How to Get Serious Power from Your 98-04 Chevrolet C5 Corvette

Looking to get some serious power from your 98-04 Chevrolet C5 Corvette? There are many ways to do it, you could spend money on a serious fuel system, expensive exhaust, and a direct port nitrous setup; but why risk blowing your engine if your jetting is slightly off. Sure, LS1 Corvette engines love nitrous, but to make it to that famed 600 horsepower threshold you would need at least a 200 shot with other modifications. There are other things to worry about such as bottle pressures and having to get them filled frequently; the legalities if you get pulled over and not to mention the strain that an oxidizer puts on your engines internals. Well, there is something else you could do and it may cost more money, but it could save you money in the long run by upgrading your horsepower the right way. What I'm talking about is installing a twin turbo system. Many of them aren't as expensive as you may think; when most people think twin turbo C5 Corvette they automatically think of the obscene prices of Lingenfelter. It doesn't have to be that way, companies in the aftermarket are all popping up with twin turbo systems for the C5 Corvette. I ran across one the other day that really intrigued me.

After seeing other twin turbo kits for the C5 Corvette I wasn't impressed such as the rear mount STS twin turbo kit. The STS twin turbo kit for the C5 Corvette sure seems nifty and it makes power, but little do people know how it makes that power and that the power on a STS twin turbo C5 Corvette kit can be very inconsistent. Because the turbo chargers are mounted in the rear of the Corvette in the STS twin turbo kit they are really far away from hot exhaust temperatures and thermal kinetic energy. This is truly a bad thing if you're looking for consistent performance out of your twin turbo C5 Corvette because the engine has to get really heated up to create enough energy to spin the turbine wheels with the amount of force and speed they really need to make power. The other problem with the STS twin turbo C5 Corvette kit is the inconsistent boost spikes and drops over the engines heat cycle, some local tuners have seen a few blown up in the area where I live.

So, what's the solution for 600+ horsepower reliably on pump gas? Enter the world of the APS C5 Corvette twin turbo kit. This is probably the best quality C5 Corvette twin turbo kit that I have seen for the regular everyday driver. From the turbo's to the piping and intercoolers, this is one quality kit that I really like. The APS C5 Corvette twin turbo kit utilizes two 84 a/r T3 turbine (with inconel turbine wheels) housed turbos with 65 a/r compressor housings with custom APS spec compressor wheels. Although, these turbos in this twin kit are journal bearing, they are also water cooled which is a great upgrade for reliability and longevity over time. These twin turbos flow about 50lbs/min @ 18 psi, which is absolutely ideal for the power levels they achieve. These turbos are just big enough in the APS twin turbo kit to have good spooling characteristics at low boost levels without heating up the air too much. At 8 psi the C5 Corvette twin turbo kit makes about 600 horsepower which is about a 250 horsepower increase over stock! This of course if you have a six speed C5 Corvette, the numbers will be slightly lower on automatic Corvette's. With the optional high flow APS mufflers with their C5 Corvette twin turbo kit you could see as much as 640 horsepower on 93 octane pump gas.

The rest of the C5 Corvette twin turbo kit is very high quality; it provides twin 38mm Tial wastegates that have all stainless steel tubing for the gates and the exhaust. This twin turbo Corvette kit is so genius that it actually uses the internal wastegate ports on the turbine housings to feed and control the external wastegates, then feeds them back into the exhaust; this makes for quite exhaust wastegate operation on this C5 Corvette twin turbo kit. The twin turbo kits intercoolers that are provided are fairly meaty with 10x10x4 inch cores and only a 1psi pressure drop. All aluminum intercooler piping with custom high flow APS blow off valves seal the deal. All you need is their optional high flow fuel system and a Predator tuner and you're on your way to having a 600+ twin turbo C5 Corvette on pump gas. Don't forget the twin disc clutch, you'll definitely need it.

Source: http://www.airpowersystems.com/corvette/c5.htm