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Finally pulled the trigger and bought my first Corvette, 2014 C7 2LT Coupe. I've been keeping a list of needed items if I ever did buy a car, now I need recommendations and ideas.
-What's recommended for an indoor cover?
-Are battery tenders all pretty much the same? Is there a recommended brand/model? I've only ever had one for my lawn mower and Harley
-What about aftermarket exhaust? Just looking for a deeper sound than stock, not looking for headers and all that for now. I assume the average person with a decent amount of mechanical knowledge can do this? Is there any gain to be had between cat back and axle back?
-I've seen "short throw shifters" mentioned in various posts. Are they worth the money? Any certain brand preferred? Again, can a guy install this himself?
My best advice, since you are new to Vettes, is to drive it for a couple of months, get used to it, and then decide which changes to make. It is an amazing sports car.
I use a Battery Tender, Junior, and it works great.
Finally pulled the trigger and bought my first Corvette, 2014 C7 2LT Coupe. I've been keeping a list of needed items if I ever did buy a car, now I need recommendations and ideas.
-What's recommended for an indoor cover?
-Are battery tenders all pretty much the same? Is there a recommended brand/model? I've only ever had one for my lawn mower and Harley
-What about aftermarket exhaust? Just looking for a deeper sound than stock, not looking for headers and all that for now. I assume the average person with a decent amount of mechanical knowledge can do this? Is there any gain to be had between cat back and axle back?
-I've seen "short throw shifters" mentioned in various posts. Are they worth the money? Any certain brand preferred? Again, can a guy install this himself?
I've stopped using covers indoors, but prior to that I only used California Car Covers products with the soft lining.
I am buying the Corvette battery tender sold on many vendor sites.
As for exhaust, it's a personal choice. You can go on youtube to determine which system you like. I prefer the Corsa.
Shifters - I would highly recommend MGW.
I have a Battery Tender Jr. It works fine. As for exhaust, before you plunk down any $$$, I would recommend listening to other C7 aftermarket exhaust systems. If you are not a member of a Corvette club, I recommend joining one. Most likely several members will have aftermarket exhaust systems on their C7's and would probably be glad to let you hear them. Good luck. By the way, that is a gorgeous C7 you have.
Welcome to the club...beautiful car! First things first: get some extended wheel well "mud guards" to protect the side of it. It's infamous for throwing rocks down the side of your car and to people behind you. The corvette battery tender is the only one I'd use. It's designed to plug into the port in your trunk and it fast and trickle charges. No advice on exhaust since I'm stock. But everyone says you don't gain any hp unless you go the full Monty from front to back however removing the 2 rear cats with an xpipe will give you that deeper exhaust note. I store mine in my garage with a indoor cover. Just to keep the dust and debris off when the garage door opens/closes. I got mine from Walmart for $100. Does a good job and is very soft so protects the surface. If you want to improve your wow factor, get the Soler performance module. East 15 min install and you'll love it. Just my 3cents worth...
And now for my 2 cents. I have purchased seat skins, drivers side mirror and the bin shelf from Sandyeggo.com. Not a fanboy, just a tried and true customer. They all provide valuable safety (mirror) and protection (seats). Consider paint protection film (PPF) on at least the front nose, mirrors and rear quarter panels from rock chips. Keep checking back for incredibly valuable information from owners who really know their stuff. Love the LBR color and welcome to the Forum!
Here’s another 2 cents.
welcome aboard.
Mine too is stock no real upgrades.
I did get some peace of mind with forged wheels.
Only other thing is for now was the battery tender. There’s a bunch of those on Amazon. I went with OEM one.
I have an indoor car cover like above to keep dust and dog hair off since I wash the show dogs and dry in the garage.
I haven’t yet but yes the XL rock guards from ACS would be a recommend.
Possibly swap out any of the cheap looking plastic, but keep the originals in case someone wants it stock.
Also...I did just swap out my factory air filter for the Attack Blue reusable filter. According to a few videos on YouTube it provided up to 10hp. One video showed 1/4 mile runs at a track on both the stock and then the Attack Blue..he gained 2/10ths in the 1/4. It provides better filtration than stock and oil based filter and is washable. And it's $129. Stock is $69. I will say I did notice it sounds a little louder and deeper from under the hood. Def xpel at the minimum the nose and door jams so it doesn't get all scuffed up getting in/out. I also have the storage shelf and the seat belt clips to keep the belt in place. Oh, and install the hockey pucks under your car so you can lift it without damage. Your local repair shop will thank you. There are so many things you can get for these cars. Depends on your taste and depth of your wallet.
I would go with any of the smart Ctek chargers over just a trickle charger. The C7 one is awesome, once again had mine since day one. Ctek makes the Corvette ones by the way. They turn up here for sale now and again, but they are not too expensive new on say Amazon. I went with the Corsa System with NPP, I have heard many and they are definitely deeper.(Mine been sitting in box since last Winter lol) I went out to listen to different types at car shows and cruise nights. I will say the name brands like Corsa have a high level of fit and finish and customer support. I wanted the Gloss Black tail pipes as well. I would look at Corsa, Borla, AWE to start.. do some research. Cat back only add a few pones, but do flow and sound better. Each tuned a little different you'll have to hear a few. Many here have had good luck with the MGW, here is a link https://www.mgwshifters.com/shifters/corvettes/88
I would suggest do some searches here in the C7 section, tons of useful info, Opinions, reviews from real people. Congratz again!
Welcome to the Corvette world & to the forum. Once you start modifying your Vette, it will likely become an obsession & a sickness that is almost impossible to contain. There are so many great aftermarket parts for Corvettes, that I'm always seeing something new that I want.
I agree with most of what Gixxerman stated above.
However, on my Z06 I have a Corsa Xtreme exhaust system with the double-helixx secondary cat delete x-pipe. To me, the best way to describe the system is stock on steroids. It's not any deeper, or higher pitched, just much louder. It's very quiet when cruising, and extremely loud at higher RPM's. It doesn't rumble, burble, or pop on deceleration (while in gear). I'd prefer to have more rumble.
I drove a C7 GS with an AWE touring exhaust. It definitely had a deeper tone, and a nice rumble on deceleration. Not much popping.
I had a Borla S-Type (AKA Stinger) exhaust on my C6, which I loved. It was the perfect muscle car sound, with just the right tone & rumble. The AWE on the C7 sounded just like it.
I ended up trying the Corsa because I got a smoking deal on a new system. If I was doing it again, I would go with the AWE touring. Very nice quality & great looking tips. I feel that the Borla tips look cheap in comparison to the Corsa & AWE, which is why I decided not to go with them this time.
Swapping out the x-pipe and/or the axle-back exhaust will not yield any significant horsepower gains. Do it for the sound & look. If you're looking for more horsepower, you'll want headers & a tune.
Regarding the short throw shifter, MGW is simply the only (and the best) way to go. I had one on my C6, and it changed the whole driving experience. I haven't installed one on my C7 yet. I don't find the OEM shifter to be objectionable.
One thing that I dislike about the stock C7.....and most GM cars for that matter....is the laggy feel of the accelerator pedal. It almost makes your car feel heavy. You really have to push down the accelerator to get it to move. It's not linear at all. I installed a Soler throttle controller, and really love it. It has a jillion settings for adjusting the responsiveness of the accelerator pedal. It won't actually make your car any faster, but it will definitely make it feel more alive.
Last edited by car2fast4you; 01-25-2023 at 02:21 PM.
Finally pulled the trigger and bought my first Corvette, 2014 C7 2LT Coupe. I've been keeping a list of needed items if I ever did buy a car, now I need recommendations and ideas.
-What's recommended for an indoor cover?
-Are battery tenders all pretty much the same? Is there a recommended brand/model? I've only ever had one for my lawn mower and Harley
-What about aftermarket exhaust? Just looking for a deeper sound than stock, not looking for headers and all that for now. I assume the average person with a decent amount of mechanical knowledge can do this? Is there any gain to be had between cat back and axle back?
-I've seen "short throw shifters" mentioned in various posts. Are they worth the money? Any certain brand preferred? Again, can a guy install this himself?
Congratulations! Good choice of color.
Where do you live in Illinois? Lots of 'vette owners to talk with, and some good clubs for anything you like to do with/to the car.
Indoor car cover-
I use one only when parking the car November-March. I wash car thoroughly just before the first snow, put in our garage and just use a couple of big cotton sheets to keep the dust off. Easier to remove if I want to work on something, less worry about dust/grit in the cover scratching anything.
Tenders-
Indeed, most tenders work well. GM has CTEK make a Corvette branded tender that plugs into the socket in your trunk. Often available here cheaply in Parts for Sale.
Exhaust-
If your car has the NPP selectable exhaust, that adds 5 hp/5 ft-lps when open at full throttle, so no cat-back system is likely to exceed that. If your car doesn't have NPP, I think there are kits to add it now.
Shifters-
I'm a shiftless kind of guy (A8), no help from me.
Even with mirrors correctly adjusted, many people have problems with blind spots. "Sandyeggo" designs sells convex stick-ons that cover the entire glass and look stock. If you want something like that, they are the ones to get.
When I bought my 2014 Z51 M7, I actually had to relearn how to shift a manual transmission. The C7 M7 is like no other manual transmission I've driven. I found myself mis-shifting, or not fully engaging a gear, only to have it pop out of gear. If I shifted to quickly the syncros would not fall together and the gear would grind. If I shifted too slow the dreaded 1-4 interlock would lock me out of second gear and cause a poor shift.
I read much about installing short throw shifters, transmission fluid changes, and the 1-4 interlock bypass to resolve some of these manual shift problems. After careful consideration I decided to keep the OEM shifter, the OEM fluid and delay the install of the interlock bypass.
My thought was to learn the quirks of this manual system. And then later replace the shifter, the fluid, and/or install the interlock bypass if truly necessary.
Today, I no longer have problems with the shifter, missing gears, grinding gears. Everything works smoothly as it should.
My humble suggestion for you is this; take the time to truly learn the shift characteristics of the M7. It will take a few months but it will be a great learning experience. Later, should you decide to change the shifter, the fluid and even install the interlock bypass, you will have the experience to measure the success of the changes.
01-25-2023, 09:11 AM
New member in Illinois
Congrats and enjoy your beautiful C7! 
