OK, let me start by saying I don't understand what the deal is with the drone issue that some people don't like to a point they take them right off.
I realize this is just my first day but I heard nothing that was really that awful. Had a few different people in the car and they seem to feel the same way. To be honest I'm a tad disappointed. The car has a nice rumble but I'd really like it to be a little louder.
But let's get into the day because it's kind of interesting.
I take the car to the shop and drop it off. I had to call Billy Boat and Corvettes of Dallas because there wasn't an installation instruction book in the box. We got that faxed over pretty quick BB was good with getting that done. About 2 hours into this I got a call from the shop saying they talked to someone at BB because they wanted an idea how long this would take and they were told about 4 to 4.5 hours for the whole thing and he wanted me to know this was going to cost a lot more than he first thought with the labor. I wasn't happy about that but what could I do. it was getting kind of late in the day they had the exhaust on but not the vacuum stuff at all and he wanted to know if I wanted to come over and hear the car and I could decide if I was going to leave it with them to finish in the morning or if i needed it I could bring it back the next day. I go over and we crank it up and I don't know maybe it was WAY to many YouTube vids but I thought it would be a lot louder than it was. Don't get me wrong NICE DEEP RUMBLE! and as many people have said this is how the car should have sounded from GM. But nothing that would scare anyone thats for sure. SO I wanted to hear THE DRONE!!!!!!!!! So I took it out and I don't know maybe it's my car or maybe one to many NASCAR races but I just didn't heard anything that was THAT loud and THAT awful. It's a Corvette! Not a mini van!
Now here's where things get interesting.... I read that with the valve/butterfly open this sounds like Bullets. If thats the case I can more than handle the Bullets because this just wasn't that bad with my car. I'm going to give them another day or so but I'm THINKING of getting bullets and selling the Fusions. Less than 50 miles on them and the Vacuum stuff has never been installed and to be honest I don't know if I would because I wouldn't want this to be any quieter. Now before anyone gets upset this is a GREAT system. The guy that installed it was really liking it a lot. But if this is as loud as it will get on my stock coup I can handle Bullets I think and all the stuff that comes with the Fusions are a waste for me. If you had headers and so on this would be the way to go but I heard nothing today that would cause me to turn them on. City or highway. (The butterfly valves I mean)
A member was nice enough to offer me a ride in his car with Bullets I'm going to contact him and decide what i should do after I do that.

So if you're thinking of going BB's and you were a little concern like I was I'd have to say do the Bullets first. They are cheaper and IF for some reason you can't handle them the Fusions are a well built system and will do you right.

I will say this.... The car looks a 1000% better the BIG *** Billy Boats tips hanging out the back. NOW IT LOOKS LIKE A CORVETTE!

 

Shouldn't take anymore than 4.5Hrs to install these, I did it in just under that on floor jacks.

I know exactly what your saying about how loud they are in open, BUT once I put the Kooks LT's / ORX on, the difference in open/closed was RIDICULOUS; absolutely zero drone when closed, and in open the car sounds incredible and is MUCH louder than with the OEM manifolds/cats, and gives off a sweet rumble/backfire on decels around 2-3K RPM.

And lastly...you've got it with the tips! I love B&B's quad oval tips! I'd probably buy this exhaust even it if sounded/performed like garbage just to get the quad ovals!

 

OK then here's the question. If I'm just planning on keeping it stock would Bullets be that much worse than it is now with drone I mean?

 

I've never had bullets; so I can't answer that, but if you check the B&B website there's only a 1 Decibel difference @ 700RPM, and a 4 Decibel difference @ 4000RPM in the Fusions (open) and the Bullets, I can't see the Bullets being too much louder; especially since when open the bullets are a 3" straight through design, just as the Bullets are.

If you want a little more noise, I'd say your best bet it to rid yourself of the cats.

 

Very admiral feedback - I like the honesty and the demeanor of your post. I hope you continue to have TONS of fun with your BB exhausts...I think you WILL!

 

Thank you WildTurkey

 

I have LG Pros Lt's, no cats and B&B Bullets. Its Loud! My dad can hear me coming 5 min. away from his house in the mountains (pretty awesome if you ask me), The drone on the hwy is bad, after a long trip your ears are ringing and your talking really loud. I LOVE the Bullets but I cant handle the drone. I never had them on when I had stock manifolds and cats. I want the Fusions but cant afford them right now. Last year in Carilse I heard them in person on a C6 ZO6 and could tell a pretty good differance, but it didnt have Lt's or anything, all stock. I would like to hear them on a C5 with Lt's and no cats, so when my work picks up I can afford to go buy them, if they sound like the bullets with the valves open, my cam sounds really awesome at idle and thats one thing I dont want to get rid of, but would love to get rid of the drone.

 

I'll have to grab a video, with the LT's / ORX alone the Fusions makes some noise, with a cam I'd image these would be LOUDDD.

 

If you plan to keep the car stock other than the catback and could use the cash, honestly I would probably go with the bullets and deal with the little bit of drone (maybe get a partition)

If your planing on deleting the cats, or LT's I'd probably keep the Fusions, if your planing on a cam I would definitely keep the Fusions.

 

Yeah.... once I get to hear the bullets on a stock c-5 I'll decide. it's not that I don't like the Fusions just seems like a bit much if thats all i'm going to get out of the car. I got a bit carried away with all the "DRONE IS AWFUL!" talk. I asked a ton of questions just not the right ones I guess.
All that being said I may keep the Fusions just in case I decide to add some other Mods later I'll give it a few days. Love the new Rumble ....STOCK! Never again!

 

The real "drone" factor kicks in at a constant RPM range on a long haul road trip. Maybe a couple hundred miles at 2200, but if you have been to a crap load of NASCAR events it may not bother you much.

 

Looking at their charts for the Fusions on their website, there is a minimal difference between open and closed. I wouldn't have spent the money on them.

Good review!

 

From my personal experience on an otherwise stock car this is definitely the case...but add LT's / ORX and the difference is HUGELY noticeable, with a sizable cam I would imagine the difference would be even yet more noticeable.

I can say that with Kooks 1 3/4 LTs/ORX @ 2K RPM (about 72MPH in 6th) the drone from the Fusions being open would seriously bother me in a 2+ hour trip (I'm 21, my last TA had a Trex/LT's/no Cats etc - I'm not normally bothered by LOUD cars, but DRONE can get to you after so much time), with the Fusions closed there is ZERO drone with the windows up, and the music on mute.

 

Must be nice! I've got LT's, no cats and Bullets right now. It sounds sick as hell, but I can't carry on a conversation without yelling if I'm driving in the city. Highway is ok. I normally cruise home from work in the morning at about 75 in 6th gear, no drone

 

Glad you like your exhaust ! Is your car stock other than the B&B's ? I loved my B&B's Bullets when my Z06 was stock. I even loved them when I put on Long Tube Headers.

Its when the heads/cam went in that the B&B's were too loud and had too much resonance/drone.

Toque

 

Can't say I didn't tell you not to!!

 

Why don't you buzz on over this weekend and drive mine? It's a Vert with a partition, but we can remove the partition to be a little closer to a coupe. I'm probably no further than a half hour drive for you.

Let me know.

Edit: I just looked up your zip, and it's King of Prussia - So figure an hour drive. Offer's still open, should be nice this weekend.

 

I have a big cam, lg headers, xpipe, no cats ... my b&b bullets were far to extreme. I sold them to a guy with a stock c5 A4, with stock manifolds and stock 4 cats.... they were 10x quieter on his car.

If you plan to keep it stock, i suppose you could sell that kit and buy bullets. I bet the bullets are half the weight or even less than that.

 

Thanks for the review. I was kind of wondering just what the new system was like.

 

You're right on both counts. The Fusions are a bit heavy and the cost a lot more however if you had a bunch of Mods on your car and you need something to keep the drone down they would be the way to go for sure.
I'm leaning towards selling them and going with the Bullets.
Just to make some money back on the deal. Im not even going to use the Vette at this point till I decide so IF i sell them they will have less that a days use on them. They will be brand new. I'll decide by the weekend.