Projects For Shut-Ins

Last January I was at a Corvette racer’s picnic and a friend started his C7 Z06 to leave and it had a beautiful exhaust tone so I made him shut it off and explain.

He said he had just had an X pipe put on it for $1200 (!!) and that’s why it sounded so good. So when I got home I started doing research on C7 X pipes. Long story short, I found 3 options

1. Bend over and have a shop custom bend a pipe for you (The most expensive).  

  Buy a quality X pipe from a known “big brand” dealer. 

2. Buy a cheap knock-off on eBay (the cheapest option). I quickly tossed out #1 and #3 and started looking at known brands. Narrowed it down to 2:  3.

NOTE:

All of these pipes replace the 2 rear cats with straight pipe.

Stingray, GS, Z06 and ZR1 with any exhaust option – base or NPP.Since these cats are un-monitored, you WILL NOT throw any codes.

Also, these pipes fit any C7 model…

Borla:

Great industry name and great reviews on the internet. and a Y at the rear where it joined the stock mufflers.

Reviews were good as far as installation.been, This pipe was an X behind just where the cats would have

All on-line reviews were favorable. The only downside I could see to this pipe was it was 2.75 inches in diameter. .

All installation hardware included. on-line between $350-$400I never did find any performance increase numbers on the pipe. Price on this pipe 

Corsa. diameter all the way. in Their pipe is called a “double helix” because it crosses the exhaust twice.

Another thing I liked was that it was 3.00 in Another great industry name.

One test I found on the internet showed a 10 HP gain. Price on internet is about $600. Again, all installation hardware included.

pipe, part # 14761. My logic was I liked the double-cross and the fact that the pipe was 3.00 inches.Corsa

I decided to splurge and spent $600 on the destroy this….gonna the UPS guy was when it arrived it came well-packed in a casket sized box – no way

So, I put the GS up on a lift and removed the 24 bolts holding the skid-plate that covered the Stock exhaust

With the skid plate removed you can see that the stock exhaust already has one X between the rear cats and the mufflers.

The front pipes are each connected to the headpipes by studs 2 studs per pipe. Easily removed – you won’t need them again.

The rear is held in place by 2 band-clamps… again easily removed. You need to separate the pipe from the hanger, which has a rubber hanger grommet on it that you WILL re-use.

Drop the front and pull (may need to move side to side) to separate the stock pipe from the muffler pipes. Mine was a little stubborn because I had 15,000 miles on the car but came off with a few grunts and no tools.

This is what the stock pipe looks like next to the Corsa.

At the end of the pipe closest to the cats, remove the donut gaskets from the flanges and save for re-use.

In this photo, the donut gaskets on the flange are still in place.

Install the rubber grommet onto the 2 “prongs” and then carefully tap the donut gaskets onto the flange at the end of the Corsa pipe.

Re-install pipe. FWIW, I coated the insides of the front and rear pipes with anti-seize so if I ever remove the pipe it will come off easily.

I installed the rear pipes to the mufflers first and then attached the front pipes with the included hardware.

The pipe fit perfectly with no struggles or drama. This is what it looks like in place.

You can see the double x in this picture. You can also see the rubber grommet on the hanger just in front of the transmission.

Re-install the skid plate and the job is done. When you fire the car up you may see a little smoke and smell something burning but that is just oil, grease and grime from manufacturing and installation burning off. It goes away quickly.

Total installation time approximately 1.5 hours. I did use air tools and the car was on a lift so that cut a lot of time and aggravation.

If for some reason you get hung up on some facet of installation, there is a YouTube video well-produced by Corsa showing complete installation at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzvMiKaeTNo

Final thoughts: My Grand Sport has a 7-speed manual transmission so I can’t speak to the change with an automatic trans. The first thing I noticed was that the exhaust was louder – well duh, removing 2 cats from the system will do that. First drive impressions were that the car seemed to accelerate smoother but no real performance increase.

The car definitely sounded better to me and was a bit louder but not excessive with the exhaust setting to TRACK. I tested the exhaust note in all settings and was glad to see that when the setting was on STEALTH that the exhaust was whisper quiet.

While I enjoy an aggressive sound in the city, I drive a lot on the road and like to hear the radio.

There was no low RPM drone or passing gear roar – just what I wanted. I have about 1000 miles on the car since the install and the performance does seem to be better – maybe the computer needed time to adjust to the change.

Was it worth $600?

It is to me but I can see why it wouldn’t be to a lot of people.

I enjoy the aggressive exhaust note and as I mentioned the car seems smoother and a bit more powerful. Keep in mind, my only measuring tool is my butt-o-meter.

Also, there is always the pleasure when you do a mod to your car and it turns out well.