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I would assume the new vararam version has fixed those issues.
I have the new version and yes they fix them but.....you still have to make sure you install and align it properly
If the bottom part is not lining up with the top you will get the bowing of the flange and the gasket rolling that others are complaining about. Remember it's hot under that hood and the unit is some sort of plastic
I have the new version and yes they fix them but.....you still have to make sure you install and align it properly
If the bottom part is not lining up with the top you will get the bowing of the flange and the gasket rolling that others are complaining about. Remember it's hot under that hood and the unit is some sort of plastic
Careful installation is the key.
I also changed over to a paper filter ......
Dave
Mine was installed fine. It's 6 years old - I think it warped from heat/age. If someone is asking about a specific intake - I feel that potential quality, and/or design issues on that intake are relevant to the conversation.
Do me a favor and pop off your intake and take a picture of your throttle body. I'd love to see how clean it is with the new version. I'd also love to see throttle bodies from other folks with other intakes too. It's entirely possible mine would look just as dirty running the honker as it did with the vararam.
Mine was installed fine. It's 6 years old - I think it warped from heat/age. If someone is asking about a specific intake - I feel that potential quality, and/or design issues on that intake are relevant to the conversation.
Do me a favor and pop off your intake and take a picture of your throttle body. I'd love to see how clean it is with the new version. I'd also love to see throttle bodies from other folks with other intakes too. It's entirely possible mine would look just as dirty running the honker as it did with the vararam.
bobtheoilguy.com ( I think is the link) and the GM Diesel Truck guys did some interesting comparative engineering analysis of paper vs cloth filters and found that paper will filter 7 to 10 times better than cloth...but at some reduced flow...if the filter is big enough then that is not an issue. on an LS2 the real restriction is the transition from under the filter going into the housing plenum before the throttle body. Given that, it does not look like the intake was designed with fluid dynamics software. On my 07 I opened the top of the stock housing and made my own shroud... sort of like a Halltech Bee Hive. It works, but not spectacularly, and keeps the engine clean.
I am more concerned about engine longevity and filtration.
Hib Halverson did some testing on K & N's dyno and found no performance improvement on a C4 as the stock filter would support 600 hp.
Last edited by Enuzio; 09-01-2016 at 08:48 AM.
Reason: added comment
Mine was installed fine. It's 6 years old - I think it warped from heat/age. If someone is asking about a specific intake - I feel that potential quality, and/or design issues on that intake are relevant to the conversation.
Do me a favor and pop off your intake and take a picture of your throttle body. I'd love to see how clean it is with the new version. I'd also love to see throttle bodies from other folks with other intakes too. It's entirely possible mine would look just as dirty running the honker as it did with the vararam.
That looks just like what I experienced with a Vararam system on my 08 C6. In addition to the lousy sealing around the foam gaskets which I tried repeatedly to resolve one of the latches refused to stay latched (popped open repeatedly). No help from Vararam resolving the issues so from my viewpoint this is a sub par quality product for street use. It may produce quicker 1/4 mile times but was not suitable for everyday use. I could not in good conscience resell this shoddy system so I trash canned it.
Originally Posted by LF97C5Vette
I'd go with something that you KNOW will seal well, and that the filter is easy to inspect and clean.
I'll never run a vararam intake on any of my cars again. I've owned 2 over the last 10 years, for a few years each. And I hated both of them.
First on my C5 and second on my C6 - and both had serious issues sealing.
If you're regularly tracking the car, and care about the 3-4 mph trap, and the few tenths it'll shave off in the quarter. Or you're trying to push some limit and hit some magical dyno number and need the extra 3-4 hp - then Sure. Go for it, run the Vararam, it's clearly the best for performance.
HOWEVER, if you're daily driving the car - and care about longevity of your engine, and don't want to have to worry about your filter sealing, and/or check the filter every weekend. Then I'd avoid the vararam systems, and find something that's simple to inspect/clean/maintain.
C5 Vararam Housing - you can see some gaps that didn't seal well - I tried using putty and it still wasn't a great seal.
Maybe this is normal - but I didn't like all the grit that was getting past the filter and into my engine. Despite my regular checking to make sure it's clean.
Here's my C6's vararam. You can see the housing has warped/bowed out - and the foam strip isn't sufficient to seal all the gaps. Again, I packed putty into the gaps to help seal, but I simply shouldn't have to...
I'm sure I'll catch some hate from all the Vararam fans on here - but I can't honestly recommend using this intake for anybody who doesn't regularly track the car. I think it's just too poorly constructed, and adds unnecessary risk to engine longevity.
Good luck with your purchase! I'm tossing my C6's vararam and switching to something more like SLP Blackwing, Airaid, or some other system that's easy to seal, and inspect.
I have a 2013 A6 with a Halltech MF107R (with the beehive that isolates it from engine bay heat) along with a slew of other mods - that CAI, along with a tune and headers, picked up 70 RWHP.
Now, most of that was probably in the tuning improvements and substantial improvement in the headers, but the cooler air available from the CAI (and slightly less restriction) helped optimize the overall system.
I assume the Vararam or Callaway systems are equal or close to the quality of the Halltech. Regardless of which system you go with, I'd highly recommend a dyno tune with wideband AF calibration by a reputable tuner to get you as much out of it as possible (but that will roughly double your cost in my experience).
Is it worth it? I think so, but I guess you have to decide that one for yourself. My initial mods (intake, tune, headers, install, dyno time, etc.) cost ~$3k, I think. Works out to around $43/hp to do it right through an installer - a lot less if you want to do it yourself, but I didn't have the tools back then. For some like me, it's a drop in the bucket of what I've invested in this car, but for others, it may seem outlandish. Entirely up to you.
With the CAI, changing from a stock LS3 exhaust (SLP Loudmouth I cat back) to a 08 Z06 exhaust, and a tune from EFI Alchemy, my car dynoed at 406 rear wheel horsepower and 400 ft. lbs of torque. With just the CAI and tune it dynoed at 376 rwhp. I say the tune and exhaust made more of a difference.
I do HPDE and autocross. Does it really make a difference? Maybe, maybe not. I spent significantly more on the Pfadt inverted sport shocks, Pfadt adjustable sway bars and C6 Z06 brakes, seeing that those would make much more of difference in my application.
CAI are not snake oil per say. If they are truly Cold air. Here is the stock table from the ECM that shows how aggressively the computer pulls timing just based on Intake Air temp. My logs show it easy to have 100*+ IAT temps.
06-23-2016, 08:23 AM
My logs show it easy to have 100*+ IAT temps.