We'll I just finished the Vararam install on my 07. To all of you who are leary of the product because on the "horror stories" of poor quality and hard installs. The total install took about 1.5 hrs, cutting the existing shourd took about 20-30 mins. I had no product quality problems. All seals and lines up very well.

The instructions could have been better, and the template more accurate. But all the threads on this and install hints made it pretty simple to install. Thanks to all who have posted on that subject.

To those who may be on the fence... just get one..

Now it's time for that tune and 4.10's...

 

cai threads are funny. Congrats!

 

 

 

wait till you use a tb spacer, no so much fun any more. i used a dremel and a tiny cutting wheel to make mince meat of that stupid shroud. the template was to small but i custom engineered it to fit like a charm.

 

I installed mine today. The hardest part was removing the plastic pins that held the radiator shroud in place. Obscentities are still floating above my garage. I agree the instructions could be better.

 

I did this install 2 day's ago it was a peice of cake! 2 hrs by myself and i was replacing a few parts that needed replaceing from an earlier incident. They should just take one of the write up's on this forum and put them in with the package would be better but thanks to this forum install was cake!

 

I'm sure glad that some don't have issues, but I'm not one of those. I won't go so far as to call it a "horror story" even though it may qualify as one in some people's mind.

My first indication of problems came when I opened the partially damaged carton and found it full of plastic peanuts. That's just a poor way to package products of this type. Next were the really awful instructions with even worse photos. I felt like I should have written proper instructions and taken new photos and sent them to VR with my bill. The LS3 has been available long enough that separate instructions should have been included.

Not only was the template incorrect, but it's just a folded up piece of paper. Maybe this works for the Z06 shroud, but it's not even close for the C6/LS3. Why they couldn't get it right and then spend a couple of bucks on a steel rule die and cut it out of heavy card stock and ship it flat is beyond me.

Then after massaging the shroud multiple times, I found the phony rubber clamps, that hold the lower section to the upper, would not stretch far enough to slide into the retainers. Additionally, one of the retainers was obviously out of alignment with the clamp. I had to redesign the clamping system.

The machined aluminum MAF section had significant amounts of polishing compound residue that need to be removed before the MAF sensor could be installed. Then the installation called for extra washers to be installed that weren't in the package.

Really disturbing were the connecting hoses that had considerable rubber shavings inside remaining from the sawing operation, just waiting to be sucked in to the engine.

I didn't even attempt to install the spacer, as the supplied hose (cut on an angle) certainly would never have fit correctly.

After spending 4 hours correcting all the problems, it became nearly worthwhile as I gained .2 seconds and almost 3 MPH. I just wish that a product that eventually performed so well could have an equal quality in all the other details.

Would I buy it again? Probably.
Would I be happier if the issues were resolved? Immensely.

I made one other modification, that on first testing netted about a .5 MPH increase over the stock VR. I'll test it again, along with another idea, in two weeks when I get back to the track. I'll confirm then if it worked or was just a fluke.