# Vararam tune? Fast intake?



## poof1887 (Sep 21, 2010)

So I am dead sent on getting a Vararam OTRCAI, and not I am just wondering if anyones knows if this truly is a plug and play system, or am I going to need to get a tune to properly utelize this CAI? I know in the installation manual it says that the car will probably throw a CEL but after about 100 miles the MAF should be come accustomed to the different flow and the CEL should go away....

What is the story with these Fast Intakes I keep reading a lot of people have. Correct me if I am wrong, but our LS2s have a 92mm intake on them already, so are the Fast Intakes just 96mm? Is anyone really seeing a substancial power gain from the swap?


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## jpalamar (Jul 22, 2008)

Pull the battery after the CAI install and the car will relearn things. Shouldn't get a CEL doing this.

Fast gains power because it flows much better. The opening on the intake doesn't really need to be any bigger. Do some research on the stock LS2 intake mani and you will find that the LS2 intake mani design is crap from the factory but getting it ported nets you about 15HP. Not just peak, but through the whole power band has a good gain. It is all about finding the right size and flow at the same time. Too much of either is a bad thing.


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

LS2 TB is 90mm


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## poof1887 (Sep 21, 2010)

How would one go about deciding what intake manifold would work best with the tunes done to a car?


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## Poncho Dan (Jun 30, 2009)

Technically you need a tune when you change anything. There is no such thing as a "learn" feature.


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## FIRELIFE25 (Aug 4, 2010)

poof1887 said:


> How would one go about deciding what intake manifold would work best with the tunes done to a car?


you can't you need to be tuned with any new mod you put on....


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## AlanSr (Jan 4, 2008)

When I added mine it didn't throw a CEL. I did use the predator hand held tuner to dial my fuel in again.

When you install it just make sure that your hood doesn't sit on it because you can crack the front rubber piece if it does.
I also pulled my baffels out and it now breathes out of the notrils and over the raditor.

I felt a difference over my 4" AEM that i had on there before. It does seem to pull harder.....


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## EN3DVED (Oct 14, 2010)

One other item to consider when installing it is where the MAF is located in relation to the blade. I had major issues with mine because my throttle body was shutting so hard after throttle lift that it would create major turbulence and cause the MAF to get wrong readings. That was with a 92mm NW intake setup. After hours of tuning, my car had to have it relocated farther away to stabilize the readings. Loss in HP but smoother drive characteristics.


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## Hi Speed (Oct 27, 2004)

I put an stock LS7 TB on mine and it made a noticeable difference....These are polished out of the factory....


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

Poncho Dan said:


> Technically you need a tune when you change anything. There is no such thing as a "learn" feature.


Really? I know with my Snap-On Modus on some cars I can reset fuel adaptives (I think that's what it's called) and the car relearns the fuel curves. It's been helpful when the cars been running for a long time with an issue and then you correct it, like a large vacuum/intake leak or that's been driven with mechanical issues for a long time like with a blown head gasket or replacing an engine that's driven beyond repair.


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## jpalamar (Jul 22, 2008)

Rukee said:


> Really? I know with my Snap-On Modus on some cars I can reset fuel adaptives (I think that's what it's called) and the car relearns the fuel curves. It's been helpful when the cars been running for a long time with an issue and then you correct it, like a large vacuum/intake leak or that's been driven with mechanical issues for a long time like with a blown head gasket or replacing an engine that's driven beyond repair.


Think of tuning the car as setting a destination(your tune). The fuel adaptives are like your way to get to the destination. You can go off course(vaccume leak, ect) and get back on(by pulling the battery and fixing the vaccume leak, ect) but you can still only get to the origional destination(your tune).


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

Poncho Dan said:


> Technically you need a tune when you change anything. There is no such thing as a "learn" feature.


Ehh, not so shure about that one. Major parts yeah, but "C"AI, cat-back, ect. not so much. I know many occasions where someone had chaged out their "C"AI thew a CEL once the car/truck ran for some time it cleared. I _think_ the ECM can adapt to small changes.


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## jpalamar (Jul 22, 2008)

GM4life said:


> Ehh, not so shure about that one. Major parts yeah, but "C"AI, cat-back, ect. not so much. I know many occasions where someone had chaged out their "C"AI thew a CEL once the car/truck ran for some time it cleared. I _think_ the ECM can adapt to small changes.


Without re-tuning for each part, you are just using those new parts to get to the same point as before.


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## svede1212 (Nov 1, 2005)

GM4life said:


> Ehh, not so shure about that one. Major parts yeah, but "C"AI, cat-back, ect. not so much. I know many occasions where someone had chaged out their "C"AI thew a CEL once the car/truck ran for some time it cleared. I _think_ the ECM can adapt to small changes.


putzing around can be crutched by fuel trims but WOT is not affected by trims. You need to retune for optimization. That's why the factory tune is so rich


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

jpalamar said:


> Without re-tuning for each part, you are just using those new parts to get to the same point as before.





svede1212 said:


> putzing around can be crutched by fuel trims but WOT is not affected by trims. You need to retune for optimization. That's why the factory tune is so rich


I'm well aware of tuning. Your missing the point. I know people who have changed just the intake, thrown a CEL and it had reset after some driving what says that the ECM can make small adjustments. I never did say throw on a intake, headers, cam, and let the ECM figure it out. There is people out there that just do intake and thats it. I'm not going to tell them to get a high dollar tune for something so small.


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

right, a tune could cost more then the CAI.


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

...expecially those folks with home made "C"AI's with a $40 filter hanging off of it.


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## svede1212 (Nov 1, 2005)

GM4life said:


> I'm well aware of tuning. Your missing the point. I know people who have changed just the intake, thrown a CEL and it had reset after some driving what says that the ECM can make small adjustments. I never did say throw on a intake, headers, cam, and let the ECM figure it out. There is people out there that just do intake and thats it. I'm not going to tell them to get a high dollar tune for something so small.


It's the reason that if someone is going to do a series of mods they should learn to tune it themselves. It isn't that hard and you'll more than likely get a better tune.


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

svede1212 said:


> It's the reason that if someone is going to do a series of mods they should learn to tune it themselves. It isn't that hard and you'll more than likely get a better tune.


Thats why I picked up HPTuners, so I can be like you.


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## poof1887 (Sep 21, 2010)

And I have every intention of getting a tuner for my car, I was just wondering if I need to get the tuner before or after I get the CAI as I will have to buy them at seperate times because I dont happen to have the $275 for the CAI plus the $300-$500 for the tuner lying around hahaha


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## svede1212 (Nov 1, 2005)

poof1887 said:


> And I have every intention of getting a tuner for my car, I was just wondering if I need to get the tuner before or after I get the CAI as I will have to buy them at seperate times because I dont happen to have the $275 for the CAI plus the $300-$500 for the tuner lying around hahaha


A tuning package that worth the effort is in the $700-$800 range. Do do a real tuning job you need the tuning suite and a wideband O2 sensor and controller. It was the second thing after I got my shifter. It has easily paid for itself over the years


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## poof1887 (Sep 21, 2010)

How difficult was it to learn to tune the car appropriately. I don't have any experience with tuning, but I am going to get one lol


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## Poncho Dan (Jun 30, 2009)

svede1212 said:


> putzing around can be crutched by fuel trims but WOT is not affected by trims. You need to retune for optimization. That's why the factory tune is so rich





GM4life said:


> Ehh, not so shure about that one. Major parts yeah, but "C"AI, cat-back, ect. not so much. I know many occasions where someone had chaged out their "C"AI thew a CEL once the car/truck ran for some time it cleared. I _think_ the ECM can adapt to small changes.


I believe LTFTs can accomodate for very small adjustments in closed loop, but the percentage difference is then applied to WOT/open loop commanded PE fueling. If I remember correctly... maybe its STFTs and not LTFTs.  I'm sure I'll get the low-down on both once I enter the Engine Performance course.


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

Poncho Dan said:


> I believe LTFTs can accomodate for very small adjustments in closed loop, but the percentage difference is then applied to WOT/open loop commanded PE fueling. If I remember correctly... maybe its STFTs and not LTFTs.  I'm sure I'll get the low-down on both once I enter the Engine Performance course.


Ohh ok. I remembered this happend to a guys diesel too.


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## poof1887 (Sep 21, 2010)

So how does one go about deciding which fast intake would work best with the mods on their car?


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## svede1212 (Nov 1, 2005)

poof1887 said:


> So how does one go about deciding which fast intake would work best with the mods on their car?


The only difference I know of is the size of the TB. If you are running the stock LS2 MAF it's 85mm and putting a bigger TB after that doesn't do anything so the "regular" 96mm would be good enough. If you have a 100m MAF then the 102mm would be better


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## Poncho Dan (Jun 30, 2009)

I would say go big or go home on an intake/tb setup... 102mm should work fine (read: driveability) on a stock setup either with the 100mm MAF or SD/MAFless with a tune, plus it will support *any* future mods with the exception of a roots supercharger.


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## bseidle05goat (Nov 29, 2010)

which is the best cold air intake for the ram air 05 M6 gto ls2 i just got mine 3 days ago and want to get the best cold air intake possible but noticed theres not alot that take advantage of the ram air hood function. What brand should i look for and where should i buy my gto accessories does anyone have a site they recommend that is reliable?


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## jpalamar (Jul 22, 2008)

I wish I could remember where I read this, but I saw dynos on another forum on the different sized FAST intakes/TB and there was virtually no gains between the bigger openings when dyno'd back to back.

I'm sure very heavily modded or bigger cubes would make a differnce, but for most it really won't.


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## bseidle05goat (Nov 29, 2010)

jpalamar said:


> I wish I could remember where I read this, but I saw dynos on another forum on the different sized FAST intakes/TB and there was virtually no gains between the bigger openings when dyno'd back to back.
> 
> I'm sure very heavily modded or bigger cubes would make a differnce, but for most it really won't.


so does this mean it doesnt matter weather i get a cold air intake that is covered or if i get one that sits where the air enters from the hood? Ive always been told by friends with camaro ss's/trans am ws6's that you want to take full advantage of the ram air hood cuz it can help alot! please someone HELP!:willy:


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## 87GN06GTO07IRL (Aug 10, 2009)

New gto's do not have ram air. They have hood scoops.


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## Poncho Dan (Jun 30, 2009)

We should change the title of the DIY OTRCAI thread to "The best cold air intake" so that we stop getting these n00b questions every day.


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