I got very lucky. Long story short, I got caught in a pop-up severe t-storm during a summer evening. VERY heavy rainfall probably the worst downpour I ever saw, and it began about 2 miles from home. I was driving slow, turned onto a side street and the car began running rough.....I looked over and saw a wake so I realized I was in trouble (night time made it impossible to tell how deep this water was) Shut the car off, jumped out and was ankle deep, pushed the car out to a drier part of the street. Walked home (about 100 yards!) Later once the rain let up a couple hours later I started it up and drove it home (ran rough the whole time) Took out the Vararam, found water soaked in the filter, water inside the intake everywhere, water caked on the honeycomb of the maf and some water pooled inside the manifold. Dried it all up, put the stock intake back on, changed the oil, started it up, ran rough for a few secs and then it smoothed out and was fine. No damage BUT if I hadn't stopped and was driving faster etc, I would've been in much worse shape.

The crazy thing is everyone says it takes a foot or more of water before anything gets sucked up. I used to think the same, all it took was 1 freak storm and a few inches of water to change my mind.

If you don't ever plan on driving in bad weather, the Vararam is fine and a great performer (quality is questionable, I had to re-glue the foam gaskets a couple times, it will require more frequent cleanings and inspections).

Or you can go with some of the other brands, I've had 3 intakes on my car, Halltech Stinger (not much hp gain 4rwhp on the dyno, airbridge lost form and filter fell off as a result, it was a quality issue as their plastics were not thick enough imo, Halltech later redesigned their airbridge but I was lost as a customer by that point) K&N-great quality, no complaints, it was also a top breather so I decided to sell it and try the Vararam. Vararam-solid performance, quality issues, much higher water risk as I found out. AiRaid-so far quality is very good, even better then the K&N, power feels identical to the Vararam probably thanks to the opening I have in the shroud.

Sorry about the long post but I've tried alot of intakes and imo the one I'm happiest with is the AirRaid- it's also the cheapest which is nice.

 

Silver05GTO, glad to hear it wasn't costly or catastrophic. Thanks for posting up your experience. I've copied your post for future reference.

San

 

Halltech, Vararam, Calloway, AirRaid, flip a coin or do eanie meanie miney mo

 

Just bought the AirRaid online. Good price. I will give feedback once I install and can actually drive the car. Damn snow!!!

 

Can you take pics of the inside of the filter when you get it? and pics once installed?

I noticed on the installation instructions on their webiste it shows a white piece inside the filter. not sure if its used to smooth out air flow or if its a stop for the air bridge.

THanks!