SubSolar

So I'm ready to upgrade the intake on my 09 LS3 A6. I've narrowed it down to the Honker and Killer Bee II. On the fence between the two. Here's my take of advantages:

Honker:
1. Probably better performance than the Killer Bee II with more ram air effect (seems on par with Vararam without quality issues).
2. Looks the most stock of all the aftermarket intakes

Killer Bee II w/ Beehive
1. Requires no cutting so easily reversible if I need to take it in for warranty work/smog testing
2. Less chance of hydrolocking than Honker

Also, I won't be getting a tune (warranty) so I'd like to hear from people that have had these installed with no tune to see if they had any issues like error codes. Dyno and quarter mile times would be nice too. Do you guys think the Honker would significantly outperform the new Killer Bee II?

turboffr

+1 for the Honker

C7-Beast

In my opinion any kit that does not require the shroud be cut is not a true CAI and will only provide marginal increases over stock. The goal is to get fresh air into the engine. The only way to do that on a C6 is to get a CAI that requires the shroud be cut to get at outside air.

I looked at the Honker and the Vararam. Most will say the Vararam provides the best gains but the downside is that it sits very low and the engine can ingest water if you happen to get stuck in a large puddle from a sudden storm. The other issue for me was the quality control of the Vararam seemed suspect at best. Many threads here complaining about seal issues down the line. For both those reasons I went with the Honker. The Honker is a quality system that requires the shroud be cut but does not extend down as far as the Vararam. Install took 3 hours but that was taking my time and walking away a couple of times.

Getting the shroud out was the toughest part of the install. Those "wings" at the bottom of the shroud are a real PITA to get out. After 2+ years my Honker is still working great and is sealed tight.

For reversibilty I bought a new shroud for about 45 bucks. I keep that in my basement in case I ever sell the car and want to go back to stock.

oldmansan

I went with the Honker. Great power gains on Ryne's dyno.

I'm the guy with the black C6 (first to dyno) that was at Ryne's dyno day. I won't comment on the numbers my LS2 put down to avoid a pissing contest. My car was completely stock at the time.

Feel free to pm me if you want a ride as I now have LG longtubes, Z06 mufflers and the Honker. I have a lot of other mods, but they're not engine related.

San

Sativa

+2 for the Honker

c6 batmobile

I went with the bee hive after having the varacrap. My shroud was already cut but with close (and by that I mean within 200 feet of DA) track condtions I put down almost the same track time with the bee hive as I did with the varacrap (11.48 and 11.50 respectively). You wont hear one good thing from me about the varacrap and I dont think you can lose with either one of these systems. I personally like the look of the beehive and thats why I bought it.

FU

Killer Bee II all the way. The Honker is way to close to the radiator for me , take a look at one.

Want to but a honker ? I'll sell you mine... PM me.

BowTieBlood

I went with the LPE intake. I think you would be surprised by how difficult it would be for water to get in; it would have to travel several feet in an S pattern with constant suction. I agree with an early post as well. The most difficult part is getting that dang shroud out, the rest is a 15 minute install. Good luck in your search; I doubt you can go wrong with any of them.

teuhl

Honker

AlexVette505

honker..over a year installed and no problems

Mike's LS3

While the stock LS3 intake is a good unit, I went with the Killer Bee/Beehive set up. Installation is easy and the quality is very good.
The most important factor is keeping the IAT's down to prevent the timing from being pulled back. I followed Halltech's recommendation on his website and opened two holes at the bottom of the shroud to let in cold air directly into the air filter. I have also modified the Beehive shroud to fit the stock LS3 intake. Using either intakes, the car ran without any CEL warnings or surging. Comparing both the LS3 and K.B. intakes, my butt dyno reads a slight edge to the Killer Bee above 3500 rpm. The engine revs a little quicker and pulls slightly stronger with the K.B. I have no dyno charts or 1/4 mile slips to compare. What I do know is that my IAT's will be lower with a the Beehive shroud and open cold air ports no matter what intake I use. It might not be so much what you gain, but what you gain to lose.

Keep in mind, the stock ECM is programmed to run rich at WOT. When the engine's air flow increases, the ECM will adjust and dump more fuel. Once the ECM adjusts back to its oem parameters, I believe the benefits of an aftermarket CAI is the increased volume of cold air and fuel, but the A/F ratio will remain rich at WOT without tuning? While tuning is currently not an option for me, keeping the IAT's down with cold air and a shroud IS

LS1LT1

That's good news of course but I'm also wondering just how difficult it will be for a useful/notable amount of cool air to get in there as well.

SubSolar

Mike, thanks for the the thorough review. To you guys with Honkers and no issues, do you have a tune or not?

victorf

No tune with undeniable SOTP!

teuhl

Tuned plus headers and hiflow cats - 418 rwhp. I needed to add the Callaway deflector also to eliminate a check engine light. No problems and highly recommended.

Sativa

No tune yet and no check engine light, had it for about 2 years now. Waiting until I get some headers until I get it tuned.

Halltech

MORE INFORMATION

res0n0xg

I have the killer bee II + beehive and watched it gain a solid 10rwhp and 15rwtq over stock with no tuning and with slightly higher IAT's as the car and air was warmer on the second dyno run.

Under the curve, I saw gains as much as +22rwtq and about +16rwhp, so don't just try to think about peak numbers, as you're power under the curve is far more important.


I have an 08 C6 with an automatic and with just the kbII+beehive and a tune, and I make 406rwhp and 390rwtq SAE and that was with IAT's of slightly over 100 degrees.

Halltech

Excellent numbers. Can you post the dyno and some pictures installed?

Carlos Allen on the Z06 forum gained 18 RWHP over the 1st Generation Killer Bee with retuning for the new airflow.

0Myhardtop

Mr. Rsn0x0sg is correct, his gains were nice and true, no BS...and ALL under less than ideal conditions; this Texas heat is no joke!

As form of providing an honest outcome, I asked Mr. Rsn0x0sg to watch along with us as we dyno his car. He kept an eye on readings such as: IAT, ECT, spark and dyno run conditions and noticed the the above gians with and w/o tuning with the Killer Bee II on board vs. the stock unit despite having 208* ECT, 105* IAT readings

The Killer Bee flat out works!!!!



That's right, we are seeing 16 to 18rwhp average gains with MN6 vehicles and between 12 and 15 with A6 offerings.

All this with a simple CAI kit swap

This kind of gains is what I call a "true" bolt on

Thanks,
Carlos