Originally Posted by Triton170

Thanks for all the information. I already have Corsa Pace, a cold air system, and an LS6 intake. Just wanted to know if there were any down sides to headers that i didn't know about.

Thanks again for the advice.

Originally Posted by n8dogg

My Z06 is lowered quite a bit and I am running Melrose Smooth-Flows with Borla Stingers. No clearance issues ever, had them on for 2 summers and they look great. The best part of the current set-up is the sound. Unbelievably awesome, VERY aggresive and pops all the time during dece. and shifting. You know you got a hot set-up when girls say they love how your car sounds, and they aren't even car enthusiasts.

OP, there is a noticeable power gain with long tube headers. If I can make a recommendation: Do it right, the first time. Pick one of the brands we recommended, if you are looking for top power go with LG Motorsports Super Pros or American Racing. If you are more concerned about how they will look years from now, either get them ceramic coated or just go with the Melrose Smooth-Flows. Go with high-flow cats, your gains with-out them are unnoticeable and they actually help keep any drone down. The clamps with the Melrose are far superior than LG's. American Racing uses a flange after the primaries, I don't care for them, prone to collect water and leak down the road. If you go with LG's invest in some band style clamps. They will save you a headache.

Some other upgrades to consider:

Tunnel plate:
Elite Engineering has some nice options that are thicker to help stiffen the chassis, insulated to block the heat coming into the passenger compartment, and have holes drilled so you can route the 02 sensor harnesses. They aren't cheap but they are a quality product.

Spark Plugs, Wires, and Wire Shields:
Depending on how many miles are on your car, it is a good time to replace the spark plugs and wires. NGK is one of the best spark plug manufacturers. GM Performance Parts make a good wire, they are red in color. Cool Socks are a nice product, it is a heat resistant sheath that you slip over your plug wires to protect them from the headers. Just do a Google search for them, you can buy them direct from the company that makes them for half the price of other places.

Tune:
Do your self a favor and get a tune done. Even if your car were completely stock, you would benefit from a tune. Thanks to Ethanol, the C5 is being robbed of HP and MPG due to the factory stoich AFR set for pure gas. 2 years of driving will pay for the tune with the fuel savings you'll get. For a car with-out any internal engine work performed you can get away with a mail-order tune if you really don't want to put it on a dyno. But the best tune is either a street or dyno tune with a wideband 02 sensor. Like I mentioned before, the addition of long tube headers changes the efficiency of the engine, and at WOT your engine actually goes into open loop and ignores the MAF reading. So in simple terms you may run lean at WOT, you may not see any problems in short term, but long term it could be bad. Another benefit of a tune is the removal of catalytic converter trouble codes which commonly come on with high-flow cats.

Originally Posted by c4gone

I have melrose ceramics on my stroked 95.and amazing.still look new.and fir my frc Im prolly gonna do the same.everyone says American racing but the melrose are specially made for ls and lt cars.and i already have an ls6 intake plus cold air intake plus x pipe and billy boat bullits.so just need the headers.but will they drag the ground since my car is lowered???

Originally Posted by Vette_Fan

Not to steal the post.... but since we're talking Lt header - how many have just Lt headers only, without doing any cam, or other mods....

Do the headers with an overall stock car have sustantial benefits, or are other mods recomended to gain benefits from the Lt headers...

Originally Posted by duegatti

I got an Elite Engineering thermal tunnel plate with my headers. I don't feel that the interior is any warmer now - maybe cooler. So far I am not aware of any down side of the headers ...

Originally Posted by c4gone

Hey n8 i have melrose on my c4. Great headers.but is the price difference from them to the American racing and LG worth it?

Originally Posted by s'noJob

Having long-tubes are going to make your Corsa a LOT louder. I've heard this from several of my Corvette club members.

Originally Posted by tbrent

Great post!:ch eers:

Originally Posted by SVTBAIT

Don't narrow down your choice just to Melrose because they are "specifically made for LS and LT cars." All headers for C5s are vehicle specific.

There are really no issues with clearance on a C5 since they tuck up in the tunnel. I can't see my exhaust from a side-view. An F-Body is a whole other story, though.

Originally Posted by dizzysn

I picked up 48 rwhp with intake, headers and tune.

Originally Posted by n8dogg

Actually if you order the Melrose headers straight from Melrose, I believe the whole kit with high-flow (Random Tech) cats cost $1595. Thats $200 cheaper than LG Motorsports, not sure what ARH cost is.


This is only partially true. I've installed close to a few dozen sets of headers on C5 and C6 Corvettes and this depends entirely on what mufflers you run. Yes it will be louder when you get on it, no matter what the mufflers are, but cruise and idle stay very close to the same if you are running a mild muffler like Corsa Touring, Corsa Sport/Pace Car, B&B Route 66, B&B PRT, Z06 Titanium, even more so with stock mufflers. I would say headers make it sound more aggressive .

Now this changes quite a bit if you have a loud muffler system to begin with . Even with the FRC of my Z06, long tubes and Borla Stingers (straight through design), I LOVE how it sounds. There is nothing like it. Long tubes with PRTs are my second favorite.

OP, if sound is something you worry about, Corsa does an amazing job at keeping the sound out the back and eliminating drone, I would not be concerned at all. Running high-flow cats help take a bit of the edge off as well. If you are OK with your car sounding more aggressive when you step on the gas (who wouldn't be?) then have no fear!

Thank you!



There are several great systems to choose from for sure. The main reason why I choose Melrose on my Z06 is because A.) I had previously installed a set on a C5 with Borla Stingers and fell in love with the sound so much that I had to have it. B.) The quality is superior than the other brands. As I mentioned before I've installed all of the top brands of headers on many C5s and C6s and always have to expand the pipes out of the box to slip into each other and even still lining up some of them can be a chore. Melrose always comes exactly the same with no need to expand the pipes for installation. The Random Tech high-flow cats is some of the best on the market and they fit unlike LG's. Not to mention they come with band style clamps that are of excellent quality. C.) They look the best out of the box, there is no argument. The ceramic coating is beautiful, top notch.

Of course there are pluses and minuses to everything. A minus of the Melrose is a 2.75" mid section pipe where LG Super Pros and ARHs are 3". I do believe the LG's will give you a few more ponies as well.

The way I break it down is:

Max HP: LG Motorsports or American Racing Headers

Best Sound/Looks: Melrose Smooth-Flow

Best Value for the $: Kooks, I want to say for only $1000 you can get a complete system with cats.

Best Quality: Melrose

Second Best Value for the $: Lg Motorsports Street Series... they will get you the same HP gains as any of the other brands, but it is a 2.5" mid-pipe and they are a bitch to install because their quality control is borderline acceptable.

Originally Posted by NemesisC5

Back in the the begining of modding my 99 Coupe I started with Hypertech tune, K&N, modified C5Z airbox lid, LS6 intake, B&B catback along with "cat delete x-pipe" and dynoed 336 rwhp. The addition of Kooks 1-7/8 LT's along with dyno tune netted me 8 rwhp gain to 344 rwhp....I don't remember the torque gain but it was not over 10 ftlbs. Pretty disappointed to say the least. I then added small-ish cam (220/228) along with unmilled AFR 205's, this brought power up to 399 rwhp. After that I added A&A Supercharger Kit with 7-8 psi of boost and dynoed 606/506 at the wheels. While the addition of headers in the beginning did not yield the gains I expected I am certain they greatly helped my boosted motor put up the healthy gains. All stages of build were dyno tuned. I have since done more but wanted to stay on topic about LT headers.

Originally Posted by tbrent

Another great post.. I think you maybe mentioned earlier about the sound with the crackle and pop... Ala h pipe if I am not mistaken.. Do you get to keep the h pipe with the melrose? I have always loved that ear candy on decel but have always been confused on what exactly you need to buy in a "headers package" to keep the h pipe... Seems like most kits come with an x pipe too... Thanks in advance!

Originally Posted by n8dogg

Yup, my exhaust crackles and pops on decel, and I've learned to control it too! At just the right time during decel, especially down a hill, if I tap the gas, quickly, she'll make a nice loud pop followed by a string of small pops.

My set-up is Melrose Smoothflow headers and Borla Stinger mufflers. The headers come with Random Tech High-flow cats and an X-pipe. The Borla Stingers with the stock manifolds and H-pipe did pop quite a bit, but actually pops more with the Melrose set-up!

I love it. I have a video/sound clip in the car of WOT I can try to upload later today. It's under acceleration only so you can't hear the pop on decel.

Originally Posted by tbrent

Yumm Scotty Do you know if the ear candy difference between 1-7/8" and 1-3/4" headers is substanstial?

Originally Posted by s'noJob

I'm amused when I see posts about preserving the snap, crackle and pop we all enjoyed in the '70s muscle cars we modded.

Don't get me wrong - I loooooove those sounds myself, having grown up with the muscle cars of the era. It's just interesting how we try to copy what we took for granted "back in the day."

I wonder if younger C5 drivers try to capture that sound as much as us fogeys try to REcapture it.
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Originally Posted by c4gone

.but will they drag the ground since my car is lowered???