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Some tuning and exhaust questions

Rat Race

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 18, 2005
Messages
70
Location
North Jersey
OK so I have a 05 Mag Red Z51 6 speed. It has just turned 20k miles.

Am thinking about moving up to Z06, but aside from the battery going dead I really love this car.

If i keep it, Id like to do a few mods- I was told by a local LS motor tuner around here that I could get 25 HP with a dyno tune, and another 12 hp with like a Billy Boat exhaust.

I read the B&B gives nothing to about 6 hp over stock, but I want the sound anyway, so I dont really care about weather I get an HP gain or not.

But is it true about the tune? And what do they do, put a new chip or reprogram it?

Also, I know this has been discussed before but B&B has a sale going on now, and id like to make a decision, but want to hear your thought on what exhaust you put in if you did. Also, can I fit the GM dual mode exhaust to my 05, just in case someone here convinces me to get that?

Thanks for the help

Rich
 
OK so I have a 05 Mag Red Z51 6 speed. It has just turned 20k miles.

Am thinking about moving up to Z06, but aside from the battery going dead I really love this car.

If i keep it, Id like to do a few mods- I was told by a local LS motor tuner around here that I could get 25 HP with a dyno tune, and another 12 hp with like a Billy Boat exhaust.

I read the B&B gives nothing to about 6 hp over stock, but I want the sound anyway, so I dont really care about weather I get an HP gain or not.

But is it true about the tune? And what do they do, put a new chip or reprogram it?

Also, I know this has been discussed before but B&B has a sale going on now, and id like to make a decision, but want to hear your thought on what exhaust you put in if you did. Also, can I fit the GM dual mode exhaust to my 05, just in case someone here convinces me to get that?

Thanks for the help

Rich
I put an after market cat back system on my 04 (corsa). It definitely sounded a lot better but many told me I would feel a "seat of the pants" difference. I did not. The tune on the other hand will definitely add Hp, but be careful there are always consequences when you change the operation of the motor. You may get more power and torque but at what expence? Increase wear on internal parts? That's what I am told by an friend who is an engineer on the corvette team. From an ego standpoint increasing hp is cool but unless you are a professional driver on a closed course you are not likely to use all the hp you already have. I up graded to an 07 Z06 because I liked the look but I never took the 04 to the limits never mind the Z good luck
 
Thats a pretty tall claim from just a tune. I think people are getting about a 35 h.p. gain from long tube headers AND a tune. My guess with the Cat-back and a tune you may see 20-25.......:confused:confused:confused:confused:confused
 
From my experience and that of many others, you will not feel any HP gain from a change to an after-market exhaust. The biggest gain -- which will vary from about 12 to about 20+ HP may be attained by going to long-tube headers along with appropriately matched catalytic converters and mufflers.

I found in my personal experience that the Billy Boat Route 66 mufflers sounded good, but the fit and finish were absolutely not acceptable. Also, the return/replacement service was not as promised and caused me extra expense to replace their inadequate clamps and straighten their ill-fitting pipes. In fact, the replacement muffler's tips were just as imperfectly finished as the ones on the mufflers I returned after speaking directly with Bill himself.

As for tuning, I agree with the previous poster, JohnM, that the additional drive train strains and reconfigurations of computer tables and parameters is potentially more detrimental than is worth the gain in HP.
 
My 05 got 8 horsepower from a GHL exhaust, and 6 more with a Haltech intake along with the exhaust. The tune was good for about 20 HP, but the power curve was broader, and the car ran great after the tune - got well into the 12s. I've had friends tell me B&B were good for 4 HP. I've never seen the before and after dyno charts on Billy's system, so I can't say.
 

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