When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
What needs to be changed in order to eliminate the pre-cat/pup converter from a 2001 z06. Need to pass smog in CA so i can't go with longtubes, so i just want to match up the 01 exhaust with the 02-04. What needs to be replaced?
Maybe you could find somebody in the C5 parts section selling their mid pipes because they went with LTs. I'm not 100% sure, but you should just need the mid pipe assembly that goes from the manifolds to the cat backs. A lot of shipping cost and hastle for minimal gains at best IMHO. Good luck!
Eliminating the pups will result in not passing Calif. smog test.
To reduce the exhaust back pressure on my '01 Z06 I had the entire exhaust swapped for an '02 Z06 system ( I have a friend so cost was not an issue) . I stayed completely stock , no LTs. I also don't require smog in South Dakota where my car is registered.
I have heard also that aftermarket hi perf CATs will not pass in Calif. No personal knowledge though.
You'd have to switch to a complete mid-pipe assembly from a 2002-2004 car (or buy from a dealer/parts house). When Chevy took the pup cats off they went to a newer design cat that lights sooner than the cats on a 2001.
Since the cats are the main element in creating back pressure in the exhaust system, eliminating the pup cats won't change your performance by very much. Chevy made the change because it meant they could build just as "clean" an exhaust for less money.
The performance gain for the 2002-2004 LS6 over the 2001 was almost entirely a more aggressive cam (which then required the lighter valves).
Fwiw, I Installed A 2002 Cat/mid Pipe On My 2001 Z06 When It Was Still Almost New, And Removed The Maf Screen, And Opened/cut The Air Box Simular To The 02 Air Box. The Car Was Dynoed With A 2002 Z06 On The Same Day, I Don't Remember The Exact Numbers But The 02 Made 4 Hp More And 1lbs Ft. Less. I Also Remember Reading Somewhere That The Camshaft Did Not Make A Significant Difference And That The Cat Pipe Was The Biggest Hp Improvement On The 02. Hope That Helps.
You're in the Bay Area so this is easy. Take your car to Synergy Motorsport and have Rick swap your 4-cat H-pipe with a newer 2-cat pipe. He has plenty of them from doing header swaps.
Corvette Chief Engineers Dave Hill and John Juriga are quoted in a press interview at Iriwndale Speedway in 2002 as saying in reguards to the removal of the "pups for '02 ; "This reduced back-pressure by 2 inches of mercury. On its own , that was worth about 5 hp."
They went on to say that the back pressure reduction wasn't much but it afforded the bigger gains with improvements on the induction side, especially the cam.
Removing the pups is a weight reduction of 5 1/2 pounds.
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.