I thought about going with a American Racing header kit for my '04 C5 Corvette, but instead went with a Kook's header kit with catted x-pipe and mid pipe . No heating and tweaking was necessary for fitment. It truly literally bolted right up with no modifications needed. $2049 shipped; I like to think I got what I paid for. The entire kit was black Cerakoted at 500°F and left to air cool before installation. American Racing's product line is massive. Kook's makes exhaust components, that's it. I think Kook's products are made in the USA. Not to say that the AR kit is junk by any means, but the fitment looks to have left a lot to be desired. I'm sure everything is fine now, but not many people have a acetylene torch and a welder laying around. If it weren't for that it would of been an R & R for most people. This is the second vid I've seen on YT where the mounting tabs were either welded upside down or they gave the customer two driver's side pipes. Kind of sad since the AR kit for the C6 is over $2000. But it looks like you guys figured it out and it's on and working fine, so thumbs up for that!
Thank you for your comment, it sounds like you got yourself a really nice system! We were very surprised to have the issues we did with this ARH kit. We've installed many of them and this is the first one to come in with those issues. You're right though, if you were doing this at home, you likely would not have the tools we do in order to make everything straight and true. Sometimes that's just the way it goes though, we always expect a certain level of tweaking needed with any aftermarket part.
@@AntiksGarage Thank you for the response! The Kook's kit was installed along with a Michigan Motorsports BTR stage 1 cam kit (223°/230°, .613"/.605", 115° LSA+2° advance). Titanium retainers and dual valve springs. Cheap eBay dual snorkel CAI and cat-back exhaust. HP tune on engine/auto trans. 412hp wheel. Lots of new parts and gaskets all over; 128k mile daily driver. Car sounds like an old school sewing machine hot rod. Great vacuum at idle being 115° LSA and fine with the stock torque converter. The stage 1 kit has since been discontinued by Brian Tooley Racing. That cam is truly one-of-a-kind and there is nothing like it from any manufacture, not with that lift, duration and LSA. People these days want to "parking lot pimp" with lots of CHOP, crappy idle, lots of surging and a tiny power band. My cam pulls hard from start to finish and leaves stock Scat packs in the dust. I know David Vizard likes small LSA's and they have been proven to make more power; 108° LSA. But on my auto C5 with a 3.15 gear diff and stock torque converter the BTR stage 1 cam wins! I have noticed on these C5/C6 exhaust systems, it seems the best bet is to get a complete kit from the same manufacture; instead of headers from one company, a x-pipe from another company, etc.. Having seen some YT vids of hacked up Vette exhaust set-ups with mis-matched components and that "universal" weld-in x-pipe section.
@@mlc7boosted agreed on getting one full kit from the headers to the tips. At the end of the day we recommend what we have had good luck with and also what the customer wants. It sounds like you've got a pretty nice setup in your Corvette. Feel free to send us some pictures if you'd like either on our Instagram at Antiksgarage or our Facebook page and we can post it up as a viewers ride!
@@AntiksGarage Thanks for the invite to post pics! But I don't have FB anymore since my son's mom and I split up years ago, never had IG either. Just this old YT channel with several car audio vids and a couple Gmail accounts. But the car is a clean example I bought from a local car lot a couple years ago. It had 97k miles; kind of high but the car was clean. Shiny torch red paint, both the smoked glass and color match tops. Clean red sport seats, red carpet, red plastic trim like how GM pieces them together. All LED lighting so far except for the DIC and traction control button and rear tail lights. Even with a hyperflash module the car does not like LED front and rear turn signals...without soldering in some resistors on the tail light wiring. So I just left the tail lights halogen for now. Chrome Z06 style wheels with cheap Walmart ZR rated tires. New ATI super damper, new A/C parts, belts and tensioners. Lots of other new parts like Bilstein shocks, tie rods and C6 sway bar end links, HPI diff brace for the heck of it on an auto trans. Over $18k in parts and labor from Viking Automotive Repair in Buford, Ga.. It's like a 20 year old domestic Gran Turismo tourer. Rides smooth, accelerates hard to 150mph plus; after 150mph, I'm ready to let off anyways. Gets looks and some complements. Lots of rev's from Stangs and lots of fast take off's from Dodges. This car makes people want to race. I'm 47 and really just cruise around most days. I guess I was in a mid life crisis and I thought a Vette would make me feel better about myself. It's not really working, but the car 's cool, Lol.
I had a well respected shop in SFL install ARH 1 7/8 on my c6. Car came back with a rattle any time I would open or close the door. Had my mechanic take a look, made an adjustment because it was hitting something and now we can’t get the tips aligned. Think I spent around $1850 shipped for the ARH. Had eBay (SSAC) headers on my C5 that’s everyone said get ARH and they fit amazing and were polished stainless on top of that. Crazy, maybe quality control issues from the flu still ongoing? Car sounds great
@@blitzedpeacockbassfishing984 we haven't had too many issues with the ARH stuff, that being said we spend a LOT of time on alignment and fitting everything together so that the tips line up the way they should. In rare cases the issue will be with the pipes themselves but it usually just takes a bit more time spent aligning to resolve the issue
I had a big problem with Borla also,the have no quality control. They never expanded the pipes to fit inside one another. They fixed the problem by sending me a complete new sent but they had the same problem,so I fixed it myself.
@@n2wly53 yeah parts quality on everything seems to have really gone down over recent years. Luckily some of these issues you can resolve on your own but it's unfortunate to spend a ton of money on parts and have them come to you assembled or formed incorrectly.
@@AntiksGarage I have the ARH long tube headers + X pipe kit for my G8 and it had some issues too. Some of the pipes’ ends were bent so they couldn’t slide over each other. Had to get an exhaust pipe expander from harbor freight. Think I’ll be going with kooks for my next LS car’s headers 😂
@@Tanner_Teves unfortunately that's just the reality with aftermarket parts much of the time. Luckily for us, we have the resources and tools to make things work if things aren't lining up. Seems like there is a good chance of running into issues like this regardless of the manufacturer you go with these days.
We've actually done many of these and this is the first time we have run into issues like this. Usually the kit goes together very well, not sure why this one came to us so messed up
It like smoke coming out of a dragons snout. Very clean install
@@brettmunden9636 thank you so much!
I thought about going with a American Racing header kit for my '04 C5 Corvette, but instead went with a Kook's header kit with catted x-pipe and mid pipe . No heating and tweaking was necessary for fitment. It truly literally bolted right up with no modifications needed. $2049 shipped; I like to think I got what I paid for. The entire kit was black Cerakoted at 500°F and left to air cool before installation.
American Racing's product line is massive. Kook's makes exhaust components, that's it. I think Kook's products are made in the USA.
Not to say that the AR kit is junk by any means, but the fitment looks to have left a lot to be desired. I'm sure everything is fine now, but not many people have a acetylene torch and a welder laying around. If it weren't for that it would of been an R & R for most people. This is the second vid I've seen on YT where the mounting tabs were either welded upside down or they gave the customer two driver's side pipes. Kind of sad since the AR kit for the C6 is over $2000. But it looks like you guys figured it out and it's on and working fine, so thumbs up for that!
Thank you for your comment, it sounds like you got yourself a really nice system! We were very surprised to have the issues we did with this ARH kit. We've installed many of them and this is the first one to come in with those issues. You're right though, if you were doing this at home, you likely would not have the tools we do in order to make everything straight and true. Sometimes that's just the way it goes though, we always expect a certain level of tweaking needed with any aftermarket part.
@@AntiksGarage Thank you for the response! The Kook's kit was installed along with a Michigan Motorsports BTR stage 1 cam kit (223°/230°, .613"/.605", 115° LSA+2° advance). Titanium retainers and dual valve springs. Cheap eBay dual snorkel CAI and cat-back exhaust. HP tune on engine/auto trans. 412hp wheel. Lots of new parts and gaskets all over; 128k mile daily driver. Car sounds like an old school sewing machine hot rod. Great vacuum at idle being 115° LSA and fine with the stock torque converter.
The stage 1 kit has since been discontinued by Brian Tooley Racing. That cam is truly one-of-a-kind and there is nothing like it from any manufacture, not with that lift, duration and LSA. People these days want to "parking lot pimp" with lots of CHOP, crappy idle, lots of surging and a tiny power band. My cam pulls hard from start to finish and leaves stock Scat packs in the dust. I know David Vizard likes small LSA's and they have been proven to make more power; 108° LSA. But on my auto C5 with a 3.15 gear diff and stock torque converter the BTR stage 1 cam wins!
I have noticed on these C5/C6 exhaust systems, it seems the best bet is to get a complete kit from the same manufacture; instead of headers from one company, a x-pipe from another company, etc.. Having seen some YT vids of hacked up Vette exhaust set-ups with mis-matched components and that "universal" weld-in x-pipe section.
@@mlc7boosted agreed on getting one full kit from the headers to the tips. At the end of the day we recommend what we have had good luck with and also what the customer wants. It sounds like you've got a pretty nice setup in your Corvette. Feel free to send us some pictures if you'd like either on our Instagram at Antiksgarage or our Facebook page and we can post it up as a viewers ride!
@@AntiksGarage Thanks for the invite to post pics! But I don't have FB anymore since my son's mom and I split up years ago, never had IG either. Just this old YT channel with several car audio vids and a couple Gmail accounts.
But the car is a clean example I bought from a local car lot a couple years ago. It had 97k miles; kind of high but the car was clean. Shiny torch red paint, both the smoked glass and color match tops. Clean red sport seats, red carpet, red plastic trim like how GM pieces them together. All LED lighting so far except for the DIC and traction control button and rear tail lights. Even with a hyperflash module the car does not like LED front and rear turn signals...without soldering in some resistors on the tail light wiring. So I just left the tail lights halogen for now. Chrome Z06 style wheels with cheap Walmart ZR rated tires. New ATI super damper, new A/C parts, belts and tensioners. Lots of other new parts like Bilstein shocks, tie rods and C6 sway bar end links, HPI diff brace for the heck of it on an auto trans. Over $18k in parts and labor from Viking Automotive Repair in Buford, Ga.. It's like a 20 year old domestic Gran Turismo tourer. Rides smooth, accelerates hard to 150mph plus; after 150mph, I'm ready to let off anyways.
Gets looks and some complements. Lots of rev's from Stangs and lots of fast take off's from Dodges. This car makes people want to race. I'm 47 and really just cruise around most days.
I guess I was in a mid life crisis and I thought a Vette would make me feel better about myself. It's not really working, but the car 's cool, Lol.
Absolutely fascinating watching you guys work your magic. You do maintenance stuff on my C6!
Thank you for the kind words and for trusting us with your baby, we really appreciate it!
The ARH look great. Guess I’ll stick with Corsa for a catback. Great videos gentlemen!
Thanks very much!
Awesome job guys keep up the great work 👌
Thanks very much!!
I had a well respected shop in SFL install ARH 1 7/8 on my c6. Car came back with a rattle any time I would open or close the door. Had my mechanic take a look, made an adjustment because it was hitting something and now we can’t get the tips aligned. Think I spent around $1850 shipped for the ARH. Had eBay (SSAC) headers on my C5 that’s everyone said get ARH and they fit amazing and were polished stainless on top of that. Crazy, maybe quality control issues from the flu still ongoing? Car sounds great
@@blitzedpeacockbassfishing984 we haven't had too many issues with the ARH stuff, that being said we spend a LOT of time on alignment and fitting everything together so that the tips line up the way they should. In rare cases the issue will be with the pipes themselves but it usually just takes a bit more time spent aligning to resolve the issue
I had a big problem with Borla also,the have no quality control. They never expanded the pipes to fit inside one another. They fixed the problem by sending me a complete new sent but they had the same problem,so I fixed it myself.
@@n2wly53 yeah parts quality on everything seems to have really gone down over recent years. Luckily some of these issues you can resolve on your own but it's unfortunate to spend a ton of money on parts and have them come to you assembled or formed incorrectly.
Just curious were the pipes shipped from China... I had a set like that I had to send back, I ordered elsewhere..
They fit perfect ...
We will have to check on that! Not sure exactly where they shipped from. First time we've had an issue like this with one of their setups.
Great video! That’s some pretty bad quality control by ARH and Borla!
@@Tanner_Teves agreed, it was definitely surprising to have issues like this. We usually don't have any problems with these installs
@@AntiksGarage I have the ARH long tube headers + X pipe kit for my G8 and it had some issues too. Some of the pipes’ ends were bent so they couldn’t slide over each other. Had to get an exhaust pipe expander from harbor freight. Think I’ll be going with kooks for my next LS car’s headers 😂
@@Tanner_Teves unfortunately that's just the reality with aftermarket parts much of the time. Luckily for us, we have the resources and tools to make things work if things aren't lining up. Seems like there is a good chance of running into issues like this regardless of the manufacturer you go with these days.
I would send ARH this link.
Good idea
Wow, not a kit I would run out to purchase given the required tweaks 😬
We've actually done many of these and this is the first time we have run into issues like this. Usually the kit goes together very well, not sure why this one came to us so messed up
So much for being a “slip-on” system🤦♂️
It's never as easy as they say it should be 🤷🏽♂️