Sam Krahn 
With the impenetrability of the 2020 C8 Corvette Stingray ECU, tuners are having a difficult time finding a way to modify the car without setting things up for failure. But not all aftermarket companies are left in the dark with Chevrolet’s latest sports car. Performance exhaust companies will almost certainly be able to fit a system to the C8 Corvette without too much trouble. And the latest to show off their exhaust is Kooks.
Pronounced like what you find in the kitchen, Kooks is known for their aftermarket exhaust header systems specifically. They have been hard at work developing an exhaust header system for the 2020 Corvette, and they have now released some videos, while the company’s website has preorder information listed, too.
An exhaust, for now, is one of the only ways you can get more horsepower out of the C8 Corvette. Other modifications like turbos, superchargers, and nitrous have been incompatible without an ECU tune. Kooks claims that their header and sports catalytic converters kit adds 20 hp and 26 lb-ft of torque on a Z51 car with no check engine light. If this is true, it proves exhausts might be the only way to increase horsepower on the LT2 V8 without help from GM. Furthermore, these gains are with the stock cat back exhaust.
515 horsepower and 496 lb-ft of torque sounds great to us.
As for the videos, Kooks has shown the Corvette on the dyno, which certainly adds to the credibility of their performance gains. In the driving video, the new exhaust gives a great tone to the Stingray. The little pop on the upshift is particularly nice. It’s hard to tell how much louder this setup is from stock, however.
Currently, the site only lists the headers and catalytic converters, but they certainly aren’t cheap. The headers come in at a whopping $1,495.99 but are currently on sale for $1,346.39. The cats are even more, at $1,614.99 but are on sale now for $1,453.39. Then again, Kooks has a reputation for quality. For those that will do anything for more power out of their C8, this looks to be the best option yet.
