C8 Corvette Sounds Insane With Fabspeed Straight Pipes

“650ib” is the happy owner of a white-painted Stingray Z51 with the high wing and 3LT goodies, yet the car isn’t stock anymore. Not only did he wrap the car for better protection and more visual drama but the NPP exhaust system has been swapped for the aforementioned straight pipes with cat bypass pipes from Fabspeed.

First things first, the bone-stock car laid down 443 rear-wheel horsepower and 427 pound-feet of torque on the dyno. That’s an 11-percent loss compared to the crankshaft figures if Chevrolet is accurate about the ratings, which is seriously impressive if you remember that tuning shops keep the 15-percent rule for drivetrain loss in high regard.

Fabspeed claims the Valvetronic straight pipes provide 4 more horsepower and 6 more pound-feet of torque while cutting 20 pounds (9 kilograms) over the stock exhaust system. The cat bypass pipes haven’t been dyno-tested at the time of reporting, but the sport cats drop 9 pounds (4 kilograms) while adding 6.5 horsepower and 6.5 pound-feet to the blunderbuss hiding in the middle of the C8 Corvette.

Fabspeed also offers an X-pipe supersport exhaust system at $3,395, but frankly, the combo that 650ib used on his car ticks all of the right boxes. The raspy snarls and roars make the LT2 sound just as good as the engine bay looks. As the youngsters say, it’s a sick mod that won’t cost as much as forced induction. Better still, a free-breathing exhaust system doesn’t strain the engine like a blower or twin turbos.