Vettorious84

Evening fellas, so when I bought my c5 it already had a vararam cai on there so that being said I bought a replacement filter and had a couple questions. The first filter I got had melted black rubber all over the filter media, I returned it and today I got a replacement. The replacement has the same issue to a much lesser degree, won't that impede airflow? I also had a question in regards to the black pieces which came with the filter, what are they for? Which way does the filter go in? Thanks in advance!

Vettorious84

2nd pic:

frsr06

The two black pieces are the gaskets for the back side of the filter. I would not think that the small bit of rubber wold be an issue. I've had 2 Vararams and no issue with the filters. Cleaned and re-oiled about every 6 months.

1bdvet

I use them on my C6, and never notice anything with seal, and they seem to work great.

neutron82

I don't know if they have changed the design since I had my vararam a few years back but the upper housing had a curvature to it while the ram tubes were flat on top, so what I ended up doing was using clear silicone to seal the filter into the upper housing that way the only way air could pass was through the filter and there was no chance of it passing around the sides due to a bad seal

73Corvette

http://www.vararam.com/b2.html

You can see in the pic where the gasket goes...they are for the lower part of the housing where it BOLTS together..

If the gasket in the UPPER housing is DISTORTED and doesn't appear to be sealing against the filter... GET A NEW ONE!

BADBIRDCAGE

I purchased the filter and cleaning kit Christmas special. Came with new green filter, gaskets and seal as well as cleaner and oil. I have the new filter installed and the cleaned, reoiled one in a plastic bag in the center storage compartment in the trunk. Might need it on a long road trip out west.

Vettorious84

Thanks a million guys!

lionelhutz

Same with mine. The "updated" upper housing fit worse than my original housing so I just black RTV'd the filter into the old housing. The new housing had a gasket that was supposed to seal around the outside of the filter but there were gaps between the filter and gasket.

Vettorious84

So I changed the filter out today and to my surprise there was a K&N filter in there which fit 100 times better than the vararam filter. Here's a pic with the K&N part number.

lionelhutz

Triumph filter?

Is there a rubber lip around the outside of the filter that helps seal it into the housing?

Vettorious84

No that's a K&N filter and it did have a rubber seal unlike the piece of crap vararam filter. Very disappointed with Vararam and their garbage filter and customer service.