Chevy Corvette C5 Simple Bolt-On Upgrades - Nip Tuck

The Halltech intake produced as promised, and then some-311 hp and 330 lb-ft of torque. That's a gain of 36.5 hp and 23.4 lb-ft! The stock numbers were certainly a little anemic (even for the Dynapack), and we don't have to guess why.

Stainless Works provided us with its '97-'04 Turbo Muffler Axle-Back system with quad 3-inch tips. In hindsight, the CNC mandrel-bent 3-inch tubes may be a tad large for our stock C5, but at the time we were thinking the turbo mufflers would be better suited to the discerning ears of your average Corvette owner than the raspier chambered version. This 304 stainless system runs just under $990 for all the pipes, mufflers, and hardware.

To remove the stock catback, the rear sway bar must be detached with a 15 and 18mm socket and wrench.

A 15mm wrench unhooks the catback at the flange and then...

...it is pulled off the hanger.

The new pipes are bolted up and the mufflers are connected with band clamps.

The dual/dual tips are tweaked until straight,...

...and then given a final turn with the wrench.

The 3-inch pipes indeed were too big for the nearly stock LS1, killing a few peak horsepower-moving it down to 308.9. Surprisingly the peak torque climbed to 341.7 lb-ft, though. In retrospect, the 2.5-inch Chambered Axle-Back would have been a better choice, but maybe this will motivate Bob to put on an ECS supercharger kit.