Hello. I have a friend who has a practically new 1st gen Vararam he's willing to sell me for next to nothing. Question is , is it worth it?? Oh know I can get the cotton filter, but if I have leak issues, are they 100% fixable?? I wanna know if the majority of guys will say don't bother and just get the VRB2.

thanks

 

Silicone caulk will fix any leak!

 

Good answer......

 

Thanks guys, Im pretty much sure I will buy my friends vararam. Its too good of a deal to pass up.

 

Honesly, the new Vararam doesn't seal. A 1st version was on my car so I bought the filter and upper housing for it. Turns out the filter didn't seal in the new upper housing. The filter gasket is around the outside of the filter. That is a problem though when there is >1/8" between the gasket and filter in the middle of the long sides of the upper housing. So, I just took my origional housing and some black RTV and glued the filter into the upper housing. No dirt will get by that and it makes me much happier knowing a piece of stick on foam won't shift and start to let dirt past.

Vararam provided a bunch of new foam gaskets to seal the filter to the lower housing, but that doesn't really matter. If the filter isn't sealed to the upper housing then dirt will go around the filter right into the engine.

So, to conclude, you can spend >$100 to get the whole upgrade kit which won't seal anyways or just spend $50 and get the better filter. Then find uyour own way to seal the filter into the upper housing you already have that makes you happy.

One other thing I would do is look at putting washers on the bolts holding the lower tubes together. Just the bolt head and nut will cut into the plastic pretty easy. I had to move a couple of bolts to new locations because they had chewed through the plastic.

Peter