4 KRUSIN

Don't forget that Z06Electron is starting with a Z. His friend has a coupe. I am not surprised at his results at all.

I had my Vararam installed locally and did not have to experience those issues myself. The first time I drove it a smile immediately came to my face. The SOTP feel was very obvious. As said before "best performance bang for the buck hands down". On a side note, fuel economy improved slightly due to the better breathing.

Mark C5

First, the post I quoted was from SCM_Crash not Z06Electron. Stock Z06 has 405 HP at the flywheel for a 60 HP advantage over a '97 LS1. Add a Procharger to the LS1 and get a 150 HP increase. So, apparently, according to you and SCM_Crash, a Vararam is worth an additional 90 HP. About right?

4 KRUSIN

My apologies to SCM_Crash.
Can't argue your math, but there are a lot of other things going on here. Extra hp isn't the only performance difference that a Z offers. There's weight, gearing and tires as well. He also mentioned a short throw shifter and that there were 2 people in the other car. The weight difference alone would be greater than 5%. I'm still not surprised.

rebelheart

I know for a fact that the Vararam works as advertised.I can outrun almost all ZO6's at the track but that is mostly driver error on their part.(spinning tires).If you can run with a supercharged car,then he definately needs a different tuner!

Mark C5

The Vararam KoolAid is strong in this thread.

tslick98

Cool out dude. Nobody questioned the performance of the vararam. Just don't like the cheepness of the unit. To me $250 is alot of money. To much to pay for something that cheeply made. And if you don't care about how something looks or how well it's made, i guess you would throw a cheep stick on hood scoop rather than getting a well built one that looks good too. After all as you say if it works why pay for quality.

Polar Jet

I know that the Vararam isn't the prettiest thing to look at before installation, but here are the questions I asked myself after putting it in...

1) Can anyone really see it once it's installed? No, not really.
2) Performance-wise, did it do what I wanted it to do? Hell yeah!

My 02 A4 2.73 geared C5 ran a 13.19 in stock form and went down to a 12.80 after just adding a Vararam. I dropped .39 seconds and added 3.5mph to the trap speed.

I just added LT headers, plus a gear (3.42) and converter (3200) and am sure the Vararam will help me out even more now.

I know I don't have to defend the units performance, but sometimes I feel TOO MUCH emphasis is placed on the cosmetic look of it.

The only negative I can see is that you are going to have to spend the cash and get screens for the (non Z06) car. I went with Racemesh. Worth the money!

Dave1998

After reading posts for 5 years about their poor quality, at least they are consistent. In fact, I want to lend them the sales jingle I created for a company I no longer sell for:

"You may find better quality, but you will never pay more!"

KeyoRacing

being that most people seem to think this is not a great product is there something that you guys would use other than this?

Dominic Toretto

Halltech
K&N
Callaway

-Alex

Glennm27

I had one on my C5 years ago and I must admit, it is a pretty cheesy piece, made with extremely thin guage plastic and a less than optimal fit....

coanan

Very thin, flimsy, and uneven surface for the filter to seal on.

Notice no modding, holes line right up. LOL

Card-board template

Transferring to PVC

Test fitting

From PVC to a harder plastic I put in the oven to soften-up and laid it in the upper shell to take shape

final shape


The final piece with holes drilled and finishing up the ports.


With the tubes installed in the car the plate is sealed with RTV and screwed in, then I drilled and
used small rivits around the plate to hold it in shape

Stronger surface and no chance of the tubes breaking at the point where the cheap wedge piece is bolted

Even the foam was cut wrong and the holes for the screws are in the wrong place. I didn't do a very good job of trimming it.

Z06Electron

What I'm saying is the unit is not cheaply made in relation to its "value". Go price a stock airbox from the dealer. It will run over $1000. IF you want OEM fit and finish you will pay for it. And even if Vararam made a high " quality" $1000 unit then everyone would be screaming Corvette tax. They hit the magic target for fit and finish, cost, and most importantly performance.

Bullet Proof

I had the exact same problem as the OP. I contacted the forum vendor that I purchased it from and they told me they didnt warranty anyting....long story stort... they basically told me to stick it and to contact the manuf. Contacted the manuf and they sent me a new one. Quality control sucked and the forum vendor sucked....I do like the way it works... but would not wate my money again on either vendor or manuf. Good luck

striper

I didn't buy a Honker because I wanted to show how much money I had to waste. I researched intakes for a while before I made the choice based on value, quality, performance, ease of installation and servicing, and appearance. You get what you pay for, including the SOTP feeling you are supposed to get from a Vararam. As far as the price is concerned, many people seem to not realize one thing. After you've bought most other intakes, you will probably want to also buy a new air bridge. Factor that addition into your intake purchase price and you'll be about the same as buying a Honker. The design of the Honker eliminates the need for an additional purchase. For those not familiar with it, the Honker also relocates the MAF closer to the throttle body, which GM followed by doing that on the C6.

winters97gt

Gained a little bit less than a tenth with it over the zip tie in the 1/8 and 1mph. I didn't care to read through all the garbage after I saw a few post. I wouldn't expect much more than 1-1.5mph in the 1/4 if you are lucky. I paid 250 for mine.

Wicked Weasel

This reminds me of the 4.10 gear vs H/C packages. People saying they could do just gears and stay with a h/c car. I said when I did gears I went from 12.98 to 12.66. When I went to h/c I went from 12.66 to 11.50. Big difference between tenths and seconds....

bullmarket

I put mine in not too long ago. Although a tight fit, have no problems with the quality. I am pleased with the product.

Quick Silver Z

Seat of the pants or proven increase numbers aside no one ever shows concern over the sub par job of filtering the air that feeds their engine.

SCM_Crash

Do the math before your sarcasm makes you look stupid.

My 3070Lbs 2003 Z06 with Vararam vs. 3350Lbs Coupe.
The Coupe making 440RW and (like I'd said) had a passenger.
My Z06 makes 368RW (dynoed) and I didn't have a passenger.
The coupe's passenger and driver together were 350Lbs.
I weight 150Lbs.

Now to do the math:
My car: 368RWHP @ 3230Lbs = 8.77Lbs/hp
His car: 440RWHP @ 3700Lbs = 8.41Lbs/hp

Now the Vararam can't be seen on the dyno, but they say it adds 30HP. I could believe that.

My car: 398RWHP @ 3230Lbs = 8.11Lbs/hp

Now does it make sense? If not, I'll get the video from the passenger and post it up.


At the time he was running the old A&A setup. Basically the first kit they came out with. After upgrading the bracket (which happened after our race) he went from ~7PSI of boost to 9PSI. Although, the belt was slipping a lot before the bracket change.

Read the above. I never said the Vararam could replace the S/C. I simply stated that all things being equal, I got a lot of bang for the buck. I was explaining what a real gain I got from the Vararam compared to other mods for the same money that you don't notice much difference from.

If both of our cars were at race weights (no passengers and 1/2 tank of gas), I'm sure he would have definitely beat me by a good margin.