bobnjudy

I bought a set of BBK shorty headers for my 2000 C5 and have discovered that they do not hook up to the stock front pipes as expected. I checked with BBk and sure enough GM changed sometinig in 2000 so they do not have a header that fits. This one goes to 99 and the other one they offer starts at 2001.
Has anyone encountered this and if so found a solution other then putting on something else?
The car has 346K miles so I don't want to spring for long tubes, but I would be willing to modify the stock front pipes if that is feasable.

bobnjudy

To follow up on this, the difference between the BBK and the stock manifolds is that the angle is off by about 15 degrees, and the front pipe is also a bit longer to reach the stock manifold. Because of the sharpness of the bend, it does not look feasable to modify the front pipe to match the headers.
Before I put the stock manifolds back on would anyone know if the front pipe and cat setup on a 99 would fit the 2000, or assuming i could find a 99 pipe setup, even cut the manifold interfaces from a 99 pipe and weld it to the 2000 cats.

grantv

How much did the not going to give you much if any HP shorty headers cost? Did you buy new? If so, buy used long tubes instead.
Or buy a used factory mid section that works with the headers you have.

bobnjudy

They were $450. I did not expect large horsepower gains, but since all 6 studs on the original manifolds broke, i thought I would replace them with something that would look and perhaps sound a bit better and still bolt up to the original smog stuff. The secondary air ports on these headers were an exact match so I assumed they would work, but it turns out that the 2000 manifolds are different then the 97-99 manifolds, and the 01-05 manifolds.
I did not see any long tube solutions for less then around $1000, and with the millage on the car I still have not decided whether I want to rebuild it and keep it or not, but it is still running well so I am kicking that can down the road.

grantv

There are plenty of used headers in the FS section for around that price. Your choice, I wouldn't do all that work for minimal gain.
Post back with your solution.

93Polo

Agreed go with a nice set of stainless long tubes.

If you want shorties or emissions requires it, I would look for a set of use C6Z manifolds, they'll likely have better gains than shorties.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...t-in-a-c5.html

93Polo

You may also want to call East Coast Supercharging or another shop in your area. They may have stock parts they'd really like out of the shop.

bobnjudy

I already took the hit on these; they are brand new so I will try to make them work. Thanks for the pointer to ECS. Is there a list of corvette shops on the forum? It sounds like that would be a good place to start. I would think that a front pipe and cat setup for a 97 to 99 should not be too hard to find if you know where to look.
If I do decide to rebuild the engine I will look for long tubes then.
I have a C6Z that helps satisfy the need for speed, but the wife and I have had a convertible since we have been married so the C5 is the preferred daily driver.

93Polo

You can look at the Sponsor list ----->
C5 parts for sale or try posting in the Northeast section.

Vette Doctors on Long Island was another in the Northeast.

Depending on who you purchased the shorties from, you may be able to return them. If you can I'd call up a few people in search of stock manifolds.
Vettenuts and AES corvette parts maybe willing to ship.

93Polo

Thinking about this, the early C5s had 4 cats, Z06s only had 2 cats. I believe (but am not 100% sure) the 2 main cats were the same.

You could have a muffler shop cut the pipes just before the exhaust enters the main cats and fab up the difference in between.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...manifolds.html

If you have to ditch the cross mounting bracket which bolts to the bell housing, I would not worry about it most headers drop this support.

My TPIS headers back 15 years ago on my '00 kept the 2 main cats but drop the cross bracket and weld on a connector which went between the collector on the long tubes and the stock cats.

Bill Curlee

I have your answer. You just need to find the correct MID PIPE/CAT set. There are 3-4 different mid pipe designs. I'm guessing to the exact C5 year cut off but this is what Ive seen:

97-98-99 all the same. 2000 Different. 2001 LS1-2003 LS1 same 2001 ZO6 different, 2002-2003 ZO6 same, 2004, I think is different. If it were me, I would find a 99 mid pipe and cats and make it work. There are plenty out there.. Post in the FOR SALE/WANTED section. You can also call VETTENUTS (Marc) and see if he has a good 99 pipe. Some later cars were forced to meet different emissions standards so they will have PUP CATS between the manifold outlet and the main CATs. A lot of 2004 LS-1 cars had the PUP CATS.

If you contact Gene Culley, he may be able to tell you EXACTLY what C5 year mid pipe will fit your shorty headers.

Bill