Seen a few threads recently, so decided to write up what I cooked up over the last few years.

Deliverables of a good air intake system
1. filtered air (obviously)
2. minimal pressure drop (restriction)
3. maintain intake air as close to ambient as possible
4. protect filter element from the…. elements
5. simpler the better. the more complex, the more chance of failure i.e. un-filtered air.

My solution is super simple:
Vararam Power duct VR-C5PD
Amsoil EA air filter EaAU4075
Silicone couplers

Experiences
K&N or similar oiled media:
lets too much fine particulate through. This wears the engine, gets in the oil, etc. Stories all over the internet + I have seen it in person on my own vehicles. I have cleaned out several ounces of gritty oily residue from an intake manifold on an engine which used K&N for 30k miles…. I’ve seen it come and go on UOA on my cars as I’ve played with intake systems. NO oiled media filters for my vehicles.

Vararam
super cool design. Uses the K&N style which is a knock-out. Sealing around the filter is so-so; risk of a leak. Complex and bit of a hassle to install. May offer mild ‘supercharging’ effect @ speed. some concern about drowning it when driving in heavy rain.

Flip-tie mod:
Simple. uses stock element which filters well. Decreases sealing around the filer, increasing chances of unfiltered air. Exposes the paper element to water splash etc which it is not designed for.

Calloway Honker:
slick and well made. Uses the K&N style which is a knock-out. Sealing around the filter is only OK, moderate risk of a leak.

Both Flip-tie and Honker:
draws air from under the car instead of front of the car. Maybe this is an advantage but I doubt it. element is more exposed to water splashes etc. At speed, incoming air will be ambient. At stop (light), it is inches away from a radiator/condenser which is often 220f+. I suspect it heat soaks at a light though I did not data log.

Homebrew
Super simple; almost no chance of leaks. Cheap. Great filtration with EA filter. Weighs almost nothing. Good protection from elements. Intakes ambient air from nose of car, same as stock.

I’ve not tested pressure drop across the filter to verify flow restriction; nor have I dyno’d the various setups.

Pics:


Intake is very light and simply rests on the shroud. It can move around with the engine.

 

I agree with your thinking. I do like the looks of the dual filters more. I'm also still leaning toward converting the front grills on my FRC to functional air inlets like the Z06. That seems to be a nice solution to bringing cooler air to the intake as well as engine compartment. Not sure if that equates to any advantage, but again, I like the look of the Z06 screens, so I might as well make them functional. The Z06 guys don't seem to have an issue with debris or water with those grill inlets.

 

Kind of looks like my BBK setup.

 

Any aftermarket air box will deliver without restriction, the amount of air necessary to deliver a measured fuel/air mixture. Since the air box is the vehicle that allows air to be ingested into the motor. Any restrictions would cause collapse of the box, or the filter. The only variable to the air delivery system is the amount of oxygen delivered in that air mixture.. So you either choose under hood air, or the available air, outside the engine bay. Mother nature, controls the density of the air. The only way to change this density is with a SC. While it could be the mission of the owner to draw every ounce of power from the engine, the actual difference is less than the difference in horse power between a full tank of gas and a 1/4 of a tank. or the difference between one occupant and two. People and manufacturers hype the advantages to their systems.

Here is what I have in my car for the last 18 years, with no adverse effects.. I like the look of the duel cone system


This motor has 80,000 miles on it. I took this photo last year when I replaced the filters.

Easier to see at night, ( thus this particular photo )but I dont like the screens of the Z06 style, but do like the factory look of the front facia, so I routed out the fog light surrounds and added flat black screen to deliver cooler air in and get sucked out by the MCM heat extracting hood. Opening this area allows positive pressure which is enhanced by the sucking action of the hood, with a constant flow of cooler ambient air temp under the hood. During the day this area seems to look stock.


Daytime shot

 

Very similar to BBK, Airraid, etc

Another note, I did have mild interference issues with Vararam and Honker. Both contacted the underside of the hood slightly. Had to adjust it really carefully.

No clearance issues with the Powerduct.

 

thanks for posting ET. Looks slick.
curious: those are K&N?
ever removed and checked the piping/intake for dust? UOA for silicone?

 

Yes K&N, I took them off last year and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. BTW, Ive never lost a race with this setup, also I dont track the car or street race.
Bill
As you may notice the things Ive done to my car remain because I did the research up front. Im also not bashful about posting negatives or bad experiences.. I replaced the shocks with HD Z06 shocks and sways, and lost the comfort ride I had with the stock shocks. I had a broken end link ( plastic ) so when I replaced them with the upgraded links I also replaced the shocks and sways. Everything is a trade off. Better handling for sure but at the cost of a harsher ride. Since 95 % of my driving is in comfort mode, My shocks only upgraded the handling I experience 5 % of my driving experience.

 

OP's set up is almost exactly the same as the Halltech Stinger I installed circa 2001, except Halltech used a larger (=wider) filter.

 

The Vararam is a great choice if you are looking for a true cold air system. A system that I found that worked well for me was a Blackwing. It is not a cold air intake, but the ease of install is very simple and it filters the air very well.

Glad the one the OP chose is working well for him.

 

I put a vararam on the car but ultimately took it off. I lived in FL and I personally knew 3 guys that hydrolocked their motors on it... I think I would be smart enough to avoid standing water and normally don't drive in the rain, but you never know, stuff happens.

I also found the car to be a little jerky at cruise on the highway. I datalogged the MAF signal at cruise and at idle and it was very noisy. After I switched to the airaid intake (just a basic intake design like the OP did), the MAF signal was much smoother and I didn't notice any jerkiness. In hindsight I wish I would have tried moving the MAF back post-air bridge by the TB and see if that helped any. My guess is having the MAF right after a merge is not very good in terms of MAF performance and probably why a lot of guys have gotten codes and such with those intakes.

Nice intake, no need to over complicate things. I kept the airaid on mine until I got a supercharger.

 

KnewBlue- Don't know if all that chrome makes more HP, but it sure looks nice!!

This is where Iam on intake so far. Still will do the grill inlets. I'm happy how it looks without mortgaging the house and it's not a race car. I just put the weather strip under the front edge of the hood. Also at 7,000 feet, hot air is usually not a problem.

I also appreciate all the info and suggestions here.

 

Replacing the stock airbox with an open element K&N and opening up the front bumper via Z06 screens is how I've always done it. Outside ambient air will flood the filter area when you're moving and very little risk of hydrolock unless you submerge the nose completely.

Evil Twin's setup is the OG C5 intake. Works well and looks good. There were some who said the twin intakes created turbulence, but that has never been verified AFAIK.

 

I think the turbulence thing was related to the MAS screen. I left mine in. but cleaned it good.

 

I like your setup, the only thing I might add that I've seen on someone else's car (see pic below) , is a piece of foam that sits on top of the radiator shroud. That way you can isolate/separate the heat from the engine bay and keep it from coming into the air intake area. Not sure what effect this has on aerodynamics though; maybe an aero expert can chime in on this.

See his post here. He said "The foam was in the box used to protect a big TV I purchased. Logging the air intake temp with HPTuners the foam lowered the intake temp around 20 degrees. It is a 440ci big cam and runs hot in the summer, so 20 degrees made a big difference."

 

Yeah, the testing I did was with a later Z06 MAF, so no screen. No experience with the screened MAFs. But there was a significant difference in the signal output, I still have the logs/pictures somewhere on my home computer.

 

Wow, haven't heard that one before???

 

All I wanted to do was provide a good & continuous source of fresh air to the intake..... and I was not interested in the $400+ CAI options. So I just opened up the radiator shroud & and the filter box. The box is blocked off from the engine compartment using foam. No turbulence or other issues. The Z06 air box provides more airflow than std models, so I figured that opening things up couldn't hurt.

 

That's because it's not true. The accordion coupler is just a cheap way to make a hard plastic coupler flex and allow for engine movement.

 

Its amazing how all of these reasons for the design creep into these automotive forums.. As a GM engineer it gives me much entertainment. Its always fun to see someone offered something they heard from a guy who dated a girl whos father worked at a Texaco gas station back in the 60's and got the information from him.

No disrespect to any especially the guy who was part of a 4 man team of windshield washers, oil level checkers, tire pressure checkers, and gas pumpers, back in the sixties.

 

Edit - didn't see your posts above on this.