aFe CF Intake vs. Vararam
 

Will I notice any difference in performance if I change out my Vararam CAI for the CF Momentum aFe?
Thanks.

Other than possibly the sound, no.

Let me see if I can help you on this .
In our flow bench testing the intake in question flowed 238.8 CFM vs 252.68 CFM for the VR @ only 1.5inches of water.
In real world use the VR cools down faster and delivers higher velocity airflow as can be seen in a MAP pressure Data Log.

When we see 18-20 deg differences or more in real world use and MAP pressure numbers that are up to a half pound higher than the competition ,That will make you stand up and take notice . None of that happens on the Dyno because a Dyno is not the road , no matter how you cut it. The load is simply not the same , unless you think you can put your car in 4th gear drop to 2,500RPM floor it and in 4 -5 seconds hit 6,000RPM and 140+ MPH . If your car can do that on the road , I want your car!
Plus, who drives around with the motor cool , the hood open and a fan blowing in front of and over the car helping to feed the intake system? Nobody.
In the end on a "stock LT-1" tune for tune etc.. there is only about 18hp to be had. There is a chance to gain far more Torque than power . That's why we guarantee that gain. My personal car saw 23HP over 10 pulls.
One intake vs another testing on a dyno without looking at throttle positions and AFR numbers and a host of other info is a waste of time .
Some intakes lean the cars down dramatically and pull a great number on the dyno during a test . Only to have the ECM learn it out in 75 miles after the dyno test. Then the car feels flat again. We engineered to keep the AFR close to OEM + or - 1-2%. I have seen some intakes dip into the 13.0-13.20 to one range , hold timing temporarily , then by pull 3-4 start pulling it out and richening the AFR. It depends on the amount of load from the dyno/ type of dyno etc...
We do 12-16 second pulls ( watch the video) it sounds like the Rods are about to come out of it!
On the road it will pull it from the moment you hit WOT. You simply have to be aware of what the stock ECM program is doing and how it reacts.
A good custom tune is always a good idea once you have all the parts you wanted on the car.
Lots of great tuners out here on the forum.
Hope this helps
VR tech

The AFE CF does look nicer. :)

-Josh

VR Tech (name?) :-),

I have recently purchased your 'cold air' as well as ARH 1 7/8 long tube, catted. Would you kindly give me an approximate gain, before and after a tune. If you could give me a guestimate (NOT holding you to this) number it would be appreciated. I know tunes vary, so lets assume a good one with AF ratios in safe ranges.

2017 GS, stock otherwise

sincerely
Bruce

I have the Vararam installed on my LT1 and I did baseline 1/4 testing before and after keeping track of temps and DA
Its not about HP gains on a dyno and all about delivering all the HP that the car can make
The ECM starts to pull timing at 85 degrees IAT my logs proved that down here in the south mine was pulling a lot of timing and after the install ....it was not.
With a 2500 DA and outside temps in the 90's on a track that had marginal grip I was running at best 12.2 .....consistantly using Launch control to reduce that variable as my 60 ft times stayed the same at 1.7 on stock runflats
Same DA Same track same temps but added the Vararam and the first run out of the gate was a 11.9. 1.7 60 ft time with several more 11 second runs as the night progressed
I measured the same type of results with my C6 before and after the Vararam installation

This made a believer out of me , i love my VARARAM

Dave

And sometimes it even gets wet lol lol
Never had one once of problem with my snake charmer on my C6 as far as fit or installation and the IAT reduction was substantial but I was not sure how the design of the C7 was going to match the snake charmer

Like I said above , the C7 Vararam has exceeded my expectations not to mention the sound that the intake track makes now is so cool that I find myself pressing hard on the gas pedal just to hear it

Dave

Looking forward to your next post . As soon as our track opens back up in April I will also update the posts with some data logs

Dave

Does anyone have problems with CEL or engine lights? I read a lot about intakes doing this on the LT-1. I had the Vararam on my c6 seems to work good but on the fence with my 17.

John , I answered in the other post, my initial CEL was only because I did not allow enough time for the ECM to adjust short term and Long term fuel trims . My Vararam had no been on my car for a few months and many runs down the quarter mile and I have not had any issues at all .

Plus it's much easier to install than the C6 . Also do not unplug the MAF sensor during installation , just unscrew it and transfer it over . There are many posts about this setting a cel because you should disconnect the battery. I chose not to ....


Plus you just can't beat the sound that the engine makes now :)

Just like your C6, go for it , you will not regret

Dave

Curious about your 13.0:1 air fuel reading. If no tune changes were made the car will still command the same Air fuel(PE) that was in the tune at WOT. The difference would come from MAF transfer function error due to generally an increase in tube diameter at the sensor..So stock with minimal error the commanded lambda(EQ ratio) will be fairly close to final lambda shown on the wideband. With a maf curve that is off the commanded will not match final and as in your example, the car would still be commanding ie .85 but gets .90 final.. which is leaner, due to the maf curve error. That would need to be corrected in the tune and Air fuel will fall in line with commanded. As is known by most tuners, MAF flow lb/min can be altered with a uncorrected MAF curve and read false numbers.

My Halltech did fairly decent on my bolton Grand Sport A8 setup. My MAF error is pretty close to 0% error @ WOT and I see 54.5ish lb/min MAF, 9340-9350hz peak MAF flow, Hold 99-100kpa all the way to shift point at 6500+rpm. This is from street logs on 93 octane.. not dyno pulls. The true test of how a particular Intake makes power on a consistent combo is to correct the MAF error for each product, and leave PE, and spark at the exact same levels IMO.

Honeslty there is no more than a few hp between all CAIs. It should not be the centerpiece of the system.. but just a piece of the puzzle for the whole car. All of the products currently out are "Good" imo.

Just a note Dave, but there are other factors within the tune that will pull timing other than IAT advance. Coolant Temp will pull timing also.. so if you were over 200degrees ECT on one pull and under 200 on another, the pull would be less. You can log all the advance PIDs, like coolant advance, iat advance, Torque management advance etc... and they will all give you a negative or positive value. negative obviously is pulling timing. I personally log lots of PIDs so I can see what is going on all the time. Hell, I do datalogs if I am just running to the store in the car lol

I neither have a Vararam, nor another CAI installed and to be honest I struggle to believe in measurable performance gains via a CAI for the LT1.
The C7 uses the same intake like the Z06 that obviously needs significantly more air (in that context a question: Is the stock ZR1 intake any different?).
Maybe it is a bit on the "small" side for the Z06, but GM would not use it, if it was a significant bottleneck for the Z06.
This would be too easy of a performance gain for GM to leave on the table.
Therefore I can't believe that the intake is a significant restriction on the LT1.

The stock and all aftermarket CAI's suck the air from the same position, from underneith the car.
Here Vararam is different, but both positions are "cold air", as long as the car is driving.
From a stand still on a hot day, Vararam could have a benefit in terms of cold air, but I don't know if the temperatures underneith the car (Standing stil) are much different from the temps over the Hood (ambient).

Another benefit I could see is, that the path of the air is a bit shorter for the Vararam (on the upper side).
When you then open the throttle, the additional demand of air could hit the engine sooner.
This is theory, but I don't know if there is a measurable difference.

Other than that I struggle to see a benefit for Vararam.
When you drive WOT on a straight street for a period of time, I can not see how Vararam can generate more power.

Maybe I missed something, in that case a a technical explanation where and why would be great.

Regards





Götz

...be nice to have a VaraRam intake for the LT4...