Its really hard to say which ones produce the best numbers......BUT from what I have seen one dyno runs on stock vettes with JUST cat backs....The Magnaflow actually produced the "best" numbers....they weren't big numbers, but the best gain Ive seen none the less. with all that said I went with Borla Stingers

 

Gains are so similar when looking apples to apples (muffler to muffler systems vs. straight pipes to straight pipes) you gotta go with your sound preference. I'm a big block guy, so I liked the Borlas (deep hearty sound), but fell in love with the bipolar nature of Corsa Indy - which is what is on the car. Totally quiet when you want it to be, and sreamin' mad when you want it to be...its like it just knows...

 

I can tell you on a highly modified car making 450+ rwhp the stock Ti and B&B bullets had no difference on HP numbers.

 

I don't plan on going more than about 500 rwhp, and if the Ti catback isn't going to be a restriction, I see no point in upgrading it.

Rebuttles?

 

FWIW back when I had my 440 rwhp 346 I removed the Z06 catback on the dyno and gained ~4 rwhp

 

All motor, i'm assuming?

 

All motor, i'm assuming?

 

If you`re looking to extract every last hp, LG (as in LG headers) recently advertised a full 3in cat-back system which they claim gained somewhere around 8 add hp over a 2.5in cat-back.

Check their website.

 

Kind of what I was thinking, but until I go forced induction, I'm a little concerned about the loss of backpressure... I'll read up on that, thanks!

 

FWIW, Chip at CCA has been collecting video clips of various exhausts. I don't know if he's got a TI system there, you'll have to poke around.

http://www.customcorvetteaccessories...ttevideos.html

 

Yup, I have also owned the B&B Tri-flow and Borla Stingers but never did a dyno comparison and couldnt tell any difference at the track, but for me interior noise was important and the stingers were too loud with headers/no cats...

 

Tone, performance, build quality. Who else has torque specs for the bolts on their clamps?

 

I'm going to be different and say Magnaflow. Nice and deep at low RPM, angry loud at high RPM.

 

LS1 tech has alot of sounds on their site. check them out!

 

I am really pleased with my Magna Flow. Nice sound, great looks and no drone. Had the X pipe done at the same time........it is a must!!

 

B&B Bullets Baby!!! Probably worth 4 or 5 hp since they have no mufflers to speak of. Stingers, Corsa, etc. have mufflers, and probably gain next to nothing, but do sound a heck of a lot better than stock.

Bullets are the absolute baddest without sounding like crap. (Loudmouths and Borla Straights sound like a camaro with the mufflers cut off) The tiny, cat-sized resonators tune the sound just enough while still being essentially straight pipes.

What's with all the old guys not liking the bullets b/c of drone? You people can't hear worth a darn anyway. Oooops, did I say that out loud?

They sound great paired with the B&B shorty headers, and as we speak the car is undergoing a blower install, and also will be catless due to a tragic accident on the trip there that accidentally destroyed them but thankfully left all other components on the car unharmed. Can't wait to hear them really scream now!

 

Dont waste your money on catbacks if your looking for hp. Catbacks are strictly for sound. If you are after speed go with gears, cam, or headers. You will not even feel a difference with a cat back. Spend a few hundred more and get gears.

 

Just want to add my 2 cents to this thread, and IIRC, the Corsa Titanium system did offer measureable gains over the stock Z06 catback, somewhere around 9 or 10hp. Sad thing is, it is no longer available. I did however pick up a used set a couple years ago from a Z06vette.com member for a great price. Like all Corsa catbacks, there is no resonance issue, but the Ti's are not for the faint of heart! They are loud at idle and and absolutely nasty at WOT. Anyone who has heard them agrees that they do make the car sound like a full blown race car. When I heard them on Jack Clark's car at the '04 Zfest in BG, I knew I had to have them! Another benefit from this catback is the extremely light weight, as the entire system is titanium, including the H-pipe and center tunnel mufflers, over axle pipes and the rear mufflers. There are no baffles anywhere in the system, so it is essentially straight through, and the mufflers are only there to get rid of the resonance and raspy sound that alot of straight pipe systems are plagued with. To sum it all up, if you want a performance increase from a catback, tremendous sound, and a substantial weight saving, these are it. Keep your eyes on the for sale sections of the various forums, every once in a while a set comes up for sale, and IMO, they are well worth the cost!
If anyone wants to hear what they sound like, I can post a couple of vids of dyno runs, and idle clips.

Jimbo

 

I have a 226/228 585/588 cam cut on a 112. I am running long tube headers, a Black wing and a Pully Kit. I dynoed first with my stock cat back. My numbers were 361rwhp and 360 lbsfttq. This was tuned. I did the A&A exhaust mod, I went to 372rwhp and 367lbfttq.
The car sounds great.
As a side note. I was running stock 18's w/o runflats on the first dyno. (19lbs I think) On the second dyno I had cheap aftermarket Z06 Mototrsport wheels that weighed 28lbs. That meant an additional 18lbs of unspring wheel weight. So 11 HP would be a very conservative number.