2.3 MPG improvement with the King Cobra induction!

tbyrne · August 23, 2004

I installed the VaraRam King Cobra induction in my 2002 8.1 Silverado when our shipment arrived last week. This is the non-ram air version (full kit isn't available yet). I put about 40 miles on the truck and then layed into it a few times to see what the "butt meter" had to say. Throttle response seemed better than the other aftermarket system that I was using. It also felt like it pulled better through the RPM range. I then filled up and put 131 miles on the truck before filling up. It took 11.93 gallons which gave me 10.9 MPG. I then went 176 miles before filling up again. It took 16.6 gallons so I had 10.6 MPG on that tank (10.75 average). This is a big increase over what I was seeing with the other system. The 3 tanks before this test gave me an average of 8.4 MPH. I pretty much maintain the same driving style and stay in the same area all the time so I usually know what kind of mileage I will see (varies by .30-.40). The only time that I used to see over 10 MPG was doing all highway driving so there was a very noticeable difference in fuel economy with this system. It picked up by 2.35 MPG.

I've calibrated my speed with a GPS after doing a gear swap a few months ago so it's on the money. It looks like this system will be saving me some money at the pumps! My Suburban will be getting one in a few days and both trucks will have the ram air portion of this kit when it's released (hopefully that will be very soon). I'll be keeping track of the mileage for both of these trucks to see how it is down the road.

Test truck info - 2002 Silverado HD with 37" tires, 4.56 gears, Allison transmission, VaraRam induction, stock tube to the ported throttlebody, throttlebody spacer, Direct Hits ignition, TOG headers, mild Comp Cam, 1.7 roller rockers and Westers tuning.