I was happy with my K&N (i got it on sale for $180), havent had any dealings with the vararam though...

 

I put up the 270 for the gen 2 k&n. Save that money for real mods that actually make power . tune, stall , shift kit, nos, heck even an exhaust sounds good. My .02

 

I have a setup similar to the K&N. If you tune for it, you can see real world results. I picked up 19rwhp and 15rwtq.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=223878

 

Did you have a tune before the filter swap?

 

Yes, it was dyno tuned before the swap then done again after the swap. That makes the overall cost of the mod, quite a bit more than just adding the intake system if you consider price of tune and intake. If you are not going to tune for it, I don't know what gains (if any) you would see.

 

I have the gen II FIPK and am very pleased with it.....seems to be fairly well constructed and durable. gotta love the sound too.

 

Whats a upd and whats it do?

 

it just changes the lid on your stock box to make the airflow smoother. i like it because its a true cold air intake. my open element would get heat in there even with the heat shield sealing against the hood. everyone seems to agree that the factory box can flow plenty air, and that the cooler the air that you take in the better.

alot of people have problems with the clear and carbon fiber kits cracking but i havent seen many complaints from the black one. do a search, theres tons of info in these forums.

ultimatepd.com is the site.

 

I've got the K & N Generation II FIPK on my truck. I've got the black plastic tube on mine. Had it for quite some time. I've been happy with it. I don't know how much power it'll pick you up, but when it's nice and clean you can deffinately hear it sucking some air when you give it some throttle. I know it helped.

A buddy of mine has the VaraRam kit with the ram-air. It seem okay, but I doubt he'd spend the money for it again. He had the same K & N that I had. Although nothing is wrong with the VaraRam in my opinion, I doubt you'll see much of a gain , if any over the K&N.

Just my experiences with the two.

 

I've got the VaraRam and had the K&N. My expert opinions says to stick with the stock air box with a K&N drop in filter. You will get all the gains you will ever get from an air filter with that setup.