Founded in 1997, Airaid has been making high-performance application-specific cold air kits for C6 Corvettes (among a wide range of other cars and trucks) for quite a while. Until now, though, C5 owners haven’t been able to upgrade to Airaid, but that is changing for 2014.
Shown at this year’s SEMA show, the Airaid C5 intake kit is designed for 2001-2004 Corvettes, or earlier C5’s with a relocated MAF sensor, and is available with either a traditional oiled-gauze filter element, or Airaid’s Synthaflow synthetic dry media filter. Airaid says that they’ve seen increases of 15 horsepower and 24 pound-feet to the tires on a stock tune with this system, and with a rated filter flow of 1600 CFM, the system will support up to 800 horsepower.
For those looking for less weight and, let’s face it, more engine jewelry, Airaid also offers a real carbon fiber air bridge for the kit in addition to their standard roto-molded plastic version. And for C5 owners on a budget, the filter assembly is available by itself for a straight bolt-in installation to the factory MAF and air bridge.
Whatever setup you choose, the Airaid Corvette cold air system installs without any cutting, using premium quality stainless steel hardware, and of course the filter is washable and reusable.