I have an 03 c5 with a k&n cold air intake. Super chips tuner with a preloaded 93 octane tune and magnaflow exhaust from the cat back. I got a nice price on a set of ceramic coated headers shorty. After installed taking it to a tuner shop for a professional tune. Realistically what type of gains should I expect

 

Most Threads in the past have claimed about 5hp for the headers alone. Most of your gains will come from the tune itself. I have BBK shortys with a mail tune and enjoy the increased throttle response. Only got them because they were dirt cheap. Long tubes are in my future with a full dyno tune

 

thanks Super Tom in the future will be high flow cats. Money is just a bit tight and I really want to save for the 3:90 gears . The magnaflow headers I have will bolt up nicely to what I have in place

 

There will be 0 gain because the factory double wall exhaust manifold works better than a single wall short exhaust manifold... Now a properly calibrated long tube header system will be better than the Factory exhaust manifold. The C5 exhaust manifold was specifically designed to improve exhaust ( very unique to factory single wall cast exhaust manifolds from other manufacturers). Any gain... ANY gain would be achieved from the tune, not the shorty's. To be more specific, the stock exhaust manifold and the tune.. would be better than a tune with the single wall shorties. If you just took your stock manifold to a tuner, he would see more gains available. The reason is that tuners know all LSX engines come from the factory with a rich fuel mixture. There is easily 10 HP to be gained with a leaner tune... The rich tune from the factory is a safety measure. Tuning too much, is like tightening the strings of a violin.. you can tune and tune until the strings are so tight, they break. This is the real deal, this is not encouragement from others who bought into the hype or the Cool look of shorty's or to say " Look I have headers " if the Look is what you are after, that is fine with me but don't think for one minute that there is more power there. You can listen to me, or you can listen to the hype.. which bring me to my constant mantra... " Be care who you listen too here ".

People defend this choice and use the imagined gain in HP to justify the purchase. But in reality its the Fake look that most are after. THESE SHORTIES ARE NOT HEADERS.. its an exhaust manifold.

This is the real deal... no hype here... I wont defend my expert opinion on this subject in open forum.. PM me if you like. I wont sugar coat anything .

Bill aka ET

 

So Bill besides a look and added sound long pipes are the way to go.

 

Now i really do not know what to do. I got like1700$ to put into my car thougjts headers were the way to go. Any ideas looking for some more HP and performance QUOTE=Joe Santilli;1592308084]So Bill besides a look and added sound

long pipes are the way to go.[/QUOTE]

 

C5 exhaust manifolds are fundamentally short tubes already.

 

Get the long tubes and a tune. Much better performance can be had.

 

Are you a4 or standard trans? Gears make a huge diff, if auto spend money there first!

 

Forcedvert i have the six speed QUOTE=Forcedvert;1592308509]Are you a4 or standard trans? Gears make a huge diff, if auto spend money there first![/QUOTE]

 

ET is right. Save your money on the shorties, and get a nice set of long tubes instead. Doesn't have to be the most expensive set. There's a couple brands that run under $1000. (Hinson, XS Power, etc.) With labor and tune you should be in the ~$2000 range. Much better exhaust note, and around 30-40 horsepower- depending on the tune, of course.

 

[/QUOTE]

Ok .....then gears are not a priority IMO.

 

So from reading long tubes with the Xpipe is the way to go.i guess I should get the high flow cats as well. Along with the tune. Thanks for all the help. I need a drink now lmao. 3.90 gears next spring that question will be gears only or axles as well.

 

to answer this question... building HP and torque in a stock C5 requires all considerations to up grade anything effected buy any modifications.

GM has learned over the years to run something called Lean manufacturing. Meaning the components are not as robust as they use to be, but more than adequate for the stock car. This is the reason you could get this much car for so little money.

If you are going to up the HP and torque you want hardened shafts.

Too many people think this is 1960, or learned from their grandfather who once worked at a Texaco station and drove a Buick.

THis car is an extreme example of advanced stage automotive technology, even back when I was involved..

No one had or build an engine that was specifically designed to be bench marked at 200,000 miles... No one in the world had active handling.

Extensive testing and high cost in development, and careful budget management and high quality engineering made this car the master piece it was designed to be.. years ahead in CD and CDA.... this 50,000 car rivaled anything from Germany in the 90 to 110,000 dollar range. and this was 20 years ago, and still be Able to bypass the gas guzzler tax.

But this car was not designed with the idea that modifications ..and upgrades would be supported by the original design.

Conventional thinking does not apply to this car, especially that from Grand POP.

Yes I am a Grand Pop, but not your everyday Buick driving, pants pulled up to my nipples, Aqua Velva wearing, Pop Pop.

Lets remember what we lost, this weekend and be grateful for their sacrifices..

Bill aka ET

 

Yes I got XSPower headers with X and hi flow cats. With the install and dyno tune I was right at about $2,000. Well worth it for power gain and sound.

 

With a 6spd you already have 3.42's, IMO changing to 3.90 wouldn't be that substantial of a change.
Headers, yep, look at the factory manifolds, they're pretty darn good. LT's are the only way to get a HP increase. Plenty of choices depending on your budget.
Edit; if willing to spend gears money, switch those funds to cam and heads (243 heads are good enough with a reasonable cam).

 

My results:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...orsepower.html

 

Long Tubes and a Tune are a NO brainer if your on a budget and want some more performance...
ET done splained the diff between the shorty exhaust manifold and the OEM exhaust manifold are... (there ain't none) cept the OEM may be the better option....

 

For what it is worth, my situation and experience. Purchased an '04, six speed coupe 10/13 with 11,700 on the clock. Up to two months ago, the "performance" mods were a Calloway Honker CAI, Elite catch can and shortened C6 shifter. Car already had C5 Z06 TI axle back when purchased. I purchased a set of used LG headers with high flow cats and X-pipe here on this forum. I sent the PCM to ECS for the $149.00 mail order tune stating I was installing LT headers. Computer was re-installed prior to header install. Just the program woke the car up. I decided to pay to have headers installed. I had new plugs and wires put in just because. This was all done with 18,200 on the clock. Went with the 160 stat living in Phoenix. All I can say is OMG, what a difference in the car. Throttle response is day and night difference along with incredible pull of the bottom end.
My suggestion is, if a street driven car, and not close to NJ, just do the mail order tune.
We drove to San Diego two weekends ago and attended Plastic Fantastic. The desert temps were 95-98. The car ran at 176-180, oil temps stayed at 198-200. Lost about one MPG compared to before, but wow what a different car driving over. Did not have to downshift as before and the redhead even said the car feels and sounds better. Really woke up the TI axle back.
Total $ outlay including socks for the wires, new gaskets and clamps just under $2,000.00. And that included paying for install of headers, cats, X-pipe, plugs and wires.
If this is going to be a street/road driven car and not one run at the track, the mail order tune cannot be beat for the $ from ECS. My suggestion is to be patient and watch the classifieds for a deal on a set of LT headers, etc. The fore mentioned advice on the shorties is spot on.
I am about to turn 60 in July, have owned a Corvette since I was 21. We still have the '67, small block roadster we took on our honeymoon 39 years ago come 10/14, a '66 425hp, 427 coupe and a '73 L82 coupe. Have owned some others over the years. Even though I get a big smile on my face when driving one of the older cars, the '04 is by far the best bang for the buck to get in and drive.
My wife, the redhead says I talk too much.
Chas

 

Chas I live in New Jersey the vette cl7b I am in uses a local guy for the tunes his prices are fair and everyone is happy with him. And by far the way you worded it made it very easy to understand. Between you and EMMY decision was made. I found a set of Hinson LT ceramic coated with the Xpipe included for 819 .00 and the shop I use gets a 10% break from summit racing which is where I found them. Again thank you to everyone all the help was great.