Cold air intake with stock exhaust?

[ToeCutter21]

I like the quiet ride and spend a lot of time on the highway. I'd like a bit of roar when I put my foot down but from what I read it seems to be an all (drone) or nothing proposition - so I'm inclined to stay with stock exhaust for the time being.

If I get a cold air intake on my VF Redline (MY15 series 1) - is it ok to keep the standard exhaust?

Can the VFII bimodal exhaust be retrofitted to the series 1?

 

[daves8]

Yes a bi modal can be fitted, not sure about genuine, but def aftermarket that is controlled by vacuum or solenoid.

If you fit a system, nearly everything will drone if AFM is still enabled.

I have marriage saver J pipes that sound good (well ok generally) with a stock system and when AFM kicks in it sounds like crap.

 

[Sawndz]

I had a vcm otr with standard exhaust and while it had a nice sound at wide open throttle it could of been a v6 at any other time. I just had a difillipo 2.5 inch catback and ls3 headers fitted and it's now one of the best systems I have heard with no drone at all. Mine is auto too.

 

[mpower]

With drone, it would only hit you at certain RPM - I have 2.5" and most of the time at regular speeds (60, 80, 100) you can hear the car but it's definitely not a drone, there's a note but not a drone. It's usually the odd in between speed that you get a drone.

 

[ToeCutter21]

Do any of these mods (i.e. CAI) affect warranty?

 

[mpower]

Do any of these mods (i.e. CAI) affect warranty?

don't take anyone's word for that, email someone at Holden and get it in writing.

If your CAI failed and sucked something into the engine - yeah that'd void it for sure. You are changing the vehicle and you need to be careful.

 

[bigjim92]

If an aftermarket part can be linked to the potential cause of an issue, then yes, the dealer can deny the warranty claim.
As said, say you have a CAI fitted, and for whatever reason the motor lets go because the aftermarket filter hasn't done its job, then there's a very high chance the dealer will knock the warranty claim.
But say you drop a lifter, well a CAI won't cause that.
But I don't think any dealer or Holden will put in writing that your mods are all covered by the warranty.

 

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

If the aftermarket part is as good or better than the genuine equivalent, warranty can't be denied. Only the use of inferior parts or performance specific parts can affect warranty, even then it's a fine line.

 

[Davison]

If the failure of any part of the vehicle is attributed to a modification made to the vehicle without Holden's consent, the Holden warranty does not apply. Thus it's not specifically about the quality of the aftermarket item, rather whether it causes the failure. This is enforceable by law (Australian consumer guarantees). If you experienced some sort of engine failure, Holden would need to prove that an aftermarket air cleaner setup caused the failure. So intakes are a very safe modification as far as warranty is concerned. Note however that certain OTR style intakes do not work effectively on the vehicles without retuning the PCM. The amount of air rammed into the throttle body at speed can trigger a lean warning (which you will see in the form of an engine light) and the PCM may adjust for this by running richer- which will ironically reduce performance slightly. This does not happen on all stock cars, some are fine whereas others do see lean errors. Arguably the safest intake for a factory tune is made by Roto-Fab in the US (for the Chevrolet SS version of the VF), which is boxed pod filter design replacing the factory airbox. They've tested and guarantee no engine light. However, they are obsessive about it being as effective as possible in terms of cool air (even going as far as providing an additional heat shield to sit between the engine and the airbox) and thus the intake is so well insulated that it will not provide the same aural experience as an OTR style intake.

 

[Smashfist]

So intakes are a very safe modification as far as warranty is concerned.

If I had a dollar for every car I see through my workshop with dust lining the inlet manifold thanks to a crap aftermarket air filter then I'd not have to work. Even incorrectly fitting the element back into an OTR can cause significant dust ingress.

So it comes back to cause of failure, not the quality of the parts fitted. If an engine came in lacking power and it was down on compression with a dusty inlet manifold, no warranty on that one.