FCOR-0257 Billy Boat C5 Corvette Shorty Headers      

Marking the sixth generation of its legacy, the 2005 Chevrolet Corvette delivers more power, passion and precision to reach a new standard of performance car excellence. It will be introduced at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2004, with production slated to begin in the third quarter. A convertible version will be unveiled in the first half of 2004, with its production beginning in fall 2004.

Z51 Performance Package. The Z51 Performance Package brings Corvette Coupe performance very close to the same level as the widely admired Z06. The Z51 offers more aggressive dampers and springs, larger stabilizer bars, and larger, cross-drilled brake rotors for optimum track performance capability while still providing a well-controlled and comfortable ride. Extensive racetrack testing reveals that a C6 equipped with the Z51 suspension almost equals the lap time of a C5 Z06 - marking a major advance in the overall performance of a Corvette Coupe by nearly approximating the extreme performance capabilities of the vaunted Z06 at a remarkable value

Corvette engineers thoroughly revised the Tremec gear box and added proprietary technology not offered on other automakers' high-performance transmissions. The six-speed transmission also has revised gearing when selected with the Z51 performance option. With the Z51, the Tremec is tailored with numerically higher gears to improve acceleration. Also, a lower fifth gear gives the Z51 better fuel efficiency and a higher top speed than base models. To increase durability in sustained high-speed situations, the Z51 and the base European manual-transmission models have a transmission cooler.

The theory behind this design is that it will keep the velocity of the exhaust gases moving quickly through the headers into the X-pipe to maximize the scavenging effect, while the larger-diameter tubing ahead of the mufflers prevents the gasses from stacking up as they pass through the mufflers to avoid excessive backpressure in the system. Finally, we swapped on the stepped X-pipe setup and were impressed to see power levels equal to the open headers: 335 hp at 6,300 hp and 302 lb-ft at 5,200. That's a gain of 12 rear-wheel horsepower, although it turns out we weren't really giving anything up or gaining anything extra from the open headers. So the car's happy, and our ears are even happier.

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