Starting with headers?
 

With the high cost of cat back exhaust systems, would it be beneficial to put headers on my 14 1LE as my first performance upgrade?

Yes. That's actually a smart thing to do. There is not much performance benefit to a cat back. Mostly just sound and weight reduction. The stock exhaust will sound a lot better with headers. Get a cat back later when you have the funds and or want more sound. You will also want a cold air intake and a tune with those headers.

Not willing to void warranty already. 185 miles is a little early. So considering that I am not willing to tune (void warranty) would you still recommend headers?

Yes. You can do headers without a tune.

If you don't want the check engine light to come on though, you'll have to spring the extra cash for Kooks Green Cats.

On these newer pony cars start at the front of the exhaust and work your way back for power and sound.

No. Headers without a tune will cause a check engine light to come on because of the rear o2 sensors think there is a problem and you do not get the full benefits of headers. The car will not be at top performance, myself I would not do it. I can't think its good for your engine to run rich and be down on power because it is not tuned properly. I tuned my car at 7 weeks old with 2200 miles. A lot of people have tuned their cars with less miles than that.
I would drive it for a while until you know it's not a lemon, talk with your service manager at your dealer and discuss it with him. See how he feels about warranty work after a tune. Like I said above, I would not install headers on my car without a proper tune. There is a lot of info on the forum about this. Here is a couple threads I quickly found.:)

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180845
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7299382

I'm in the same boat with you - don't want to void a warranty on my 14 that I just bought on 12/07/13. I added a K&N CAI and my next will be shorty headers. They won't pack the performance of long tubes but the shorty's don't need a tune and won't throw CEL alarms as they bolt up to the stock cats, and you should get 10 or more RWHP...plus a little more tone from the stock exhaust. I was going to do a cat back or axel back, but as stated - that upgrade is mostly for sound and does not add to performance. Once I have miles and a few yrs burnt from the factory warranty - that's when I will do more intensive performance mods.....this car is my daily driver and that's my 1st priority.

Thank you!

Get HF cats and an intake you won't be disappointed. IMHO dumping your warranty for a tune and Lt headers is not worth it. Wait until the warranty is done then go nuts!

+1! Get some high flow cats and dont WASTE your money on shorties. High flow cats will improve the sound of your cat back and give you more power without the need for a tune. As far as shorties go, they are not really worth the money.

If you are wanting long tube headers without a tune you have a couple options
1 - go with any long tube header and cats and expect and deal with a check engine light
2 - go with a long tune header that fits one of the newer green cats. This will cost a few hundred more but won't cause cel's

Realize with both you will not be getting the most out of the mods and you WILL NOT be running ideally. You are basically choosing to risk damaging your engine by not tuning and in turn not running optimally to maintain a warranty. To me it doesnt make sense to "run poorly in order to maintain warranty". You also have to realize that the headers are going to void a portion of the warranty and should an issue arise you still may be faced with an uphill battle to have something covered under warranty.

Even with a tune many dealerships cover repairs that do not need to be approved by gm. The majority of repairs don't require imaging of the ecu and dealers typically just overlook the tune.

Personally i would never ask a service manager. He doesn't make policy and he may not be there when something goes wrong. If you do, ask him to put his answer in writing and see how fast he back tracks. Asking the service manager is just asking for a he said she said scenario down the road. And when the time comes he's going to be more interested in keeping his job than his word

To me you're either in or out. Keep it stock, or mod and tune. There isn't a middle ground.

your asking the right questions! I was recently looking at the green cats to avoid a tune, but after extensive research I felt the smart choice was tune.

To answer your question. Yes lt's are a great first mod.

My first mods were cai, pfadt headers, and a canned tune and I gained 43 rwhp. I know this for a fact as I did ore and post install dynos. Probably 50-60 to the flywheel

I told the service manager at the dealership that if something on my car fails and GM won't pay for it then I get to upgrade and replaced the failed parts with the good parts. We laughed. I have a good relationship with the guys there. They are really cool about mods.

+1 on high flow cats and intake.