The LPE installation instructions says to remove the shroud from the vehicle. That is a real PITA.

Has anyone installed the LPE CAI without removing the shroud? Remove/not remove the shroud would impact my decision on which one to buy assuming all the ram CAI work the same way.

 

I bought a Haltech Killerbee on my O8 LS3 and it fit perfectly, it is a quality product. Make sure the part number was for an LS3 not Z06 because the air bridges are slightly different in lengths. Call Jim Hall and give him the airbridge length measurement and see if it is the right one.
I am also thinking of buying the shroud cover and opening up two lower outlets at the bottom of the shroud for the cold air ram effect.

 

There is an interesting post over in C6 General today about some one sucking water into their engine using a Vararam. Issues like this are keeping me with my stock intake.

 

I agree that the quality looks good, a lot better than the "V" item I mentioned.

I ordered directly from their website and it specifically said for '08 LS3, but the dimensions are off. First, my PCV line ends about 1/4" in front of the connector and the hard PCV line won't bend much to meet it correctly. Second the filter is really jammed up against the shroud which holds the air bridge up. So it seems too short up to the PCV connector, and too long from there forward.

I really did try the install three times, looking for anything or any adjustment I may be missing.

 

I'd almost bet that if you took a stock airbridge, removed the filter/s (depending on the yer) and replaced them with a "K&N" type filter, you'd get the same performance levels as a $350 CAI.

 

my experience with the vararam has been quite good (after suffering through the installation, including removing the shroud). SOTP difference in throttle response, and perhaps most surprisingly, gas mileage "seems" to have increased similar to the claims (1-2mpg). fit and quality on the one i received was fine. the real pain was removing the shroud to put in the pre-cut one.

i dont drive much in rain with the vette, so issues related to sucking in water i cannot comment on.

good luck

 

I have had close to 30k miles with the vararam on my C5 and it was a PITA to install, but was well worth it. Could tell instantly a SOTP difference.

I have a new one sitting in the garage waiting to go on my C6 soon. The fit and finish has improved over the old C5 units, but still not exceptional. I do believe it is the best unit out there especially at speed.

There are no hydro locking issues with driving in the rain, however if you submerge the intake opening it will obviously suck in water, but that would mean your car is what? 12'' deep in water.... If for some crazy reason that happens, just shut the car off right away to avoid it from hydrolocking.

 

Honker. The best for the C5 and C6 in my opinion.

 

I just don't see how the Callaway Honker compares to the Vararam. One is a cold air while the other is a ram air. The ram air is obviously going to get more air and somewhat pressurized too.

 

All the intake systems on the market are pretty good. The Vararam is a nice system, but requires cutting the car, which a lot of people cannot stomach. Halltech makes an awesome intake, and SLP's carbon Fiber setup looks awesome too.

We sell a lot of intakes here-

http://marylandspeed.com/corvette-c6...c-148_174.html

 

Exactly.

Choose either a straight shot starting right at the nose of the car with a gradual up turn through a filter on towards the MAF or....travel even farther underneath the car, bounce off of a wall hopefully into the filter, go through the filter and then make a roughly 100 degree turn up towards the MAF.
Do the math.

 

Anybody have any experience with the Hurricane from WCC? It is a cold-air w/ a huge filter, but it hardly ever gets mentioned.

 

The bottom of my filter fits just below a fascia lip on the front and lies at the same angle of the shroud. The fit is perfect. The PCV does sit up 1/4 inch in front of the connector of the rubber coupler. But the coupler's PCV nipple seems to be flexible enough to adjust to the needed forward position. Since installation, the PCV has never moved or been an issue. Did you take a measurement of your air bridge and compare the correct dimensions with Jim Hall @ Halltech?

 

No cutting for a Z06 because it has a NACA duct. But to get true ram affect, especially on the base vette you need to make two small oval holes on both ends at the bottom of the shroud. I am still contemplating whether or not to do this?

 

For any of these systems, do they get their air from the grill?
If so, then for states/provinces which have a law which REQUIRES a front plate,
might this adversely affect the airflow for these products?

I am contemplating which system to get for my (on it's way) C6 convertible, and a new air intake system is one of my planned mods.

On my C5 I had Breathless Performance Products system, which got he air from under the grill/font.

 

Very true but on the other side you can get the Vararam and HOPE that all the parts fit right, then hope they stay together after your install is finished and you have a few miles on your car then also hope you don't mis-judge the depth of a puddle during a bad storm. Then even when you know everything is right hope the spacer doesn't distort and allow air directly into your intake. All that after laying out $450+ (LS3) for an air intake....Too much praying and hoping required for a relatively simple item in my opinion.

 

We removed the shroud and I would highly recoimmend doing so, then cutting it to fit. Additionally, here's my recommendation for removal/install...

Get a package of plastic push pins from the dealer (about 15-20 so you'll have some extras) and simply cut the old ones out. It would have made the shroud removal MUCH easier if we weren't trying to save those damn one use plastic pieces of $hit by pulling them out!

Just my $.02

 

My car doesn't get driven in the rain, so I'll never have to worry about puddles.

 

That's not only a concern with the Vararam, that's a concern with ANY of these air intake kits, even the factory set up.
I don't care which product you're using, if one is careless enough to go through puddles deep enough (and/or fast enough) to get into a Vararam they're likely also unalert/unobservant enough to get water into the motor with a bone stock car as well.

 

You know you can't suck water into your engine unless you FULLY SUBMERGE the intake in water.. driving through "puddles" won't do it (at least in my term.. when the road has 2 feet of standing water wide enough to drive your entire front end through, that's a lake not a puddle. the CAI intake has to be totally underwater to create suction to pull water in... The water has to be pretty deep for that. Just don't drive in a flood... honestly our cars are low enough to the road that if you are going to drive through water deep enough to submerge a CAI, you are probably driving deep enough to suck water up the stock intake anyway (it's like a 8 inch difference).

I had a CAI in Vancouver (where it rains 9 month a year non-stop), and drove through puddles 9 months a year... If you end up in a ditch of water putting your front end a foot deep, get off the gas and the car will stall before you suck water in, kill the engine and push the car out, DON'T floor it (I did save my car once like this when I hit 2 feet of water that looked like road). To really suck water up you have to be on the gas when you hit the water, and you have to be fairly deep. JUST BE CAREFUL, a waterlogged engine is not a cheap repair in any way.. Here in Orlando I have never seen water on the road deep enough to submerge a CAI though (other than hurricane flooding, and I wouldn't be driving my Vette in a flood no matter what).