Agamble

I recently acquired a 2002 zo6 and was told it had an “exhaust system.” The previous owner didn’t know much more than that. I had it up on a lift yesterday, and to my pleasant surprise, the factory titanium mufflers were there. The H pipe appeared to be stock also, but failed the magnet test to be made of titanium, which brings me to my question... were the factory H pipes also titanium?

chain_5001

H pipes were not titanium. They are steel.

strand rider

I believe any titanium used was as a coating, possibly to allow for normal durability with a lighter construction.

While I am speculating on the reason for the coating , I am fairly confident that the exhaust tubes are not full titanium , having read about them being coated on many operate occasions, and from different sources. I also thought that , since I only ever heard the expression, " titanium exhaust" , that it was built from titanium pipe, but have now been around enough to have my understandings upgraded.

Plus, the price point of the car, and, at the time, the cost and availability of titanium in an exhaust tube diameter, plus the complexity of working the material , would seem to support that it is a coating, and that GM has the ability to coat with titanium , while little guys like myself have to make do with ceramic coatings, like jet hot, as our top choice.

I haven't seen any aftermarket stuff that used other than an "X" pipe, in replacing the OEM, "H" style connection, but am far from an expert on what is for sale, or might be on your car.

It might have been that the previous owner thought stating that the car had an "exhaust system". was a less scary selling description than saying the car has headers attached to the rest of the stock exhaust system, which is a very common design modification. Since every car has an exhaust system, his statement must have had a point to it, and since you have the OEM back end, and an "H" pipe, perhaps headers are the only change.

The previous owner of my car installed a nice axle back modification to the exhaust system, completely smog legal, and easily identified without even looking under the car, by comparing the exhaust tips to the OEM. In my case, the magniflow tips are designed to be attractive with a race car look, but the location now presents a conflict with my desire to install a trailer hitch for a bike rack.

natchamp

I believe the mufflers are full titanium. Have not cut one apart. The weight difference is 10lbs between the regular steel and titanium mufflers.

smitty2919

They are not "titanium coated pipes". I don't even know how you coat something in Titanium...

Have you picked up a C5Z catback? If not you need to to realize the benefit that it's a full Ti system all the way to the rolled tips.

https://www.corvetteactioncenter.com...06exhaust.html

hron61

Thanks for the link smitty.
Great read.
Will have to print and save for my archive.

twiget

A Titanium Nitride (TiN) coating is used in a lot of applications, usually where high wear resistance and low friction is needed. Not sure how well it would work in an exhaust application though.

A bit of addition to the link above. The former USSR had huge titanium reserves and once it collapsed in the early '90's, they started scraping their military hardware. A lot of which was built with Ti. This flooded the market and drove Ti prices down enough that GM could afford to make the C5 Z06 exhaust out of the wonder metal. So far as I know, the C5 Z06 is the only mass produced vehicle with Ti exhaust.

Agamble

Right, he meant it had an AFTERMARKET exhaust system. I'm beginning to question his knowledge of the car. I know he didn't like turning wrenches, but man, he can drive. Haha. That test drive was something else! I guess I was giving him a lot of credit based on his driving prowess. Im doing the starter on Thursday so I may be able to spy some identifying marks on the passenger header. Thank you all for the responses. I'm relieved to know I still have the most desirable bits of the factory exhaust system, as I purchased the car believing I'd have to track them down and re-purchase them.

smitty2919

I think you're right about C5Z being the only OEM optioned car with Ti system. That's why I won't sell mine. It stays in storage as a "cool thing to own". It will be hung up on display at some point.

Napoleon_Tanerite

No, you're flat out wrong on this. The C5 Z06 is indeed full titanium (not coated) from the axle back. Upstream of that is all steel. This has been documented many, MANY times over by guys trying to modify the factory system and figuring out that it can't be welded (at least not like steel can). If it was just coated it would weld up just fine once you ground away the coat.

strand rider

thank you for the needed correction, I would never want to intentionally mislead anyone. I sincerely believed I was contributing towards a useful understanding or I wouldn't have posted about what I had repeatedly read. When I was composing my reply, for some reason, I was only considering the exhaust tubes, not anything from the muffler. I will suspend my materials construction opinions from now on. I suppose if one doesn't care enough about the subject to know what they are talking about, they should probably zip the yapper .

From reading this post, I now have a desire to add a titanium muffler , but my car already has an aftermarket axle back deal that might add a bit of power. reports are that it works, almost as advertised, by sacrificing quietness, an effect called "the sound of power" in one of their weaker advertisements, but they did use granitelli as a pitch man, for a while. Any guy who puts a jet engine into a C5 is ok with me, even if the car could only be driven by the brake pedal around town. I call that credibility, like if Elvis had endorsed snacks.

I wonder if the slight power increase from the aftermarket axle back is worth more performance than the lighter weight of the titanium part. I typically favor lighter as better.

smitty2919

Don't look to a catback as a power adder. It's simply for personal preference on the sound you want the car to sound like. And unless you are racing where every pound counts, you won't notice the weight difference when driving if you had a Ti muffler or even Ti catback.

So put whatever system on the car you like to hear. Best bang for the buck for power is headers. After that is a cam/pushrods/valve springs/tune but the labor will cost you when the cam is only ~$300 LOL.

cdw

just put ti plus x pipe on my c5 yesterday. they are all ti and not just a coating. had both sitting on the ground and had a ss in one hand and a ti in the other hand. major weight difference.

Yello95

Here's mine...I love them...they were just about mint w/very low mileage but i did not mind paying way more than what they usually sell for...I wanted them...PERIOD...

PeppyVette

I have a Cat back Corsa Exhaust - it has the bypass already on it. Anyone have a C5 Z06 TI exhaust they would trade for it?

bracketshark

Just bought my 99 FRC back from the guy I sold it to, He replaced the titanium Z06 mufflers that I had installed with Borla (?) mufflers. they sound about the same. I got the Titanium mufflers back with the car and they will be re-installed as soon as my lift is open. I will be selling the Borla units at that time.

grinder11

If memory serves me, TiN coating is gold colored. But maybe my memory is failing, lol.......

grinder11

As said for decades, a picture is worth a thousand words! No way could you stand the steel system on its mufflers with steel pipes hanging out like that......