Air intake system
- Thread starter Tim C.
- Start date
The jury is out on how much they help. A ram air CAI certainly has more potential ... Let us know what you get and how it works.
They don't help much, probably single digit HP numbers if that, and you really need other bolt on mods to take advantage. The Vararam CAI is arguably one of the best, but involved cutting the rad shroud, which isn't hard, but you have to be prepared to do that. Stock or near stock, any non CAI intakes are probably going to be a net loss because of heat soak. If you're going for gains, it's probably a waste of money if you aren't doing other mods like heads and intake manifold, and if you're looking for aesthetics, then decide of no gains or even a small loss from a non CAI intake are worth it.
Agreed. Mine is on purely for astetics. I simply like the way it looks. Never expected any gains despite the factory claim of 9 hp.
“No tune required” should be a clear indication to expect nothing.
Wow...seems expensive for estetics ...Agreed. Mine is on purely for astetics. I simply like the way it looks. Never expected any gains despite the factory claim of 9 hp.
“No tune required” should be a clear indication to expect nothing.
We each decide what our personal experience is worth I suppose. I find it will be difficult to enjoy the things I work for after one is dead and gone. I prefer to do it now.
Enjoy my friend...We each decide what our personal experience is worth I suppose. I find it will be difficult to enjoy the things I work for after one is dead and gone. I prefer to do it now.
Yes. The shroud has to be cut out. You might even be able to buy a shroud already cut for the snake charmer, I know there is a lingenfelter precut shroud available. Regardless. If you ever wanted to take it back to stock, a new replacement shroud was about $ 100.00 or so when I had my C6.
A few years ago, I picked up a Vararam intake from a fellow going supercharged. You would have to do a before and after run on a drag strip to see the difference. They claimed big numbers. The car runs fine. The guy at the Corvette specialty shop told me to drive easy for the first couple of hundred miles to give the computer time to learn the new air flow characteristics. Never a problem computer wise and the car has passed emissions tests just fine as well. I was OK with $125 but certainly wouldn't go out and pay what they want for a new one. Lately, I saw a figure of $648. That money could buy me something that I want more. I was talking to a guy lately who is into all these little gadgets and takes great pride in adding their advertised gains to the factory hp ratings for some sort of bragging rights. I've been into musclecars since the 1960s and have yet to see an add on that made any big difference and that includes headers. Blowers and turbos are a different story. You want real horsepower gains, then that is the way to go.
Also recently purchased 2008 c6 coupe. After a lot of reviews I found a good price on the Vararam Super Snake kit. Installed it last weekend. Was a big job and instruction are not the best. But my first drive after install was great. I have installed many CAI on other cars but did not get the results the Super snake did and it has not had the 100 miles they say for relearning of the ECM. Paid $400.00 for it.
I installed the Snake Charmer on my LS2. It came with the pre cut shroud, and the install was fairly easy. I have kept the original shroud in case I want to remove and resell the Snake Charmer.
The good thing about the Snake Charmer is that it is Ram air, and works better and better the faster you go.
The good thing about the Snake Charmer is that it is Ram air, and works better and better the faster you go.
Well said, at $125 it's quite reasonable but at $648 that's a bit crazy for what you get, maybe 10hp at high speed. The LS does leave some power on the table with bolt ons, maybe a little more than some other factory motors, as there are some small gains to be made from headers, heads, intake, tune, but there's a lot of bragging rights, exaggerated or even snake oil marketing from suppliers, and people who don't understand how to discern the difference. It's hard to blame the suppliers since people want to change stuff on their cars, there aren't big gains to be made without going all out, so just like battery specs and amplifier specs, the numbers get a little tweaked a bit to drive sales.
Adding adverised gains to the factory hp ratings reminds me of fuel savings devices, and if you add enough of them up and start saving over 100% you have to pull over so the tank doesn't overflow.
After operating my auto accessory business from 1992 until 2006, I went through the performance chip, throttle spacers, K&N filter& exhaust. So customers would get excited when you told them what gains in HP they would get from the different items. But when you told them that after one item they could add more but could expect maximum HP from each item they found it hard to believe. So when I say that there was again in HP with the Vararam Super Snake I believe that there was a gain.Well said, at $125 it's quite reasonable but at $648 that's a bit crazy for what you get, maybe 10hp at high speed. The LS does leave some power on the table with bolt ons, maybe a little more than some other factory motors, as there are some small gains to be made from headers, heads, intake, tune, but there's a lot of bragging rights, exaggerated or even snake oil marketing from suppliers, and people who don't understand how to discern the difference. It's hard to blame the suppliers since people want to change stuff on their cars, there aren't big gains to be made without going all out, so just like battery specs and amplifier specs, the numbers get a little tweaked a bit to drive sales.
Adding adverised gains to the factory hp ratings reminds me of fuel savings devices, and if you add enough of them up and start saving over 100% you have to pull over so the tank doesn't overflow.
