NA FURY

I'm currently searching for a C6 Z06 and planned on having a reputable shop do heads, cam, and exhaust probably within a year of purchase. Race Proven Motorsports is close to me and I like their stage 3 and 4 packages. One core consideration for me is sound, especially in the cabin. I want the big cam chop and for it to sound great on the outside, but I'd like to minimize the volume and any drone in the cabin to the extent possible since I'd like to take the car on trips. Let's just say I'm not looking to put a Corsa Extreme system on the car. I'm more than willing to leave some HP on the table to reduce cabin decibels.

I've seen some posts suggesting it's possible to do heads/cam in a way that doesn't make it noticeably louder than stock. I was planning on LT's a catted x-pipe and keeping the stock mufflers, but I am seeing some recommendations to keep the stock manifolds to avoid drone. Others with LTs say they have no drone. What are some things to consider for an optimal solution?

furious427

I have a race proven motorsports stage 4 with american racing headers with cats, into a corsa sport. I have zero drone and just cruising around the car in my opinion sounds perfect. Not too loud at all until you hit 4000rpm then it wakes up. Most people will just leave the oem axle back exhaust and from what I have read zero drone as well.There kits are legit and they put out the numbers they claim.

NA FURY

Good to hear some first hand experience with RPM. Did you put the Corsa Sport on at the same time the rest of the work was done? What is the increase in volume over stock with your current setup? Any material drivability issues with the stage 4 kit?

niphilli2

LTs should not create drone but do produce a very different sound inside the cabin. The best way I can describe it is more ‘metallic’ and more like you can hear each exhaust pulse as it hits the primary. I personally do not like it, some do.

i stuck with the factory manifolds with gutted cats, a corsa x pipe and stock rear section. The factory manifolds are excellent up to about 550rwhp but beyond that they will become a bottleneck. When you mention a huge cam like the RPM B3 I wouldn’t think stock manifolds would be appropriate/ probably leaving 50 rwhp on the table. If you are looking for a near stock driving experience I’d personally consider the new Katech touring cam with stock manifolds

furious427

I bought my car 100% stock, first thing I did was purchase AHP package 4 heads to address the valve issue, and also a corsa sport because in my opinion the oem exhaust was way to quiet.
After driving it for a year like that I then added american racing headers 1 7/8 with cats, a halltech cold air intake, and a ported msd intake. I had to get the car tuned after that. Drove it for another year like that and I started to get bored and decided I wanted a cam.

I did a ton of research about cams, after reading and reading I was very worried about losing drivability by over camming the car. So, I decided that I would want a cam with no more then 6" degrees of overlap to try and keep decent drivability and I ended up with a texas speed 1.2 cam. Had to get the car tuned again. Once the cam was installed the drivability of course changed but not really a big deal in my opinion, yah you need a little more rpm when starting off from a dead stop but no big deal.

At this point I am assuming the car had somewhere around 520-540whp. Not really sure as my tuner tuned the car on the street, never been on a dyno. Then I started drag racing the car and fell in love with it, but soon realized my current hp level wasn't enough for me and I wanted more.

That's when I ordered the heads and cam package from race proven motorsports along with a bigger throttle body and 60lb injectors. I also switched tuners at this point, and he is completely remote. Now the car is making the power I want, and I have to be honest the difference between the texas speed baby cam and the B3 cam as far as drivability goes is very minimal at best.

The only difference as far as drivability goes, I notice between the two cams is the B3 on the hwy in 6th gear doesn't love to be lugged between say 1400-1700rpm's. To me that's the only time i notice any difference in drivability. The texas speed cam came into power alot sooner which was very fun on the street, but at the drag strip it just signed off way to early and the B3 will rev all the way and past 7000rpm.

I do all my own work on my car so I can't speak for race proven motorsports work but from what I have seen and read they are top notch. I am very happy with the power the car is making and would definitely recommend the setup if you want great power and still good drivability.

Apocolipse

With a similar to a B3 cam…AR headers were only worth 20hp at the top end max hp vs stock manifolds at 600whp.

They was however a LOT more torque around 2-3500 vs stock (the entire purpose of long tubes is to really add torque down low based on length of the tubes).

Moral of story - if you are drag racing only then is it worth 20hp for you? How much time do you spend in 2-3500 zone?

Also adding this since mentioned above - if you drive in 6th gear on the highway get used to going to 5th to pass anyone as there is no power at low rpm with a b3 or equivalent. I went to a stage 1 afterwards since it drove me insane.

NA FURY

I’m not going to drag the car. It’s going to be a weekend toy car that I’ll take on occasional trips. Shifting into 5th to pass on the highway wouldn’t be a big deal for me. It seems like the stage 3 RPM kit would have enough power down low to suit my use case.

jerseydrew

If you are close to RPM. then ECS and Vette Doctors are not that far either. I have the Vette Doctors sick stick setup and it has been wonderful for over 15 years. As far as noise the corsa works well with very little to no drone, its what i have. You can always leave the stock cat back on the car and just so a mild to wild controller. The stock exhaust when the butterflies are open isnt exactly quiet.

Apocolipse

Weekend toy car and trips I’d suggest something smaller but your version of acceptable may be different than mine. I personally went from a stage 3 to 1 and that 0.001% time I used the upper powerband…everything else is better

Corvetteexhaustsystems

Long tube headers will add drone in cabin when you open up the valves on the oem axleback. There is no way around that. A set of catted headers will introduce less drone in cabin vs catless headers. I do have both variations in stock ready to ship for C6 Z06.

If you think the oem axleback is too quiet in quiet mode and too much drone on the highway cruising at 1800rpms when the valves are open, you should take a serious look into Corsa. It's the only axleback for our cars that truly changes the sound character and brings all the noise to the back of the vehicle. You'll quickly understand this the moment you start a Corsa equipped C6Z. In cabin the difference between Corsa Sport & Xtreme is negligible. Both are supremely comfortable at any rpm.

Kooks Headers and X-pipes for C6 Z06

Corsa Xtreme for C6 Z06
​​​​Corsa Sport for C6 Z06

I do have both Kooks headers/xpipe and Corsa Sports & Xtremes in stock ready to ship immediately for all C6 platforms including Z06/ZR1. I run Corsa Xtreme because it's 20lbs lighter than Sports and has a way nicer looking tip. It's also a deeper fuller tone when you get on it. Happy to go over options in detail you can pm me or call/text me directly at 201-575-0861.
-Ciro
Owner
Corvetteexhaustsystems.com

hiznhrz

@NA FURY I WAS looking for a C6 Z06. I found one that was everything I was looking for including 3,500 original miles with a Lingenfelter cam, head, exhaust, and exhaust package. I love the car. It looks great and runs great. I don't like, however, that the was too loud when I bought it. I knew, however, that it is fixable which is why I bought it anyway. I've tried solving the problem the way you are now.

You are getting the same experienced based good information that I received. I'm not going to say that any one suggestion is wrong, but I will tell you I think after getting the valuable input from others that I do understand several of what I will call "key" variables. I have one more step I need to demonstrate to myself before I open my mouth publicly.

Things vary from car to car so not everything works the same way on every car. Using the factory mufflers and the factory exhaust manifolds are not bad choices but as you've already noticed, there are a lot of cars with headers and aftermarket exhaust that a great number of people enjoy regularly. I think, We should talk if you have any interest in what I've done and what I have left to do.

If you are interested PM me. Not sure where you are but we live just south of Gettysburg, PA. I'm thinking we are not far from one another. You will be welcome to see and hear my car, see what I've done, and what my final step to address my "volume" and minor "drone" issue between 1500 and 1900 RPMs will be.

RPM is a good shop but what I've learned is just because one RPM shop is good doesn't mean they all are. I do know the one "near you" if you are talking about the shop in Delaware, I've only ever heard great things about them. BTW, I am happy with the work Lingenfelter completed for the prior owner but I think you can do just as well elsewhere with better after the sale customer service and at a lower cost elsewhere.

Captain Spaulding

That's for sure. I had the mild to wild in my car for about a year, but in wild mode, the drone drove me crazy after a few minutes, and IIRC, it drained the battery faster when the car sat. I ended up removing it.

jerseydrew

yes that is true. I also had one for a while, but the nice thing is that for regular driving you can leave it in regular mode and have no drone and then when you pull up to a parking lot or something, you can open them up and just put up with it for a couple of minutes while you pull in. Although again I am very happy with my Corsa

Bruno417

I put Corsa sports on my car with the catless x-pipe. I have a 2013 so it has two extra baby cats in the mid pipe. There is no drone, the exhaust is a bit louder as it should have been from GM, but not obnoxious at low rpm's, step on it and they do wake up nicely. I never did care for how quiet the stock exhaust are, and read that leaving the flaps open does cause drone etc. You will also see that the Corsa exhaust is a true 3" system. The factory exhaust necks down to 2.5" right before it enters the stock muffler.