021, I shouldn't judge. Speaking of plastic, people who order their cars without the full extended leather should be considered criminals. Okay, rant over.