I believe you may be missing the point here. The OP asked: "What can I expect as far as HP gain...", which clearly indicate he's looking for additional performance. I offered two solutions at opposite ends of the price range and the real world documented performance gains that I personally experienced.

You have muddied the waters by injecting a TSB that relates to factory stock intakes and your unfortunate short-term initial experience with two aftermarket products and a home-brewed solution that supposedly cured your "opinion" of an additional assumed problem. You also offered your unsubstantiated opinion that this mod "will most likely hurt performance". You've additionally insinuated that surging is a permanent condition, when in fact, the
computer slowly adjusts to the sudden changes like countless others who have installed a CAI have experienced.

Somehow I believe my "Buba" dragstrip proven experience with documented and verifiable comparative results trumps your arm-chair quarterback personal opinions.

BTW, I suggest you research the ZR1 filter to verify both the physical compatability with your housing and why it flows more air, before the purchase.

 

I have a Vararam and I never had any "surging" issues.

 

LS3 and LS7 same filters.



The stock system is very efficient and flows very well.

 

Replace the air filters with either K&N or FRAM Air Hog's

 

I gathered from JoesC5 comments that everything is not "Sunshine and Roses" on mods, and I always appreciate hearing the down side to something before I jump in. Every car can be very different when you start sticking mods on it. Joe had a lot of trouble with something that my car excepted without a hick-up, but I do not mind hearing about potential problems. I hate surprises.
Larry

 

Thanks Larry, I'm glad that someone understood the reasoning behind my posts. Maybe I wasn't as clear as I could have been.

I'm sure nearly everyone has heard of Callaway. I won't go into their background but they sell a CAI called the Honker. Most people don't realize that they have two versions. one for N/A cars and another for supercharged cars. The N/A Honker has the shroud opened and the air is ducted from behind through the air filter(a sealed system to the outside of the airbox compartment). Their Honker used on the supercharger does not have a cut(opened) shroud, but rests on four spacers to hold it ~5/8"-3/4" away from the shroud. It is not a sealed system and draws air from the airbox compartment.
With the Supercharger, they do not modify the shroud in any way to allow outside air in. They must know something that the Bubba's don't know about cutting shrouds and air turbulence since they don't do it on the supercharged Vettes they sell. After spending all that money developing a high performance supercharged car, if Callaway could magically pick up another 15 horses by cutting the shroud, at no expense to them, wouldn't they?

If you check their website and their products you will not find any mention of potential problems with surging when using their Honker, but customers have experienced surging. Customers that experience surging are told that they (Callaway) have a diffuser(louvered panel) part # 203.68.2740, available for $50 to eliminate the surging. Some LS3/LS7 cars have surging, others don't, but for those that do have the surging, Callaway has a diffuser ready to sell them.

People have experienced surging with other brands, while others have not.

GM spends a lot of money engineering their cars and, yes, some MODs do work, if they're well thought out. For the drag racer, he could cut a tenth off his times if removed the heavy rotors and calipers from his car. Who needs brakes when you're accelerating, right. But, the unintended consequences will haunt him when he has to make that tight U-turn at the end of the track to get back to the pits.

Yes, I was a Bubba when I was trying to solve the surging I experienced after I cut my should and installed the Vette-Air, but a life long career as an engineer and an engineering manager in manufacturing might have come into play to help me design a diffuser to solve my problem with the surging.

 

He has an LS3. It has one filter and neither K&N nor FRAM makes a drop in that I'm aware of.

 

i love my airaid and have had no problems with it either ...

 

Given how level the performance gains are, if you factor in value, the Airaid would be the best choice. Factor in fit & finish and I find it very hard to find an equal to the Airaid units.

 

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