Vararam and Water
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 5,762
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From: Chandler Arizona
Originally Posted by shurite44
If you hydrolock your engine because of a vararam intake you can bet you a$$ it will not be covered under warranty. That is if the person would be dumb enough to let the vararam stay on the car when he took it in for the warranty service.
I have had three vararams now on three vettes. No problems, but I don't drive in rain. Personally I would not put one on a daily driver.
I have had three vararams now on three vettes. No problems, but I don't drive in rain. Personally I would not put one on a daily driver.
This is the conclusion I came to. I just can't afford the risk, no matter how small because it's my daily driver. When we get thunderstorms in Arizona it can fill the streets with water. A lot of our older roads are not designed properly. I went to College in Tucson and the daily newspaper once ran a photo on the cover that showed a guy water skiing behind a Jeep in the middle of a flooded street!
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 10,436
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From: Everett Wa
Yep you hydro lock your car with a Varam installed you won't be covered by warrenty. Of course if you hydrolock you car stock it is unlikey that you will be covered either. You would have to run through a pretty deep puddle, more like a lake to do it stock. Car was not designed as a sub.
Oh and by the way mine is a daily driver. So far this month we have recieve over 8 inchs of ran.
Oh and by the way mine is a daily driver. So far this month we have recieve over 8 inchs of ran.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 5,762
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From: Chandler Arizona
Originally Posted by TMyers
Yep you hydro lock your car with a Varam installed you won't be covered by warrenty. Of course if you hydrolock you car stock it is unlikey that you will be covered either. You would have to run through a pretty deep puddle, more like a lake to do it stock. Car was not designed as a sub.
Oh and by the way mine is a daily driver. So far this month we have recieve over 8 inchs of ran.
Oh and by the way mine is a daily driver. So far this month we have recieve over 8 inchs of ran.
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 3,565
Likes: 5
From: stafford country, va. Avatar: Me on turn 3 @ Bristol (The World's Fastest Half-Mile)
does the '06 Z06 get all of it's air from the 'hole' in the nose or does it also get some from under the car, ie bottom breather ?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 2,015
Likes: 1
From: Deerfield beach Fl
Originally Posted by glennhl
I agree that the chances are low that you will ever hydrolock. My point is it's not the rain, it's the standing water we get here because of the crappy streets. One more thing, I would always be extremely nervous everytime it rained here if I had the Vararam. I'm too old for that additional stress!
Yep, thats exactly what I'm saying, with the rain building up on these roads, it really would make me very nervous.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 7,027
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From: Shiloh Ohio
Originally Posted by TMyers
Of course if you hydrolock you car stock it is unlikey that you will be covered either. You would have to run through a pretty deep puddle, more like a lake to do it stock. Car was not designed as a sub.
Oh and by the way mine is a daily driver. So far this month we have recieve over 8 inchs of ran.
Oh and by the way mine is a daily driver. So far this month we have recieve over 8 inchs of ran.
My dealer would cover it or they would have a fat retired guy hanging out in the showroom for a month.
Oops, I forgot, I have a vararam.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2005
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From: Everett Wa
I would be willing to bet the only way you could hydrolock a stock setup is to submerge the front end of the car. That would not be covered by warrenty but by you insurance company.
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Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2005
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From: Everett Wa
Just to give you an idea of how deep a puddle we are taking about here to just get water to the bottom lip of the intake you would need a 9 inch deep puddle or a bow wave the same. To completely cover the intake you need 14 inches. For water to get into the intake it as to rise to 25 inches.
I am a firm believer that unless you submerge the whole opening of the vararam they is no way for this to occur.
I am a firm believer that unless you submerge the whole opening of the vararam they is no way for this to occur.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 5,259
Likes: 16
From: Monroe Township New Jersey
St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16
St. Jude donor in memory of jpee '14
Originally Posted by Zig
does the '06 Z06 get all of it's air from the 'hole' in the nose or does it also get some from under the car, ie bottom breather ?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 5,259
Likes: 16
From: Monroe Township New Jersey
St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16
St. Jude donor in memory of jpee '14
I had finally decided to install the honker that has been sitting in my garage since August 05 and now you guys are once again reminding me that my car can become a submarine 
CF Senior Member
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 3,262
Likes: 21
From: Palm City Florida
As bad as I want to put the Vararam on my car, I am too worried about hydrolocking. In Florida, you can leave your house in clear and sunny skies. You can go a couple miles down the road and find yourself in a severe rainstorm. It rains so hard that all you can see is the tail lights of the car in front of you (if you are lucky). I have gone crashing through some deep puddles and been hit by the wake of deep puddles from cars in the opposite lane. I do not think the Vararam system is all that safe to use in Florida. If you take a day trip in Florida, you always run the risk of getting caught in a heavy downpour.
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 7,896
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From: Hillsboro OR
I completely agree!
Originally Posted by TMyers
Well just thought I would post about the subject. Living here in the Northwest we tend to get a little rain. Nothing heavy like in the southwest with flash floods and all just steady all the time.
Anyway it seems that China didn't want to get hit by a typhon so they sent all the rain to us. In the 40 years or so I have lived here I have never seen this much rain for this long and we have 60 deg temps in November.
From Bend Oregon to Everett, Wa. it rained the whole trip, about 300 miles. Most of the time heavy but always constant. It was dark and you could not see any puddles, none deep though. Cars in the adjacant lanes where spraying the car good. Hydroplaning at its finest.
Anyway the Vararam performed perfectly. If there was going to be any problems it would of been in this storm. I think as long as you don't play U-Boat commander this bottom breather is the best.
Anyway it seems that China didn't want to get hit by a typhon so they sent all the rain to us. In the 40 years or so I have lived here I have never seen this much rain for this long and we have 60 deg temps in November.
From Bend Oregon to Everett, Wa. it rained the whole trip, about 300 miles. Most of the time heavy but always constant. It was dark and you could not see any puddles, none deep though. Cars in the adjacant lanes where spraying the car good. Hydroplaning at its finest.
Anyway the Vararam performed perfectly. If there was going to be any problems it would of been in this storm. I think as long as you don't play U-Boat commander this bottom breather is the best.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 2,015
Likes: 1
From: Deerfield beach Fl
well thats my main issue here, you can't avoid big puddles as all the roads flood. Although I would assume you'd really need to submerge the car for it to hydro lock. I suppose you could also drill a couple of holes in the vararam so that water would drop out instead of flowing right into the engine.
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Race Director
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From: Everett Wa
Originally Posted by jimman
It's standing water at slow speed, front wheels cause wake that rises up over filter.
Thread Starter
Race Director
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From: Everett Wa
Originally Posted by jimman
just takes one shot of water, as in good size spash under high vacuum.
The only way to create a vacuum is if you cover the whole opening of the intake 5x10 inches. Otherwise considering that water is 100 times heavier than air the air will displace the water. The water will follow the path of least resistance and that is back out through the opening. In addition you would have to injest enough water for it to maintain a seal through the entire intake. Considering the volume of the intake at the filter is much larger than the opening itself that would be alot of water.
I imagine that someone could figure out just what it would take. But considering that I drove 300 miles home in a rain storm that dropped 12 inches of rain in about 12 hours I'm pretty sure that unless you are a U-boat commander there is nothing to worry about.
FYI almost everywhere in Washington we have doubled our normal rain totals, broken every record out there and still have 10 days to go.