Hi I am new to the corvette world and just bought one looking to mod.

I am looking for the best air intake system are they all the same which one is lowest priced thanks?

 

Vararam, is a true RAM AIR intake that pulls cold air form outside of the engine bay. Beware of heat soak from other intakes that are just large filters on the end of a intake elbow.
Some other options have the BeeHive, which closes off the intake from the rest of the engine but your still trying to pull air form the little space down there

 

ok Great thanks, also do I have to get a computer tune with a new intake??

 

I've just gone through this excercise and honestly, I find buying a cai one of the most confusing and frustrating things about upgrading a car. I don't believe any of the companies claims!

IMO, on a stock motor, CAI might be worth a few HP but helps more based on other (future?) mods. (ie. once your powerplant can truly use the increased airflow)

I've spoken with some tuners and tried to gather some info. (most of it contradicting or misleading in some way) I was told that the 'ram air effect' intakes don't work very well (require massive speeds to acheive an effect) and I've determined that if I'm going to have an intake that is not 'ram-air' then I may as well get the one with the most surface area and lowest price.

There are some very good looking options with closures (beehive etc) if you're interested in spending $$ to make your engine bay 'pretty'.... but I believe that $$ are better spent elsewhere.

So I placed an order for an AIRAID this morning. It will meet my interest in enabling the engine to breath 'in' more deeply while also saving me some $$ for other mods.

Here is the shortlist of the intakes I considered for my LS2:
Halltech
AIRAID
Honker
Volant
Vararam Snake Charmer
LG Motorsports (not released yet and not truly considered due to cost) - but I love it!

Some intakes require that you cut your shroud. Something to consider depending on how far you are going to take your mods....

Everyone will have a different opinion - use my list along with others mentioned in this thread and look them up! Good luck!

 

A friend just had his GS MOD'd with a cam, long tubes and a TVS2300 S/C. East Texas Muscle Cars installed a Callaway Honker, spaced about 5/8"-3/4" from the shroud. They did not cut the shroud, but relied on the "cold air" openings that are already in the bottom of the shroud on each side.

My feelings are that if, after spending that much money, cutting the shroud would have helped(i.e. more horsepower), they would have taken the extra 30 minutes and cut the shroud, but they didn't.

 

I dont want to have to cut anything. Just something better than stock if there is one or is it al bs. Are there any hp gains on the ones listed above. Something good but not so expensive What about k/n?

 

Definitely Vararam.

Vararam Snake Charmer Cold Air Intake, 2008+ C6 & 2006+ C6 Z06 $419.95 shipped



Seth

 

Short and sweet...... save your money. GM spend a lot more money then you are planning to spend, to engineer an intake that works. If you want to change something for the sake of change, purchase and install a GM ZR1 air filter element using the factory airbox that's now on your car.

 

Sorry Joec5 I am new to all this what is the air filter element?

 

He's suggesting that you change the filter only and leave the stock airbox as is.

 

A K&N or other oiled gauze filter flows more air, and dirt.
BUT your stock engine gets all the air it needs from the factory filter, so the K&N only benefits you by providing more dirt in the airstream over time.

 

If you want to reduce the hot engine compartment air that might reach your adequate and reliable factory filter, you can install a shroud.

I suggest the Halltech Beehive Ram Air Induction Shroud. (Shroud only)

I made a cardboard template of the top portion of the Halltech Shroud. I used a marker and traced the opening needed to make it fit under the oem filter and air bridge. I cut the template to clear the air bridge and installed the template under the oem intake mounts and hold down retainers. I secured the template using the retaining pins to secured it and made adjustments to the template as needed.

Once you check your measurements and cuts thoroughly, remove the template and taped it onto the Halltech shroud. Using a jigsaw with a fine blade, make your cuts. File the edges to a smooth finish and install the Halltech shroud. Install the intake onto the shroud and use the oem retainers to secure it down.

For cooler outside air on the base corvette, Halltech's website has illustrations for the cut outs at the bottom ends of the shroud.

 

alright thanks.

 

I installed a Callaway Honker.
No regrets at all.

 

Did you have to install part # 203.68.2740 at $49.50?

 

yes as stated above "ram air" only happens at high speeds. However the Vararam pulls air from outside even if its sitting still in traffic, that is better for the motor.
So benefits:
Sitting still gets you cold air
Going FAST give you a ram effect

Its been dyno proven and track tested, just like all of the other options.


Yes GM spent a lot of time designing an intake that works for the this motor, but meets the standards set for a car on the street strait from the manufacture. If they did not have to make the intake silient with the HUGE box, they wouldnt, If they could scoop air from outside of the engine bay they would.

Corvette racing, they use ram air, b/c it works. They have 2 intake tubes, one on each side of the lower front grill. Its the best design and its functional. It makes the loud vacuum noise that they are trying to avoid at the dealerships lol.

Also there is talk of "hydro lock" with the vararam sucking water up during rain. HUPLA i say, I've been driving my car the past 2 weeks in the rain during this wonderful hurricane season. If you drive into a very deep puddle, then you've put more then your intake underwater lol, pull up your pants friend.

VARARAM wins

 

My tuner has measured temperatures outside the shroud and inside the shroud during drive testing, the difference was barely measureable (2 - 3 degrees). The reason? The shroud is actually open to the outside at the bottom on both sides. Thus, cutting the shroud does little to improve air flow or reduce air temperature. At high speeds, if you are a drag racer, a Vararam or other ram devices will produce some effect, but in normal driving very little if anything is gained. The amount of airflow will be affected by the size of the filter area and aerodynamics of the intake design. Bottom line, after race testing many intakes my tuner got the best improvement with the large filter area and design of the K&N product. Makes sense too when you realize that K&N have been designing and flow testing intakes for a long long time and are a respected name. On my 06, I cut the shroud and installed a Vortex Ram Air intake (other mods: ported throttle body, 180 thermostat, Corsa catback exhaust, NGK plugs) and afterward the car was dyno tuned and improvements over stock weren't as good as hoped for. Tuner said he believed the Vortex was working against other mods, somehow causing instability in some rpm ranges, and recommended trying removal of the Vortex and swap for a K&N. So, I went through the hassle of putting a new shroud in (no fun!) and installing the K&N. The car was then re-dyno tuned and the difference was instantly visible. No more instabilty, higher H.P. and a flat torque curve. I'm not telling this story to badmouth Vortex, Vararam, or anybody else, but the bottom line is that cutting shrouds to lower temps or get ram effects for most of us that don't hit the strip or track every week is a myth. I conclude that only two things count: Filter area and flow design dynamics of the intake device. I'm happy now with a non-cut shroud and a K&N and the car is wonderful to drive.

 

Glad you're happy with what you have. Some people aren't and some never know what they could have.

I'm only responding to give more perspective on your information.

I've never measured the underhood temps in the area of the stock filter inlet when driving, but I can guarantee it's higher than the outside air temps by far more than 2-3 degrees. I just put a digital thermometer where the stock filter would be and closed the hood. The car has been in the garage for two hours cooling off. Garage temp was 109*. Yeah, it does get hot in Phoenix. 10 minutes later when I checked it the heat was so great that the LCD was all black. In another 5 minutes back in the 75* house it had cooled off enough to read 121*.The most important location to measure heat is in the manifold next to the throttle body. That's where the computer reads temps and adjusts timing to compensate.

I can read IAT while sitting still and while moving. With the Vararam the IAT runs about 15-20* higher than ambiant sitting still and 3-6* higher when moving. In no event would those temps approach the underhood air temps.

 

I can't understand why everyone that luvs K&N air filters ignores the reality of a low restriction filter. YES! the K&N filter passes more air!
NO argument on the air flow. Now adjust your reality to the attendant dirt ingestion with more unrestricted air flow!

Accumulative Gain:
"Accumulative Gain" is the total amount of dirt that passed through the filter during the test.

 

OK you made your point now what to use. Stock?? I thought the oil in the K/N filter grabbed the dirt?