Figured I'd start my own thread to blog all the work I do on my C8. I'm coming from a twin-turbo Stingray. Owned it for almost 3 years. Plenty of mods done to it and plenty of lessons learned in doing so (multiple ringland failures and severe clutch issues). Here it is in its final form before it was sold.







Enough of the past. Let's talk present and future. It was a tough choice between the Eray and the Z06. In the end, I went with the Eray because of 2 reasons

1. Tuning and future mod potential
2. AWD

2 weeks into ownership, Z06 tuning was cracked but I don't care for it so much. Having tuned my stingray, I know what the tuning limitations are at least until the TCM is cracked. Pound for pound value wise, the eray will give you better performance gains and street results.









Coming from a heavily modified Stingray, the Eray felt very, very tame and vanilla. I wasn't blown away from my intial impressions but I quickly realized that I had spent almost 3 years into modding the Stingray to my liking, so I got to have the same patience with this as well. As I am spending more and more time with the car, I am liking it more and more.. The biggest change was that I was pushing the car in cold frigid temps and it was planted. Something I couldn't do with my stingray, granted that had summer only tires but still, the grip is amazing. The previous owner had it stored for winter but I don' do that. I was out and about the very night I recieved it and it was starting to snow. Again, didn't have the guts to do that with the stingray.






First mod was tints all around. Looking forward to exploring all the possibilities with this car! My goal is to go turbos again and make it 5 sec 60-130 car.

 

Another reason it took me some time to develop a liking was the car's exhaust. The stock exhaust is so lame and quiet. I was used to nice exhaust, turbo and the BOV sounds. There were no pops or bangs with the stock exhaust. The shifts felt weak. I switched it to a center exhaust from Paragon, and I'm happy to say that the car now sounds perfect. It's loud, shifts better, and it pops and bangs.






I am also in the process of adding carbon flash to some of the body accents. Body colored accents are not my taste. I have carbon fiber mirror caps, front splitter and wheels on the way for the next round of mods.

 

Yeah, stock exhaust was the first thing to go for me as well. Looking forward to seeing what’s next!

 

Yep, stock exhaust is pitiful on the E-Ray. I did the valved Corsa and am pretty happy with it, but I may consider the Concept 841 headers/exhaust, I need to get over to Paragon and listed to it and see if I like it.

 

Keep the updates coming!

Loved the look of your Stingray.

 

Good luck. Will be watching. But honestly, I've NEVER understood the concept of heavily modifying a modern car (with a warranty), especially when higher trims exist. For the money going in plus the crazy depreciation that I suspect hits on the exit, wouldn't it be easier and likely far cheaper (net) to just find a ZR1 for sale with a few miles on it?

Either way, wish you luck and will be interested to hear/see what all you do.

 

I agree with this statement, because I like my warranty. ANYTHING can go wrong, and THEN it will hurt. I see a lot of people saying these cars are bullet proof, and it would take a lot for something to go wrong after the MODs. So I'll watch and let them take all the risks...I'm good. Exhaust is not a big deal, but ripping apart the engine is where it takes a new turn. When I was younger, I would jump out there and rip my car apart right after I bought it, but I don't anymore. Spending 25k, 40k, and 70k is not worth the performance...when you can just buy the more powerful model. I'm waiting on getting my ZR1X...no MODs needed. I'd consider a ZR1, but I like the AWD. As for the exhaust tone, I'm fine with it. Stock is good enough for me.

 

I'd honestly rather do a modified C4 ZR-1, C6 GS/Z06/ZR1 or C7 Z06 than mod my E-Ray. 5yr/60K powertrain warranty is hard to toss in the garbage on a car as complex as the C8 is, plus getting big mods to work together seemlessly is a lot harder on a modern car.

 

It's not everyone's cup of tea. It's cheaper to mod than buy the ZR1 or the ZR1X. I also prefer building and working on cars. Not worried about warranty. In case the delta between buying a used ZR1 vs spending the money to mod gets smaller; I might jump on that.

 

Congrats and mod and mod away, I had a heavily modded C5 when 800 RWHP was a lot, I built 20 yrs ago.

 

It looks like you have the stock rear spoiler, yet the attached picture shows a different spoiler. Are you planning on doing the rear spoiler change? The reason I ask is because I bought a high rise spoiler with 4 points of attachment, however the original spoiler has around 10 points of attachment. It looks like the spoiler in the picture has the 10 points of attachment covered by having a black bar on the back of the car.

 

I felt the same as you, coming from a Pro Charged C6 and C7Z. It’s been decades since I’ve wrenched on cars, so my answer came from Callaway. I’m very interested in following you progress. Thanks for sharing.

 

Been a while since I updated this thread. Quite a few things have been done to the car recently. Overall, I shaved around 100 lbs, with about 25 lbs coming from rotational mass alone.

I upgraded to lighter E5 forged wheels. The stock setup weighed around 29 lbs up front and 37 lbs in the rear, while the new setup comes in at 24 lbs front and 28 lbs rear. It’s crazy how much of a difference it made. Tthe car instantly felt lighter and more responsive.

I also lowered the car on Paragon Hyperco springs and brought the coilovers halfway down. I still think the rear could come down a touch more, but it’s getting there.

Added some carbon pieces as well: front lip, mirror caps, and side scoop overlays. The contrast really works. It’s subjective of course, but the car feels like it has a lot more character now instead of looking like one big block of red.

Inside, I installed a carbon fiber steering wheel and magnetic paddle shifters from Maed. That upgrade really enhanced the driving experience, especially since I drive in manual mode all the time.

Next thing I’ve been eyeing is headers. We’ll see where that goes.

 

Looks great! Thanks for sharing

 

Beautiful car and awesome mod. I'm also seriously considering putting a center exhaust on my eRay, but wanted to ask how the car sounds with no AFM valve when it drops into V4 mode. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any sound clips. Also, does this exhaust produce any drone at cruising speed? Would really appreciate your insight.

 

Looks great! I have a 2025 Eray and have a potential good deal on bought but unused Paragon lowering springs. Do you have any rubbing at all? And without clogging up this thread, would you mind messaging a little more about adjusting the coilovers?

 

Beautiful!

 

Sexy as hell! Good job brother.

Hope to share my modded GSX soon.

 

No drone at all. It gets quiet when it drops into V4 but nothing ugly

 

yes they rub in reverse at full turn. They rub near the mudflaps. Not sure how to avoid the rub, it's something i decided to live with