5 MUST-DO Modifications For a C5 Corvette

Alls you need to do is cut down/eliminate your use of "uh and um" while talking to level up!

I had no issues putting on my Texas Speed headers !

Great analysis but I would add that you'd upgrade the brakes.

Damn! What is that color called?

What are the wheel specs? Love the stance and fitment.

470hp!!?!? I think my mountain bike has that much, let me go check…………yup 483.

Just picked up a 2000 6sp conv. with low miles. Is super charging it going to kill the reliability?

The only thing that says modified about your car is the wheels and tires... it's lower to the keen eye. Everything looks stock lol BUT these things are so beautiful nothing else needs done to them so I respect that

I was wondering about headers on my’03 Z, but was told about more heat from them.
And in New Mexico summers, don’t need more heat.

1 shifter
2 seats
3 tires
4 lower the car
5 long tube headers


#1 is idk probably a good idea if you have a stick
#2 is a mehh, iv daily drove the absolute shit out of mine since i got it 2 years ago with 145K mils and the bolster on the stock seats is fine.
#3 good idea
#4 seems pointless unless its a track only car, i say this b/c my buddy has a C5z and its lowered and he hates it b/c he has to dodge so many things on the road all the time, and be even more aware of angles then i do.
#5 you could have also said intake as the factory intake chokes the car compared to literally anything, even taking the factory filter off turning it around and doing the old Zip TIE mod is better then leaving the intake stoke

Good tips except lowering. There is more engineering in the suspension and wheel and tire selection that you will ever understand. Lowering any vehicle thinking you are gaining performance is just plain silly. Its about aesthetics and attitude... and to be honest its immature, makes the car less safe and diminishes performance.

Beautiful color bro! Your mods are tastefully done. Mine was lowered when I got it. I went with the MGW shifter with the race knob. I highly recommend M/T ET Streets. The Nitto 555Rs are good also but, the M/T are in a different class. My car will now hook in 1st. The Nittos would fight for traction in third. Props on the Z.

I have a 2001 z06 with cam/intake/exhaust, ported/polished heads with 5 angle valve job plus a tune. Only made 449rwhp. How did you get to 470?

“These mods can all be applicable to ANY C5”. First mod, talking about the shifter on a standard, mines an automatic.

Very good video. Lots of good information. Bought my 04 back in 2015. 24-hour at Lemans edition. Automatic trans. Convertible. The only thing I did was ditch the bus steering wheel. At the time of that 90,000 miles on it. The tires were dry-rotted from a dealer. Put on the set of bridgestones run flats. Now it's time to change them because of their 7 years old. Thanks again for all your good information.

I don't understand why people change the exhaust in these cars ...it's titanium from the factory...anything else is garbage..changing the exhaust manifolds with a set of Shorty headers is the only exhaust mod that makes sense

Nice car bro. I dig the video. Recently got my tranny beefed up and a stall converter installed. Need to change out my harmonic balancer but once I’m done with that I think my first mod will be exhaust followed by headers and tune. It’ll be expensive but worth it. I gave you a follow my guy look forward to more c5 content. 👍🏻

How much power did those upgrades give you?

I cant wait to get one of these, build it, and go hunting.

Beautiful car. Im getting ready to buy my first vette. But one other very important mod that i would do if I had your car is either replace or paint the heat pad under the hood. That looks nasty. But other then that, Beautiful.

gonna be honest bro some of these mods have a lot down sides or don't make sense for alot of c5 owners/aren't avliable for all C5 owners, so first thing out of the box you say we MUST swap the shifter to a C6 shifter with out even acknowledging this is related to manual cars or addressing any options for automatic owners, which I'm pretty sure like over 50% of base c5 where auto so I mean, its probably a great mod Im sure but your saying these are the 5 MUST DO mod for c5 owners and the first 3 minutes your are totally abandoning/ignoring literally most C5 owners, again even if you just mentioned it was specific for manual c5s, or offered some option for auto cars, I mean you basically are acting like auto c5s arent worth mentioning, the seats you did a good job you mentioned theirs different options etc so good there. tire now, ok so heres the thing, you mentioned you need drag radials and then did do a good job say like hey its low miles you need to replace old tires, but like you didn't give any recommendations for like if someone is stock or if someone is trying to autox or if someone is planning on modding like Idk I feel like you could have done more then just say what you got and that you need to replace old tires, which is honestly a really important thing so I do have to give you the props on that, but I do feel like is kinda obvious, lowering the car now, I mean your not wrong and I agree with you, but I think you got to be a bit more realistic, for 99% of people even a stock c5 is a looooooow car, like while I agree lowering will help the car, it is a low car already, I just got into c5s and I have like 3 different suspension mods that could help or would have even better been in addition to either lowering or keeping it stock ride heights. as for saying long tubes are a must do, again man like Im gonna be honest I have no idea where your at but saying long tube headers are a must look, I'm old so I admit Im not personally trying to have a super loud exhaust, but I will admit I know its a good mod for horsepower for the dollar, and it also I think saves a good bit of weight but and honestly bro my bigger issue with saying longtube headers are must do, look I don't care where you are in america really, LT will always be illegal IF THEY VISUAL INSPECT YOUR cars exhaust, because by the very nature long tube headers move the location of you stock factory cats, you can not touch you cars thats illegal everywhere, now Im not for that bullshit law, we ain't saving earth of planet warming by not letting corvettes and mustangs etc have long tube headers, people should be allowed to do that, I think open headers or somthing ignorant like that should never be allowed because your just being absurd to be loud with no back pressure its just dumb to do open headers, but again man if someone is in cali or other stupid democratic states LT mean every year or 2 they have to get their cars headers reinstalled and the time and get them retuned and if they have other mods like heads, cams, superchargers I mean idk man LT are not a must do for everyone, its good if you want a loud exhaust that opens up power and if you can do it in your state.

I appreciate you trying to make a video but bro, instead of saying hey heres the 5 things I did I LIKE to my c5, try to think what are like 5 mods that legiitimently everyone who owns a c5 can even possibly do, again the shifter mod, I have an auto I know you probably don't like autos but a lot of c5s came with autos so I mean idk to like not even mention that this shifter is only for stick shift c5s idk man if its just like your first video or if you like just don't respect automatic c5s idk man and some of the other stuff was good but again man think about about how differenet things can apply to different people and what they can do based on their location, what their goals are and maybe offer liike hey if you are planning on hard core modding offer option a, if your staying stock you can do option b, but if your not sure or might just do a few mods you can also do option c and have like 3 different tire recommendations does that make sense?

I'm not hating or trying to be rude just as someone who is new to c5 vettes but has had other cars, I already know some of these "must-do " mods aren't good for me, like I guess maybe if I had more republican state I could do LTs and just make sure I do an h pipe with a less loud muffler etc. so Im just trying to help, it just seems like you just listed the first 5 things you did to your c5 which then this whole video would have made a lot more sense and I can just admire what you did instead of thinking if thats something I should really do? but like I said I modded other cars so I kinda know what Im kinda looking for I more so need specifics for the c5 like I think I want to do coilovers but what set should get again, for a full race car do a for a road car do b for a mixed do c etc its really not that hard think this stiff out more your good at talking into the camera so you got that down...

I already have Texas long tube headers, x pipe , borla attack exhaust and a tune all I want to do now is go with c6 shifter.or mgw.

What tires are those?

How much did you pay for your c5 at 135k miles if you don't mind

What are some good tire and wheel size good for track and road use. I want them to be able to handle the power and stick but i like to corner💀 i dont want to try to turn but i go straight

Skip shift eliminator should be first along with the shifter

Well for me I did it easy modification and it made a noticeable difference I put ZO6 sway bars on my 50th anniversary

Your next mod should be a new hood insulator:).

What wheels are those ?

I agree with your first mod on the shifter. The stock shifter feels like an upside-down hoof. The stock C6 shifter goes well in the C5.

bro said my cars heavilly modified it makes 470 horsepower lmfao thats not a big increase big gangster.

Great video. Just wondering if you have beefier tires on the car I like more sidewall than usual. What tires do you have?

Excellent, thank you!

I see you to suffer from radio bezel panel gap

Car looks amazing bro!

Boring question but: how do mods likec CAI Long tube headers & cat back exhausts affect smog checks? im in Cali with high epa standards its a concern i have a 2003 c5

I just ran across your video and nice job of explaining. I have a 2000 Z51 6 speed Vette that I bought 2 1/2 years ago from the original owner with 87,000+ miles. My 1st mod was removing the air filter cover to expose the air filter to allow more air. I do now have a cold air intake. All maintenance as prescribed by GM has been done on time and even more so I have done Preventive Maintenance. This is my 5th Corvette since 1971 ( 1970, 1973, 1987 & 1995). Other than some cosmetic enhancements I haven't gone as far as I plan to. Baby steps and cost of course. The past few months I have replaced all the brakes with new slotted and drilled rotors, new red calipers and pads with steel barided brake lines. New C6 Z06 shocks on all 4 corners. Full coolant change & flush. Clutch fluid changed along with an oil change. new spark plugs, coil packs and plug wires. Long tube header's and a tune is my next project. Later on a stage 3 cam, lifter's etc etc and another tune. Some place along the line I will lower my car as well. Very Happy for now.

What wheels are those?

Great value for decent power

the c5's are getting cheap here in Australia because you can register a left hand drive car after its 25 years old. its very tempting for a weekender

Mod #1 are those wheels brother. 🤌🤌🤌
My car came with the MGW shifter and its the main reason I bought the car probably. I only test drove one car (dumb I know) but I knew I needed to have it and the price was too good to pass up anyways. I got a 2004 Z06 with 59k miles for 17k. It has Penske shocks, Aldman swaybars and MGW shifter so its clear it has been abused in its past, but the thing is just a solid lump steel and plastic lol. Been rock solid for 3 years and I just finished installing long tubes, intake and a tune and im in love with her all over again!

I would replace lowering with a new head unit (radio) since you can go low enough to scrape speed bumps with the stock suspension. A new head unit with (9" display I went a bit crazy with a Sony head unit that I had to modify to work lol but it doesnt cover the AC vents or anything) Apple car play and navigation is fucking tits to have in your 90's Corvette. Plus it makes the stock speakers sound SO MUCH BETTER!

Before I tell you mine I have an 02 base coupe with kooks headers into an x-pipe and slp hyperflow tip and a veraram intake. Now must do before exhaust for cheap would be interior lighting. Get 194 LEDs and do the foot wells and trunk so you can see getting in and out at night. I did everything in mine green as I plan on doing a dark green wrap eventually cause millennium yellow is more like "Please follow me officer" yellow. Which I did everything except the hvac and radio cause I may replace them. I even soldered green and white LEDs on the mirror light. My brother has that dark blue almost c5 and did ice blue on the foot wells, trunk, license place, and the door controls after seeing mine and I would tell anyone with that color to go with ice blue LEDs for looks partially but ultimately being able to see if they are left on and you don't accidentally drain your battery like when I first bought it.

One must do before tuning, even for the headers, is a wideband period.

Tires is definitely a must do as the single owner before me Mr. Murray put Kumhos on which I called Kum Hos.

Very nice C5 Z06. I loved the C5 for a long time, but at this point it really is starting to show its age vs choosing a C6. C6 seems like a better value vs all the mods that would be necessary to modernize a C5 into current times.

What is that braided line that comes out of the driver side engine cover?

Love it. Exactly what id do to a c5/zo6 if i had one. Things probably a beast just to drive around and fun around the track too! Dope

Bahahahaha! Heavily modified? Not so much. Basic mall troller BS.

this specific c5 corvette is so fucking clean. im actually in love

Ur mods not exactly on points
For c5 vararam intake cat delete wheel and seat r best bang for buck mods