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I am picking up this Saturday a 2005 Le Mans Blue, Tan Interior, 6 speed and Targa. She has 22k miles. I would like some guidance and opinions on a few things
1) I am looking at B&B Bullet muffler, are they good by themselves or do I need headers too
2) Want gain of 50-75 more horsepower
3)Window tinting, how dark do you recommend?
4) Intake (CAI, MASS FLOW SENSOR)
Fantastic. Congratulations and welcome to the Corvette family
I will let others speak to your questions except to say that most people agree Vararam is the best cold-air-intake. Although some have reported problems with it sucking water into the engine ... so consider carefully. (Do a search if you are curious: there are several Vararam threads.)
Congrats on your car....welcome to our group. A couple of things: Usually states have laws that dictate how dark a tint you can put on. A word of caution....go with an installer who knows what they are doing and will let you see representations of their work. I've seen som really bad tint jobs that are expensive to re-do.
What are you going to use the car for? If you a taking to the strip for competition, then mod-away on the engine. If, on the other hand, you want to just drive it, try it for a while first before you mod the engine. This car is plenty fast and hitting a cement embankment at 125 mph vs. 135 really won't make that much of a difference to the funeral director
Buy a set of headers, it well worth it, and alot more worth it than a cat back.
Buy a CAI (Veraram, or honker types of CAI)
Buy HPTuners so you can tune it yourself (worth every penny). they have great tech support and a great tech forum. I can't speak enough good about this tool...not only for tuning but for diagnosing issues if and when you get one...and it's almost like a one time, lifetime buy as its compatible with so many other vehicles...
Vararam intake, tune, headers, exhaust and your close to the 75hp! As for exhaust, I researched big time, listened to dozens of different exhaust at car shows and events...BORLA is the best and thaty's not just my opinion...That's the overall majority opinion based on my research!!! Enjoy your new ride!
Exhaust - I'm not sure what you mean by are the B&B Bullets 'good.' Either way, yes they are good in the sense that they are loud. You'll get a bit of drone with them so be prepared for that. It doesn't bother me because I honestly don't think it's that bad and if I'm dropping the money for exhaust then I want to be able to hear it. However, to counter the drone, you can buy the x-pipe to soften that up a bit.
Intake - I think most will agree that Vararam will be your best option towards achieving the 50-75+ horsepower (along with other mods obviously). I would pair this with a tune and a 160 thermostat.
Tint - I would look around at some places and see what you like. I believe the darkest % tint here in CO is 25% for the front windows and 20% on the back (obviously don't have to worry about that on a vette) and limo on the rear window. That's probably exactly the %'s I personally would have mine at.
Last edited by mhmayhem88; Feb 5, 2009 at 04:31 PM.