What can I do to my c4 to make it sound better without replacing the whole exhaust?

 

Sound is subjective, go to a car show and ask to hear a few.

 

Also what year, with LT cars after Cats it's one piece. Before that you can play some games with mufflers

 

I went long tube headers, needed to lightly mod the pipe pre-cat to fit and put on Borla mufflers. Car sounds great.

 

Corsa mufflers sound great, also!!

 

Corsa as well!!!!

 

Camshaft change.

 

I went long tube headers, no pre-cats, left the main cat and Corsa cat back. Nice and mellow (louder than stock obviously) until you jump on it. Then it screams!!

 

Welcome to the Corvette Forum KV Corvette! We are glad you have joined the forum as this is THE place when you have questions about your Corvette!

Like mentioned above the sound that you choose will have to fit your definition of a "good" sound. The one thing that happens often is people try to eliminate the catalytic converter and that can sometimes make a awful drone sound inside the cabin of your Corvette. Some of the exhaust systems are made out of Stainless and some are the plain Aluminized Steel used for decades. After upgrading the Catalytic converter I installed the Chambered exhaust system and the car picked up almost 14 hp from the upgrade.....

Some of the after market exhaust systems are ridiculously expensive and very well made. I have chosen the aluminized Steel and it is close to 30 years old and still free of corrosion. I will spend money on brakes and other parts that are important for the car to stop but I will not spend thousands of dollars on an exhaust system just for a specific sound.

At Corvettes@Carlisle I met Allen's Stainless Exhaust and they sold me a "Chambered Pipe Exhaust System" that sounds awesome and very similar to side-pipes but all the noise goes out the rear of the car. I bought one for my C3 and one for my C4 and today they are both still working on their Corvettes. The C4 (L98) sounds ferocious and utilizes the LT1 style rectangular tips. There are no mufflers in a Chambered System so you have a cleaner look to the rear end. The grumbling that comes from the L98 is far different than what the factory exhaust did. On the C4 I installed a new High Flow catalytic converter on my exhaust and then installed the chambered pipes. Both systems were installed by me with no hammering or bending, they fit together beautifully and easily.

 

It is very subjective, but I have Allen's chambered muffler deletes on my 96 LT1 and I love the sound.

 

^These are the right answers^


We can no better tell you what sound is "good", than we can tell you what the best tasting food is....for you. Go hear a bunch, then ask the owners of the one(s) you like....."What have you done?"

 

I like the Borlas on mine but I choose them because they're 304 stainless, not that much different sound than the originals though.

 

Yes subjective...

But my understanding if drone is a concern and this is for a LT1/4 car is to:

Keep the stock catback and do some combination of either long tubes or high flow/no cats. This can be the more cost effective route (and long tubes can help performance)

or do a corsa cat back (of course can do above mods too).

Yes it’s possible other solutions don’t drone (or are livable) but it’s more of a risk IMO as searching the forum will find numerous cases of exhausts other than above droning.

 

I went with ARH long tubes, catless x-pipe and stock LT1 mufflers on my 85 Corvette. The LT1 exhaust cost me less than $100 and sounds pretty good in my opinion. Almost zero drone and they slide right onto the ARH system. I am sure the Corsa exhaust sounds better, but I liked the sound of an extra $1000 in my pocket more.

 

I'm not sure that Corsa sounds better. I think they sound pretty lame, personally. I know a lot of people think they're "the best"....price has probably contributed to that belief...but I was dumb enough to take the forums overwhelming advice and bought a set......aaaaand never liked 'em. Waste of money. Too much money. I later sold 'em and bought something else that sounded better, cost less than 1/2 as much and were better built.

 

WARNING: More opinions coming

That sounds great! - I think the LT1 catback (or in your case just the mufflers?) is a great upgrade for an L98 along with other mods. I forgot to mention putting in an x-pipe in place of the resonator but that gets into cutting/welding or taking to an exhaust shop. There is no flow issue (it would *increase* flow) and the sound should be great (with minimal to no drone, especially if the resonator remains stock). On a stock LT1, improvements with LTs, messing with the cats and/or x-pipe can "tune" in the sound (+ add perf) to where you want it on the stock exhaust...and outside of something like ARH long tubes is noticeably less $$$.

Was this a L98 or LT1? I only have experience with LT1 (which may not make a diff here at all). As far as me, the cost for the Corsa is not something to brag about...I don't run around feeling cool because I spent more than I wanted to on a cat-back...I would absolutely do it again because:
- No worry about drone at all (and this has been proven true in my case)...this was my number one reason
- High quality stainless, and good looks
- Ease of installation (did it in my garage without taking it anywhere or the need of a welder). Although I did run into *this* problem: Corsa Fitment Issue
- It's essentially straight pipe exhaust through to one of the tips on each side (with a chamber to the outside tips which I believe is what cancels out drone and adds some depth)
- I agree to disagree with you on the sound....it's not super loud, but I wasn't going for that either, and I think it sounds awesome (especially when I get on it where it *does* scream)
- I didn't want to take the time to mess with the cat-forward part of the exhaust (yet!), or have to take it to anyone for cutting/welding

Again - I am sure that subjectively better solutions that are less (or more) money can be done...and there a ton of ways to get there...

Here is another good thread on the subject (which covers more than just flow master): Flow Master vs Corsa

 

I agree that drone is a concern. With the deletes on my 96 LT1 convertible, the car does have a very narrow rpm band (about 100-150 rpm ish) where it drones. If you ran it right there it would be annoying, but it is never noticeable in town, That rpm equates to 83-85 mph in top gear; if I am running that fast, I can go up or down a couple mph and avoid it. I also only notice it with the top up. Top down it is never an issue. If you have a targa car YMMV.

 

One of the most subjective subjects on this forum. You have two options for no drone: stock or corsa. Everything else depends. As has been said, what do you want to deal with and how do you want it to sound?

I'd post a clip of mine but it's so far from stock it wouldn't matter. Luckily it hardly drones. It's just loud.

 

Good Sound is subjective. The Ford Mustang 5.0 with flowmasters always sounded great back in the day. As I digress.
But, with 3 mufflers, technically, you need more air to make them louder, more pronounced.
Design of the muffler is critical in our C4s, due to drone noise if you have a poorly designed center resonator muffler too.
OEM exhaust with Long Tube 1 3/4 Headers with 396LT1 500 HP at flywheel. +- Cold Start

 

Curious if anyone has a rough idea of the HP difference between the following two setups:

a) Long tubes, x or H pipe, no cats, high flow mufflers
b) Long tubes, X or H pipe, no cats, muffler elims