C8 Corvette Kooks Headers Add 20 HP at the Rear Wheels!
Bolt-on upgrades are already rolling out for America’s sports car, and Kooks Headers is leading the pack.
When it comes to tuning V8s for more power, there are a few universally accepted truths. Letting the engine breathe better through a performance exhaust system is one of the best upgrades for any engine. True horsepower aficionados know that the real gains come from replacing the stock exhaust manifolds with headers.
The C8 Corvette hasn’t been out for very long. Still, aftermarket manufacturers have been hard at work, helping the newest Corvette to achieve its true potential. Kooks, a company well-known for their exhaust components, is the first to market with a set of headers for the C8.
This great news comes to us from Auto Evolution. Kooks baseline tested a stock Z51 Corvette on a dyno. There, the new LT2 engine put down a respectable 439 horsepower to the rear wheels. They used this car to develop their new headers.
Improving on a Good Thing
To state the obvious, the new C8 Corvette is a massive departure from the previous model. When it comes to Chevrolet V8s, most exhaust manufacturers are used to developing headers for front-engine setups. The C8’s mid-engine design changes things quite a bit and introduces some packaging concerns.
Simply put, the new Corvette doesn’t have a lot of room in the tightly-packed engine bay. There’s also not a ton of space behind it, in the tightly-packed bumper area. Furthermore, the C8 Corvette is already designed from the outset as a performance car. How could Kooks engineers improve on a design from Chevrolet’s top engineers?
For one thing, Kooks engineers don’t have to worry about noise. Someone who is buying performance exhaust parts likely wants a little more noise, anyway. While OEMs have to keep government regulators and “average” consumers happy, Kooks doesn’t serve the same masters, so to speak.
Kooks has developed two sizes of headers — 1 7/8″ and 2″. Both are constructed from TIG welded 304 stainless steel. On the dyno, that same grey C8 Corvette gained an impressive 20 horsepower and 26 lb/ft of torque at the rear wheels. Those are impressive figures, and that’s without any PCM tuning, and utilizing the factory cat-back exhaust.
We don’t have any details on pricing or availability yet. We’re looking forward to seeing what these headers can do with tuning and an aftermarket cat-back.
Photos: Auto Evolution/Kooks
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