Originally Posted by greg_nate

How long have you been running like this? I have considered doing the same thing to mine. I have the 2B, but its not the latest version with the deep lip designed for the green filters. My biggest problem with the Vararam is getting the top half of the Vararam to align properly with the bottom half. Its not even a seal issue at this point because frankly, they don't line up enough to even begin to be what I consider a seal.

With the bottom not bolted down, I am assuming you have enough play be be able to pull it up nicely into the top lip?

Originally Posted by Gene Wolf

Chuckster, it just occured to me, what about the fog lights? Did they still line up okay?

Originally Posted by Gene Wolf

Chuckster, it just occured to me, what about the fog lights? Did they still line up okay?

Originally Posted by chuckster

I have been running this for about 2 months.. It's been fine.. and you hit the nail on the head..

With the bottom not bolted down, I am assuming you have enough play be be able to pull it up nicely into the top lip

Yep..

Originally Posted by BQuicksilver

I recently received their "grey" filter and the gasket kit to install it. I'd say that was the best filter fit (good seal) I've seen on my Vararam to date. It also was fairly painless. I did not like the foam filter and K&N with gasket kit setups.

IMHO slip fitting just adds another point of error in the process, but being that tolerances in the Vararam/Vette mating aren't good... Either way, sealing the plenum isn't a concern. I wanted the little gap there to give water splashes somewhere to go other than my engine.

Originally Posted by BanditDude

I took his advice, and have been running them this way for about a month. I have no problem w/ fog light adjustment, as they're solid when connected to the upper section. They will never become dislodged from the fascia because I left on the outer bolt attached(only removed the inner bolts).

Originally Posted by Gene Wolf

I really like it and it made a very noticeable improvement in performance, despite being a little futzy to install. It wasn't hard, but it did take some careful attention to detail to make sure the air filter was properly sealed. Vararam recently redesigned the whole affair and it is some better, but it might come up a little short when you try to mate the filter/airbridge part to the front scoops (maybe-depending on each car's particular dimensions). If you use Chuckster's mod or just add the insulation to take up the gap it will work fine and yes, you'll really notice a definite improvement.

I think Chuckster's explanation says it all. There are variances between the different C5's dimensions that cause some of them to wind up with their front facias a little further out front than others. This causes the scoops to come up a little short when you try to mate the scoop assembly to the filter/airbridge assembly. However, in Vararam's defense, they did provide some spacers which approximate the distance which I see in Chuckster's pictures, which if used would allow you to bolt the scoops to the front facia, thereby making it stand off about 1/2 inch from the fog light opening and allowing a closer fit to the filter/airbridge assembly. This would place the scoops closer to the filter assembly so no further gasket would be necessary. However, I'm not really sure that it's even necessary to bolt them in the first place, because once you reinstall the front radiator shroud, the scoops are pretty well pinned in there and aren't likely to move much, if at all. It still gets plenty of ram air force from forward motion and would still provide an increase in air pressure to the intake manifold with the result in increased performance.

By the way, I was changing from a very low restriction K&N zip tie mod (which itself made a huge difference from the stock air box-see picture below) but the vararam clearly improved the performance, especially as the rpms go up....Definitely worth the investment imho.