KyleL

Had a little fun after work and did my first round of mods to the car. I would highly recommend Tony and his work on the MSD intakes, very nice looking finished product. I was was told to hold off on the WOT passes until it’s tuned, which will be done tomorrow if the rain holds off. But I can already tell a difference these mods make by the faint howl at idle.

From the time I placed my deposit to today when the intake showed up was right at 5 weeks due to MSD being out of stock. I’m sure had they been in stock, that time would have been cut in half, but it wasn’t a big deal since I wasn’t in a rush and wanted to do them all at once anyway.

The MSD went on fairly easy, not quite as easy as the ported oem manifold I had on my last c7, but pretty painless nonetheless. I had a slight hiccup with MSD as they did not punch a hole in their manifold lid where one of the bolts went. I had to take out the drill and knock that out, but it was super easy, so no big deal (when I called them, they asked for pics so they could see and actually complimented how clean the stealth upgrade looked lol)

The Vararam went on easy as well but I will say that I am not a huge fan of the Tb/manifold coupler thats used and the hoses/hose clamps that take the place of the factory quick connects. I hope they consider a redesign, I would certainly upgrade to something that would utilize those oem quick connects.

I wont have any dyno numbers to show before and afters but I will have time slips. My best stock time was 11.62@119 so I will hit the track next weekend for some new times


Here are some pics

robert miller

Looks good man show some time slips for sure on her.Robert

Fast6.3

Nice work on msd. What did you use to smoothit out

spinkick

I have the VR too and dont like the hoses and clamps they used as well.

KyleL

that’s the stealth upgrade tony provides. You’ll have to ask him how he did it, but it sure looks better than what msd provided

My buddy and I are going to work on something that’ll hopefully utilize the oem quick connects. If I could find two of the male ends that those hoses connected to, I’d be in business but haven’t run across any yet. That would be the simplest way bc all you’d need to do is trim the passenger side line if the female ends connect to their hard plastic hose like I’m thinking they do.

Another option would just be to use those black tension clamps like the ones GM uses for coolant lines to get rid of the chrome hose clamps

SFCTeach

I have my MSD with stealth from Tony Mamo still in the box. Its winter here but I really need to just get it installed. I also have an update from my tuner to apply once it is installed. Any gotchas during your install?

KyleL

not really, it was pretty straightforward. When I did the ported oem manifold on my first c7, I did have a little trouble removing the brake booster line in the back. This time it was much easier. Just push the red collar down into the manifold and pull the tube and it’ll slide right out.

The msd was a little tricky to slide back in bc it’s a little taller and fits snug in the back but which is why they recommend two people for it, but if you take your time, it’s not bad if you have to do it yourself.

VaraRam Industries

The factory quick disconnects don't scavenge the crankcase as well = less power. We are looking into different combinations but what we have now works so well we hate to change it.

PS. You don't need to use baby hose clamps on the PCV's by the throttle body. They are under vacuum.

VR Tech

KyleL

Thank you for clarifying that for me, I was unaware that what I consider to be a small modification could have a negative impact. Install was easy and I’m really liking the product so far and that was my only real issue. I’d rather have clamps on it just to secure it to be on the safe side but will probably swap them to the style that GM uses for coolant lines.

Is the issue with reusing the quick connects solely based the quick connect tube itself? What I would like to do, if I can locate them, is to find two quick connect male ends, cut them at the same angle, and install them into the coupler. This way I’d replicate the location and angle of the supplied barbs. The oem drivers’ side hose doesn’t seem to require any modification but the passenger side is too long and would need to be trimmed a few inches. I’m not sure if I could pull the female end from the cut end and reinstall it, but it looks like it just pressed in the tube. The only problem that I am running into is not being able to find the male end to try this so what I may end up doing is just replacing the clamps for now.

VaraRam Industries

The issue is Volume.
The OEM combination just doesn't pull hard enough. I am actually going to by-pass my sump tank and go direct to the TB hose on the passenger side. Just to see if I can find another HP or so.
There are quick disconnects , most are made by Dorman. Available at Autozone and similar parts stores.

VR tech

spinkick

I was looking at those. Do you need them at the other end, at the dry sump?

VaraRam Industries

No , you can just slide a 3/8ths hose over the nipple.

VR tech