So after selling my C5, I bought a nice low mileage C6 LS2. The car already had a Borla catback, and a Vararam Snake Charmer.

After a couple months of driving, I have started getting P0171, P0174, P0175 codes. Air and lean issues. I pulled the intake off and found that the lower half of the setup is slightly deformed, and the gasket on it deformed as well. Plus there was some debris and sand lying around the edges where the thing is supposed to seal.

So I'm pretty sure I will need to replace the MAF sensor as the screen was half blocked.

My question is has anyone changed over to a Calloway or Lingenfelter CAI after using the snake charmer and all of the modifications needed to put it in.

It's the complete piece and has the lower plenum coming off of the lower section of the box.

After I get this sorted out, I will have to do some LT's and a Fast or something. My C5 put down almost 470 to the wheels through a 3:90 gear....and this thing feels so slow although I like it better in every other aspect!

Thanks for any insight.

 

If you plan to tune it get an LS3/7 CAI and get rid of the LS2 MAF and use the LS3/7 MAF. I think it is a much better unit.

 

I will definitely look at doing that in the future. Right now I'm just looking to get another CAI on and replace the MAF to get things back to square one so to speak.

My biggest concern was wondering if the modifications done to install the Vararam would make any other CAI install harder....or easier as that would be nice. I will probably pull everything apart this afternoon and have a look, but I haven't driven the car too much or been under the hood.

After all the work I put into the other one, I kind of got out of the whole scene as I had a kid leave for college and I had to devote more time to my business.

I plan to start buying and stocking up on parts soon, and then will just do everything at once and have it tuned then.

 

you will have to put a new shroud in, why not just seal the vararam? i have used it for `10 years with no problems, maybe installed wrong, you can also take the upper and lower VR out put together seal even with black duct tape or any other ingenious idea and install as a complete unit save the money for another mod, no other air intake will get you the power of the vararam

 

If i remember the filter is in the top half of the snake charmer so even if it was leaking it should not have allowed dirt in, you just would have lost the ram effect.

Clean the filter , clean the maf and put it all back together
I had to really mess with the alignment of both pieces to get them to line up to a point where the upper section mated well with the bottom, took me all day and even then I walked way and started again the next day.

I bet you have an alignment issue , I started aligning the top first, then clamp on the bottom and make sure it in the center of the grille , then make sure your mounting holes are in the right spot
I would replace the seal if u feel it's not sealing well

I am also replacing the oiled filter with a paper one as I don't feel that they filter as well , it's also easy to over oil one and clog the maf

Dave

 

Thanks for all the replies. I will pull it all apart this weekend, change gaskets, and put everything back together. Last weekend when I pulled it apart, I cleaned everything back up and sprayed the MAF with cleaner. After it had time to dry, I put it all back together and took it for a drive.

I know it takes time for the CEL to cycle, but I still have hesitation when accelerating and it will sometimes throw a Service Traction Control message. At the time it is doing that it is hesitating and bogging very bad, then within a couple of seconds the car takes off like it finally got the fuel it needed.

Seems to happen only in 3rd gear. I only tried it a couple of times, then parked it. From what I have researched on here.....among the first things to check is for a vacuum leak or bad MAF sensor.

I know when I first cleaned the sensor, half of the screen was clogged with debris. Who knows. Maybe one day when I drove it to work, the lawn guys were blowing dust and clippings around some found its way there although I usually park in an area where this wouldn't be the case.

 

Welcome to the c6 world!

I had the same feeling as you when I bought my c6 after my Heads/cam 3.90 gears c5 got stolen. But I modded it faster and now it's terrific.

Take the Vararam apart and clean it and put it together properly... I've also had mine 10 years and it's been a great product.

PO174 etc lean codes point to errors after the throttle body, almost always it's due to a vacuum leak.

Are there any other mods on the car?

 

Hi Joe,

No other mods but a cat-back exhaust. Figured I would pull everything involved with the vararam out and fix it, replace the MAF sensor, and probably do a 180° stat.

After that I will start buying a few pieces at a time. LG or Kooks, hi-flow cats, fast intake, and a different TB setup. Then of course a tune.

I'm seeing these LS2's at about 380rwhp with those specific mods more or less. I will then see how that fills.

I told myself after the last car that I wouldn't go crazy with this one, but you know how things go. The last one was scary fast... My wife didn't like it.

I think something along the lines of 400rwhp would be fine for me and let me keep the stock clutch for awhile.

Then if I want something else, I can just do a gear swap as that was the biggest SOTP mod I ever did.

 

^^^ You're pretty spot on with everything what you said. I wouldn't bother with a FAST until you put a big cam in.

I do agree gears are one of the best mods. Your clutch is very good by the way, stay on top of fluid changes. I have 80,000 miles and 497 hard passes (with a lot of 1.4 06 foots) on mine.

I overlaid all my LS2 mods on one dyno sheet with track results so you can see how you remove the blockades to airflow in order... some good discussion here if you're interested.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ast-heads.html

 

For better filtration and peace of mind regarding the extremely rare hydrolock, use a paper filter. You have to shave the ends a bit, but it provide a much better seal than the OEM Vararam filter.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1588776944

 

So I wanted to come back an update this thread with the solution in case anyone else is experiencing the codes and issues I was having.

So I pulled the snake charmer off and removed all gasket material as it was pretty much gone. Cleaned everything up and picked up some gasket tape from the local hardware store. I applied new gasket to the surfaces that had it before, and then test fit everything.

The bottom half of the Vararam box was pretty deformed, so I put everything together and then sealed the side with the gap with some black Gorilla duct tape. This I can take off when time to change or clean the filter.

I then installed it back into the car assembled as one piece. Once that was done, I disconnected the battery and removed and replaced the MAF sensor.

Connected the battery, took the car for a little spin...and no more hesitation. The car pulls smoothly through all gears. I took it out for a longer drive yesterday and the CEL went away like I was expecting.

Plus I noticed that my average gas mileage readings were at an all time high even with some mixed aggressive driving.

So overall I am happy with things. I just need to get started with some mods. It drives very good, but feels so slow after my owning my previous Corvette.

 

I am so glad you took the advise of post # 4

 

So am I... Thanks man! Kind of got the idea that if it was deformed, then replace it. Your post set the gears in motion!