Ask12b1

About a year ago, I purchased a 2006 C6 coupe with 45,000 miles. I am the third owner and the car has been garage kept its entire life with basically no modifications, except for a Corsa exhaust system. I am interested in adding a cold air intake system to the car. Based on what I have read, I think I have it narrowed down to the Callaway Cold Air Induction System or the Vararam Snake Charmer Ram Air. Is there anyone who can give me some first-hand feedback on either of these two systems? In particular, I am interested in performance (what you got versus what the manufacturer says you will get), the ease (or difficulty) of install, and whether the performance gain is worth the ~$400 cost.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

dennis50nj

I did testing within a 10 ft DA difference the Vararam gave me 5/10s and 5mph gain in the 1/4 read many off my past posts and you will find the gains, also driven in rain down pours and snow, a perfectly installed vararam has no equal

RyanC7

Vararam, and you can get them for 300 bucks on amazon or less on ebay for LS2's now.

speedman

For my LS2 I went with a LS7 Z06 air intake with the powercore filter. I had to replace the LS2 MAF to a LS3/7 MAF and a tune was required to complete the mod; I used a DiabloSport Intune and got a custom mod from Diablew. I noticed an instant jump in throttle response and power!

CMY SIX

you would have noticed that with just a good tune, my 2006 MN6 LS2 when I first got it 347 RWHP after a tune 379.9 RWHP FACT 90MM will support 1200 RWHP cold air/ram air = snake oil I gained the came with a K&N just by virtue of a less restrictive system.

gsflyer2011

Nope, it is not worth the money unless you are a serious drag racer looking to improve your times by fraction of a second. get a vitesse controler instead, that will give you lot more satisfaction (not HP) and instant gratification.

Timothy Barth

I agree with you. it is amazing the people who but these things thinking they will supercharge their car. Most of them are also vastly overpriced.

dennis50nj

Everyone is entitled to there opinion, I don't believe any of these gentleman have tested, the Vararam, I have! on 2 LS2 C6, an a6 and an a4 both are on the top of the C6 Performance LS2 Bolt/on list. and if you look at the list you will find many others with it on the top of the Performance list

Please let me see your 1/4 times before and after Timothy


Please let me see your 1/4 mile times before and after


Please let me see your before and after 1/4 times CMY SIX

You cant just make a statement without facts just to talk

gsflyer2011

I guess some did not read my response carefully as i clearly indicated 'unless you are a serious drag racer'. I am not, i like road courses and from the op, s post sounds like he is not a serious drag racer either. I have no idea what my 1/4 for that reason as i have never been on a quarter mile track, and i will probably never will. I do not care. I rather eat up curves fast and there technique will always win not brute hp or suspension. From the hundreds of posts here about intakes with times posted before and after, the gain is less than a second, for me to spend $400 on a part that gives me 1 second advantage with no measurable hp is not worth the money. And trust me i spent big bucks in my 40 years of my hot rodding days going back to carbs and points and been through all. And that is my opinion at old plum age and that is what i stated. At the end, it is your car, your money and your decision.

dennis50nj

that is some great information, but I dont get it, road racer drag racer faster is faster and 0.50 = 5 car lengths, faster FROM CAI not traction or suspension, the equates to more HPat the rear wheel that equates to faster long straights faster short straights and faster off the turn, that means faster track times lap times faster is faster and 0.50 et = 50 hp, anytime you can gain that much hp for $400.00 that is a bargain, now you can rebut if you like but please use facts or theory not just a no common sense opinion

brizzy64

General rule of thumb is that for every 1/10 of a second in the quarter mile, it's a 10 hp gain. For a gain of 1 second the hp would need to increase 100 hp.

brizzy64

Haha beat me to it.

dennis50nj

gsflyer2011

You are not getting me. I am not after car lengths or fraction of seconds. I am not racing for award or money, only for my enjoyment. My Vette in its stock form has more than i can safely tap given my old refllexes and my fudge factor of not wanting to demolish it. I am no match for it, its capabilities far exceeds my present abilities and with all due respect no one here is either, unless i see you on tv racing for corvette racing or hear your name. This place is full of egos, people who think that they now became Mario Andretti's because you have spent 400 bucks and you are now half a second faster you are the man. Bragging rights. I do not care, this is not a competition for me, just enjoying the car to the max i am capable of.

let er eat

I have the lingenfelter system...did it help, I dunno...did it hurt, not that I know of lol. I do know it accepts cold air from the front of the car lol

dennis50nj

this is the original posters post
I think I answered his question, I dont know what you answered and I still dont know, maybe i'm to old to figure it out, what you do is called road racing, not road driving, hence the word Racing! you are racing even if its against yourself

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.

Timothy Barth

I guess if every micro second counts and you are drag racing buy one. For every day use they do nothing but increase the operating costs of your car.

RyanC7

I would assume the new vararam version has fixed those issues.

Dcasole

So I think some of you missed the OP's point and question.
He did not ask for anyone's opinion on if he should install a CAI ....he asked for real data performance data between a stock unit and a Callaway or Vararam .........

Which Dennis provided ........
I have a Vararam and before installing it I made sure the gaskets sealed well and the locking mechanisms were tight.
Now granted I should not have had to do this on a $400 air cleaner but..... I also switched over to a paper filter and I do not have any issues with how clean the air going into my motor is .


Also I do not find flipping two locks and loosening 1 clamp an big issue to check or clean my filter ...

Let the flaming begin................