Some of the other work I did on the car in 2015 was adding headers/cats/x-pipe, C5 Z06 Titanium axle back, and an oil cooler with integrated thermostat.
Here are the headers I went with, XS Power makes them. They are very similar to the American Racing Headers design but only cost $800 instead of $1800. Sorry ARH but I am not paying $1800 for a set of welded tubes, that is what a ball bearing turbocharger costs and turbos have WAY more complicated machining/casting operations and exotic materials. There was some weld breakthrough on the inside of the collector and where the primaries are welded to the flange, which I cleaned up with a Dremel, but otherwise I was decently impressed with their quality.
Formed collector, not pretty but it gets the job done.
X-pipe with high flow cats. Nice extra O2 bung on the x-pipe for a wideband.
Stock cats/H-pipe. Heavy!
Stock exhaust manifold. Actually pretty light but definitely sapping power. Even when I first bolted on the headers without a tune it was a very noticeable power increase in both mid range and high RPM. Plus they sound awesome...
Weight-wise, the headers/cats/x-pipe was maybe 6-8 lbs lighter than the stock setup but that was how much the oil cooler added, so I came out even. The axleback was where the big savings were, going from steel to Ti.
For my oil cooler setup I went with this handy thermostat from Improved Racing that opens only when the oil hits 212F. Bolts in place of the stock oil temp sensor and has the two fittings for the cooler plus room for the oil temp sensor to go back in. Nice part.
Adapter plus braided lines. Nabbed a lightly used DRM setup off of Corvette Forums. Added insulation where the lines pass near the headers.
Headers installed with C5 Z06 Ti axleback.
Oil cooler installed. Oil temps much more stable now, never seen them get above 240 in the dead of summer on asphalt hot lapping autox runs.
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