The answer is most haven’t truly addressed the heat issue and you’re going to see issues/revisions on these eventually if I had to guess. Most C8 owners also have NPP on their cars already (either with Z51 or separately like I have) and would like to retain the adjustability of the factory valves and most are simply coming out with straight pipe/not really x-pipe catbacks (hell saw one today with some fake *** welds too - wtf?) because it was the easiest to get to market quickly. Would you spend up for Mag Ride only to rip them out and replace with coilovers after taking delivery of your car?

With all that, I’m working with a custom exhaust company out of Houston that’s going to address all these and deliver a kick *** exhaust, utilizing the factory NPP system, at a price comparable to the straight pipe exhausts available now. Give me a couple weeks and I’ll share more details/etc. A little teaser pic below of what a TRUE custom x-pipe is going to look like for the C8.

BZ

 

We can assure you that heat was an important factor in our design process. You can read all about the consideration of heat during our build HERE

We have been hand crafting exhaust systems for mid and rear engine cars for 25 years, so thermal properties of our systems have always been a consideration. You can imagine a 6.5L V12 in a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ approaching its redline of 8,700rpm creates considerable heat! The same goes for the tight packaging and turbochargers in a McLaren 720s. So we're exceedingly familiar with this process. It was actually easier to manage on the normally aspirated, low-revving platform of the C8 than the challenges on some other platforms we support.

For some customers, even valves open on the NPP are not enough - so they elect to upgrade - and these customers have been happy to drop 38 pounds from the rear of the vehicle. (We find that more aggressive motorsport enthusiasts tend to drive with valves open the majority of the time anyway.) The same philosophy will hold true for the suspension, and Magride will not be enough for the more discerning track day crowd, who will undoubtedly swap for aftermarket coilovers to push these cars harder.

For those customers wishing to retain factory valve operation, we offer our Valvetronic Maxflo system - retaining all the valve functionality integrated to the factory settings. It can be viewed HERE

 

Oh, I assure you I wasn’t referring to Fabspeed in the above statement 😉 I’ve actually ranted and raved about your experience with other mid engine platforms in a prior thread.

BZ

 

I really like the build quality , engineering and feed back that Fabspeed is providing. I have a C8 ZO6 in my future and FabSpeed will be on my list for headers, CATs and Exhaust.
I do have one question:


Many Corvette Forum members have brought up the topic of ceramic Coated headers. Can you answer that topic? When you finish the C8 header and exhaust design and build, could ceramic coatings help with heat management ang if not why would you not recommend coating them. Thank You
Bill Curlee

 

Hey Bill, again I can’t share too much at this point but guess what one of the features of the exhaust we’re working on now is? 🤔

BZ

 

Hi Bill - for the majority of our systems dealing with extreme heat, our military-grade blankets are far more effective at managing underhood/under decklid temperatures. That's what we use on our Ferrari 355, 360, and 430 headers - and many of our Sport Cat offerings. Ceramic coatings absolutely make a difference - and some of our customers go in that direction - but they still radiate substantial heat. Depending on proximity to other items in the engine bay, blankets still may make more sense.

 

Can you use both the ceramic and blanket shielding? Would it make a difference and is it worth the added expense of using both?

Thanks for all the quick and well answered replies..

 

With the blankets installed - there's no need to go to the expense and extra hassle of ceramic coating. While you would have a bit of "belt and suspenders" redundancy to keep temps down, the extra cost is not likely worth any small benefit the coating would offer.

 

Blankets on aftermarket headers totally defeats the purpose of doing aftermarket headers on this car (for the visual appeal). The OEM pieces are already really good and have great heat shielding. If I were to do headers I'd want them jet hot chromed so you can see them in the engine bay.

 

Our philosophy: Function > Form

A lot of our products happen to be gorgeous, and it may be criminal to hide that craftsmanship with blankets, but it is far and away the best option to deal with heat.

 

I get that... but aftermarket headers will do little to gain over the OEM pieces. Only way to have material gains would be to delete the cats totally and extend the primaries and collectors in to that area. Kooks only gained 5 horse with their headers designed to mate to the OEM cats and they know a few things about headers. So... really the only reason to do headers would be to have something without the heat shielding bungs of the OEM ones.

Stock


Kooks (only gained 5 horse)

 

Chevrolet really provided excellent engineering on all areas of the new corvette and the headers are very well done. I totally understand that a” bundle of polished snakes” inverted headers in the open c8 engine bay would look bad *** and that’s a part of life that car guys n gals love. Makes life great. 5hp on headers is a decent gain. Burns stainless Costa Mesa California will be working soon on street race c8 headers with merge collectors slip-on and welded.

just casually looking at the new c8 we knew the gains would be released from freeing up flow in the restrictive catalytic converters and rear catback exhaust.

an rear high flow x pipe let’s her breathe and saves a ton of weight off the rear of the new vette. The stock OEM muffler is a 76 pound massive monolithic unit in which the tips were welded. Nothing can be substituted . A rear x pipes saves over 36# 17kg and gives a very exotic high pitched sports car sound. Massive almost 6” round By 4.25” long German High flow trimetallic cats
or as the Germans say Katalysators unleash more primal sound and power as the engine can exhale better.

all this will make even more power when a Chevy Ecu tuning experts eventually unlocks and retunes the ecu.
chevy did a great job on this launch car .........it can only get even better as Higher horsepower versions and continual improvement occurs. Can’t wait to see a ZO6 and hear evil flat plane cranks. At fabspeed we will get an old school Ferrari 458 4.5liter NA v8 568 hp 4 valve flat crank titanium rods stock (best sounding v8 ferrari before they turbocharged everything) and a new ZO6 c8 and have a real WW3 rev battle.......

a wonderful weekend to all