Corsa Factory Tour

Everybody claims their truck accessories are the best, right? Read through any product brochure or advertisement and you’ll find a lot of fluff words and bogus terminology like; “cutting-edge,” “revolutionary” and “state-of-the-art.” But, every once in a while, a company comes along that can actually back up its words with truly innovative products. One prime example of such a company is Corsa Performance Exhaust.

For those of you not familiar with Corsa, let’s start with a brief history lesson. The company started in 1989 building high-performance exhaust systems for small boats and watercraft. In the late ‘90s, Corsa exploded onto the automotive scene with a highly sought-after system for the C5 Corvette. Since then, the company has expanded its automotive line to include systems for virtually every late-model car, truck or SUV on the market. Corsa has quickly earned the respect of race teams, auto makers and auto enthusiasts worldwide. In fact, Corsa is an officially-licensed GM product and Corsa exhaust systems are installed as an factory upgrade at many dealerships around the country.

But, what separates Corsa from the competition? The answer lies in the muffler and Corsa’s patented Reflective Sound Cancellation (RSC) technology. While a lot of aftermarket exhaust companies claim to have a straight-through muffler design, their mufflers actually use a perforated inner tube packed with sound deadening material or a series of baffles to create their desired sound. Corsa’s RSC noise cancellation, on the other hand, “tunes” out the undesired low-end frequencies that cause annoying drone and interior resonance without sacrificing the horsepower, torque and fuel economy benefits of a true, straight-through pipe design. The result is a powerful exhaust system that sounds bold on acceleration with a mild purr at highway speeds.

So, how does RSC work? First, the engineers at Corsa test a vehicle with a straight pipe (no muffler) and determine what frequencies cause droning and booming in the interior of the vehicle. Corsa tests the vehicle in the all-important 60-80 MPH (the speed where most droning problems occur). Once the frequencies are calculated they begin designing the muffler case to specifically cancel out any annoying frequencies – see figure 1 to see how Reflective Sound Cancellation works.

1. Sound waves are reflected within the muffler case producing a cancellation wave effect with no flow restrictions and without electronic devices.

Corsa invited us out to its Berea, OH facility where the company designs, engineers and manufacturer its performance exhaust systems. Here’s some highlights from our tour.

2. Corsa starts with the finest materials including these raw lengths of 304 stainless steel tubing. 4. If you look through the tube you can see the laser cutting the other end to the right length.	3. The stainless tube is fed into a CNC 6-axis laser cutter and trimmed to the appropriate lengths.
5. At Corsa's polishing station, the team hand-polishes all of the exhaust tips and specialty parts.	6. The tubes are fed through a CNC mandrel pipe bending machine to maintain a constant diameter through the entire length of the pipe. This eliminates crimps that cause back pressure and power loss and allows smooth, uninterrupted flow from cat to tip.
7. To fit in the pipe bender, the tubes have to be slightly longer than they really need to be. So, once the tubes are bent to the correct shape they must be cut one last time to the appropriate length.	8. The cut is then deburred to make sure it forms a tight seal when fitted to other exhaust components.

9. Corsa builds its own jigs to test fit and assemble eash exhaust system in order to ensure a proper fit with no clearance problems.

10. Here you can see a pipe fit into the jig and ready for final assembly. This attention to detail is why you'll never find fitment problems when you buy a Corsa exhaust system.	11. Out in the muffler shop, each case is hand rolled from sheets of 304 stainless and seemed together in a CNC welder.
12. These machines form the round case into the proper size and shape based on your vehicle year, make and model.	13. Once the inner RSC chambers are built, they are hand welded to the inner straight-through exhaust tube, or as Corsa calls it "the spine".
14. The end caps are then welded in place and the mufflers are ready for final assembly.	15. For final assembly all tubes, tips and other necessities are welded to the muffler.

16. Here you can see row after fow of mufflers assembled and ready to be placed in the appropriate kit.

17. Corsa's hi-tech hydroforming machine allows them to build complex curves into the pipe without compromising strength. The piece shown will be cut in half to form two separate exhaust tips.	18. Here you can see the finished tips packaged and reeady to ship.
19. Every Corsa prototype system is fit checked, road tested and dyno tested to ensure proper fit, sound and performance before the first production system is ever shipped.	20. Corsa's engineering team is continually developing new systems for all the latest vehicles using hi-tech software developed just for them.