Yesterday I finally got around to installing the new Vararam I picked up from England Green last month. It was fun to spend the day working underneath the car... I became more familiar with the front half and learned a lot on the way.

Unfortunately, I cannot road test this until April; so I've stuck the instructions to the steering wheel so that I remember to follow the break-in procedures the first time I take her out. I did let her idle for several minutes, as recommended. No codes or funky business happening.

I found Cajun Dude's Instructions to be far superior to those included with the kit, but even so I had some issues since Cajun's instructions are based on non-Z06 cars, which have foglights and no screens. Not a huge deal... once I got up in there and saw what was going on, I got to skip a few steps and apply a bit of logic, and things went in pretty easily. The kit came with screws to use IF you have a Z06 (normal C5's have foglight bezel screws which are re-used; Z06's don't) so I didn't have to run out and buy anything halfway through.

I did not have to use any spacers, and everything lined up pretty good. The pieces lined up great... only a small amount of force was needed to line the two intake funnels up with each other. The air bridge mated up perfectly on both ends, and now that everything's back together... it seems very solid and looks great! I can't wait to road test it, but winter is just getting started and I have a LOT of projects lined up yet. So, the time will pass quick.

Another nice side effect of this install, was that it gave me a chance to clean all the crap out that gets pinned up against the radiator assembly, underneath the plastic shroud. It was filthy! I filled up half of a vacuum bag with that junk.

Here's some pics I took halfway through, at the beer break. All in all, it was a fun project that I would do again if I had the chance! Working slowly, total time invested was about five hours.

 

Wow! I didn't realize you had to take your seat out for this install!

 

 

Oh, don't even get me started on that seat!

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-z...ine-lever.html

Hopefully the new parts arrive this week and I can put it back together!

 

Make sure the lip on the fan shroud clips correctly under the long tab on the underside of the plastic radiator cross member.