Vararam Parts

[SpaceFrank]

My G8 had a Vararam intake installed when I bought it, but it has always been a little janky. My guess is the previous owner either lost/broke some parts, or acquired it secondhand with some parts missing. I called Vararam about buying replacement parts, but like some other reports I've seen on this forum, they told me they don't sell anything "piecemeal." (I spoke with Steve, FYI.) So unless I want to buy a whole new unit (or deal with the bigger hassle of converting to a Rotofab), I've got to get this repaired on my own. There are three main issues with my setup. The parts in question are circled in the below image from Vararam's instruction manual.

Vararam Pieces Needed.png

1. The PCV line is plugged into the 4" ID orange hose with an ABS elbow fitting, not the straight brass barb fitting shown in the Vararam manual. It's loose enough where it goes into the large hose that it's probably leaking air, and since this is after the MAF, I'd guess it's contributing to the occasional issues my car has maintaining idle. From this other image, it looks like it's supposed to be a regular double-ended brass hose barb, like you'd use for a fuel hose repair or the like. Can anyone confirm this? If so, I can pick up one of those anywhere. If the hole in the large orange hose is wallowed out, I may need to think about going up a size, using sealant, or replacing the big orange hose itself, but I'll tackle that when I get there.

Vararam Hose Barb.png

2. The shorter orange spacer hose, which the Vararam instruction manual identifies as 1" long and 3.5" ID (presumably 4" OD so it fits inside the longer hose), is missing completely. Instead, the PO used a thin piece of black rubber sheet wrapped around the tail of the MAF housing. I'm not sure how badly this actually seals, but again any leaks here are aft of the MAF and bound to cause problems. Any ideas where I can find a replacement short hose with these dimensions?

3. I'm guessing this intake is pretty old, so the rubber spacers on the clamps that hold the filter housing together are cracked and soft, bad enough that one of the clamps won't stay closed. This isn't really a big deal since the Vararam setup holds itself together by being more or less jammed in place; anyone who has one of these knows the air filter isn't going to just fall out, lol. It's just a cosmetic issue with one of the clamps always dangling and the other one being pretty loose. I seriously doubt this is an easily found, off-the-shelf part, so I may have to find some ~1/4" thick rubber and cut out my own replacements, unless anyone here has other suggestions.

All suggestions are welcome. Alternatively, if you have any of these parts laying around in half-decent condition, shoot me a PM. Or if you happen to know how to convince Vararam to sell me these bits, that works too. I've read up on how helpful they were with replacing the early collapsed housings, so it surprises me that they're so obstinate about replacement parts. I'm confident I can kludge this together better than it is right now, but I'd shell out some bucks if it meant skipping the hassle and legwork.

[cstmg8]

1. I'd go to Lowes and get a threaded piece that has a nut on the outside (so it doesn't fall into the throttle body someday). Essentially a barbed bulkhead.
2. Advance Auto will have this piece in the spectre intake section. Maybe number one as well.
3. Go look through Lowes or HD hardware drawers, there are lots of rubber "spacer variations.

Hope this helps.

[cstmg8]

Something like this:

http://www.horizenhydroponics.com/bo...-2-barbed.html

[Chewy]

That two piece setup was SHIT from day one! You can buy 1 piece silicon adapters to go from the TB to the vararam which will #1 look 100 times better and #2 make it easier to remove and install. When I had mine on my previous GT I had a company custom make a bunch of them and he sold them here.


https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/sh...hare_link_copy

[Leon McJones]

+1 replace the hose with a black or color matched silicone reducing coupler.

I have a 90 degree metal barb piece for the pcv to help with hose routing. Personal preference is a metal piece over a plastic piece on this part. IMG_0293.JPG

[TooManyHobbies]

Listen to what they said, plus you get rid of the ugly red hose.

[TonyKarter]

And safety wire the clamps closed. Replace the inner gasket that the air filter sits on. Vararam will (or formerly would) send you enough gasketing material to redo it. Might try calling until Patrick answers.

[Jay07]

I had the same problem.. I called them needing a part for my vararam and the first guy told me I just had to buy a new complete unit. I called a week later and spoke with someone else to place my order and they told me I could just get that piece I needed.

[SpaceFrank]

I took the intake apart today to verify the measurements for the silicon adapter I would have to order. Turns out the filter housing has more cracks than I remembered. I may just go ahead and convert to a Rotofab rather than spending more time and money on this setup. If anyone with a Vararam wants to get rid of the radiator mounts you removed during installation, I might be interested.

Anyway, for now I cleaned everything up (Filter and TB needed it), and put it back together with some adjustments to the half-assed rubber adapter. I think I have it leaking less than it was, at least.

[SpaceFrank]

I couldn't find a silicon hose adapter with the correct size for the back of the MAF housing (~3-5/8"), so I trimmed the previous owner's rubber sleeve material so it would fit properly and called it good. For the PCV fitting, after trying a normal 3/8" brass double barb and still being disappointed with the fit, I finally found and ordered one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004XAFICS/

I cut off the barb on the non-threaded side and carefully deburred the edges. I took the crappy Vararam hose off the car and enlarged the 3/8" hole to 1/2", which was just big enough for a tight fit on the threaded side of the fitting. I pushed the fitting in from the inside of the hose, then installed the washer and nut from the outside. No way this thing is leaking.

For the dangling clamp issue, I just bent the clamps until they both closed tightly. Still ugly, but it works. Total investment about $20, including the fitting I didn't use. This should fix any intake leaks until next year sometime when I have more money to throw at the car. (I just bought new wheels, tires, and TPMS sensors... $$$$) So far I haven't noticed any more rough idle issues, but they were always intermittent, so we'll see.