Would You Ever Straight-Pipe Your C8 Corvette?

So it isn’t an actual straight pipe exhaust, but hearing the C8 without its big muffler brings a bit of surprise.

If there’s one thing we know about YouTubers, it’s that they can’t let a car stay stock for very long. StreetSpeed717‘s Mike Holt is a perfect example of this. In one of his recent videos, we get to see a C8 stripped down to its skivvies in anticipation for a new exhaust. But of course, when taking off an exhaust, it is simply a requirement to hear what it sounds like before putting anything back on. As Holt notes, this is a first for many of us. “First in the world… you’re going to hear what a C8 is going to sound like with a proper exhaust,” he exclaims.

The roar to life is a familiar one. Holt says, “it sounds like a small block V8, it’s classic Corvette!” It is a nice V8 rumble, and deeper than we expected. With essentially just the muffler taken off, the headers, catalytic converters and a little length of down-pipe were still present. Even so, it’s not a noise that would make your ears bleed from the decibel levels. Holt even notes, “the noise is behind you, so the drone wouldn’t even be bad.” That’s a good thing for folks who want a bit of rumble, but still want to live with their C8 on a daily basis. It’s also nothing like a C8.R exhaust, but we all know the reason why.

As far as technical issues, there weren’t any. “No check engine light either. It could come on later when you’re driving, some cars are like that. I think this is a pretty good indication that you can do this muffler delete and you shouldn’t have any problems,” Holt says. He has a point. With electrical systems on every component these days, even an exhaust change can trigger something in the car to set off a check engine light.

Granted, in this video we only get a brief sampling of what life would be like with a straight piped C8. We are sure that there’s plenty of coming examples of properly loud Corvettes coming to YouTube. It’s just a matter of time.

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