what is the average gain with the vararam?

 

Thanks for the (late) advice. I couldn't wait and installed the whole system starting at 11:30pm last night. I spent about 3 hours all together I think, but it was worth it. I took the car out for a spin last night around 3am, and I could certainly feel a difference, especially accellerating at highway speeds. Whoa! Now I'll get my mechanic buddy to adjust my tune a bit to thicken up the air/fuel ratio, and I should be quite good to go.

A nice gentleman from Vararam finally called me back this morning. They got busy yesterday, and I was in a hurry, so it's no fault of theirs at all. He did tell me the new Green filter along with their system was designed to seal up quite well. Apparently the filter surround is made of rubber, and when the whole system is installed in a car, it squeezes together where the filter meets up with the other parts, thus creating a good seal. He also said the pressure test their systems to 20psi. I'm told the gasket around the inside of the airbox is really just to hold the filter in place... the sealing comes from the filter being squished between airbox and ram tubes once it's installed. As far as the ram tubes gaskets being too big, he says they're supposed to be that way so when the air box comes over and latches down, the gaskets being too big will help to create more of a seal. As for two of the gasket holes for the screws being off, he couldn't explain that.

I still didn't want to take chances though, so I ran a nice soft foam rubber weatherstripping piece around the inside edge of the box so the filter would seal up better.



Here are some other pics related to my installation.



I know the gasket goes sticky side down. I had white side up for the pic so the screw holes were more obvious.



In this photo, it seems like the lower gasket pieces aren't cut properly, but I guess they're working ok.


Seeing this bow creating a gap in the middle kinda bothered me. Hopefully the gasket they provide helps seal this up.


And here it is fully installed


After having many concerns, feeling the need to add more gasket for a good seal, and questioning the overall build quality... I wouldn't return it now for anything. I'll check it after a couple weeks of driving and see how the gaskets are sealing and check for any dirt in the air box. Despite the above concerns, once it's installed it's a very nice piece. And the performance gains speak for themselves! Installation wasn't too bad. I just spent a lot of time getting it just right and cleaning parts of the car while I was down there. Hopefully in the future their apparent overall build quality will increase, but it's a great unit and I'd recommend it.

 

I just paid the shop to install mine along with some LT's I think it cost $150 worth of labor. Besides, I was too lazy.

 

I should of added that the bottom tubes don't really matter about the seal, quality, gaps, alignment, shape, blah, blah, blah. The only seal that matters is the top of the filter to the airbox. The tubes just feed the pressurized air to the filter. Then I'll add I'm prolly the only one who ever ported their Vararam. The excess plastic tubes sticking out in the foglight opening always bothered me. So I broke out the Dremel with the flex shaft and cleaned up the opening. Made me happy and I gained 300 HP and 12 seconds off my 1/4 mile time. Or maybe not.

 

I just installed mine, and i also installed the screens.

My vararam seemed to line up very well and the green filter sealed pretty good. Just for added peice of mind i ran a bead of black RTV sealer around the filter.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...63776698mQcwBU

 

wow i guess i need to invest in a dremel!

 

I really feel an improvement in the midrange and top end power.

Its been in the mid to high 90s so quarter mile testing will have to wait.

 

Anyone had problems in heavy rain with the Vararam???

 

Not to change the subject.. but a friend and I just installed the Blackwing on my 04' CE coupe and it feels good and looks awesome when the hood is open (matches my Lemans Blue paint). It took about 30 minutes or less to install. I was going for the looks a little more but I'll add the screens to the front eventually to help the airflow. The vararam will take a few hours, but you'll have some nice gains from it.

After removing the stock airbox and inspecting it, I've come to the conclusion that any type of intake will be better than the restrictive stock one: just depends on how "much better" you want it to be, how you want it to look, cost, and how easy you want the installation to be.