How bad is it to drive without the tune for the GMPP intake?
 

Quick question, you guys think it's okay to drive for a day or two before getting the calibration for the GMPP cold air intake? I know it'll eventually throw a CEL and will run lean until you get it re-programmed, just wondering if its going to do permanent damage to drive it like ~10mi before getting it to the dealership.

Should be totally fine

That's what I figured, just wanted to check real quick.

Since we're on the topic, have you noticed any difference with and without the GM CAI?

So short answer: No, not really.

Long answer: The only noticeable difference is more snappiness in the throttle. As in, when you first hit it there's more of a "hit", but no difference after that. I have a video I could post of the sound, which obviously shows that there is more air being sucked in but it hasn't realized any "gains" yet in my opinion.

***Disclaimer - 1) This is without the programming, I'll update with that to see if there is a significant change. 2) It's running lean so it's not like I'm running up and down the street doing WOT runs.

I drove my 2016 with the CAI and never had it tuned and it improved my ETs at the drag strip by some, I don't remember. With the CAI, Vmax throttle body, Diablosport tune and DRs, I lowered my ET a full honest 4/10s second. You can see my timing sheets on the forum if you want. The car went 12.279 bone stock and after the mods it went to 11.82 or so (my goal was to get that car in the 11s). I honestly ran 1.77 second 60 foot times with stock tires one night at Memphis.

I put a GM CAI on my 2017 1le and drove it only a short distance without tune and it felt a little more urgent on acceleration but sounded great, then had it tuned and it seemed even a little more perky. I put a Vmax on that car and it really woke it up. then before I could do a full throttle run with those mods because of wet weather and only 20 miles later, my car was totaled. I am going to use all of those parts and a few more bolt ons on my new 2SS when it's delivered. If nothing more, the CAI looks cool and it clearly retains the warranty. A little logic tells you that it must do something to the fuel/air mixture or it wouldn't need a tune, but I doubt it is dangerous to run without the tune.

That's interesting, so there is some small gain even if my "butt-dyno" can't feel it. I'm hoping like you said, the re-programming will just increase the "peakiness" effect and maybe make enough of a difference that I could feel it. It's getting done tomorrow, so we'll see. I did the GM CAI for the same reasoning that you said though, looks as stock as possible and maintains the warranty; wasn't expecting some huge earth-shattering difference here.

It's a shame that your first Camaro was totaled but I wanted to ask out of curiosity, will the stuff that you listed transfer over to the SS? Could be wrong but my understanding was that the GM CAI is specific to either the LGX or LT1 engine. I'd assume the same for the Diablo tune and V-Max TB (Obv the DRs would be fine though).

Everything I bought can be used on any SS 16 through 19 as far as I know. I only know that the GM Camaro CAI will fit the Camaro SS cars. That's a really good thing since I have a lot of stuff to install...I love doing that. The Diablosport tuner is good for any GM car they support and that's not every GM car. They have a database on their site that tells you. The tuner can only be married to one car unless you buy a second license. I've used this one I have on two totally different GM vehicles and it works well. You can definitely feel the difference.

Yeah, the Diablosport tune is definitely something I'm going to be considering as soon as the warranty is up. Surprised to hear that the CAI can be reused, that's awesome.

While you technically can use the intake without a tune, I wouldn't recommend it. A friend of mine was getting tuned at a shop and he had the GMPP intake without the flash and they could not get a reading on the dyne because the car was running so poorly due to the air ratios being out of wack. So if you get it, get some type of tune so air would be all balanced out properly

Yeah, it's getting tuned I just have to drive it to the shop without the tune on it and was worried about driving it like that.

Low post count here, but have tuned more than a few cars. You do not need a tune with a CAI. There is a small gain in airflow that the MAF will take of. If the intake is a bad design and the airflow is turbulent the MAF reading may be off some. That is why they has fuel trims and O2 sensors. Your narrow band O2 will keep the air/flow ratio on target, that is what they are for. The MAF, MAP and O2 sensors will adjust fuel flow alot more than a CAI will add air flow. Feel free to get a tune, a good turner can add alot to how the car runs. PLEASE stop telling people they need a tune with a CAI.

Ah unfortunately that's just not true with the GMPP intake and the Camaros. It's not so much a tune as a recalibration to let the engine know the MAF sensor isn't messed up and is actually still reading correctly, otherwise it immediately assumes something's screwy or there's a leak. Other cars would be less stringent and more accepting of those changes. Not the Camaro.

You're right about the turbulent thing though, that is what immediately causes the CEL with this intake, like I have right now. This is due to this intake being a bit different than others as the MAF sensor is put right behind the cone filter without any air straighteners. With the turbulence being a lot worse and how strict the CEL system is, I'd say it does require a tune. Unless, that is, you worked on this intake specifically and somehow figured out how to not tune it and gotten rid of the CEL and the lean fuel trim. I mean, hell it ships with a sheet of Authorization, RPO, and VIC codes telling you to get it reprogrammed after installation. Why would they do that if it's "not needed"? Companies want to save as much money as possible, they wouldn't bother if it wasn't needed.

So yeah, technically it'll run (which if that's what you mean by "you don't need the tune" then yeah, OK), but with the CEL and lean banks A/F ratio (I can show you on my BlueDriver scanner) I want the reprogramming to tell it to adjust to the new airflow rather than flipping out about with CELs and crappy lean fuel trims.

i spoke with a guy from gm at pri about the gmpp cai. he said they saw negligible gains with the setup but the gmpp intake is capable of pulling more air than stock. i think how much of that air could be used on an otherwise stock setup is what’s in question. with other mods i see it falling in line with the other cai systems.

he was very honest about the gmpp stuff and seeings i have a 1LE he wasn’t shy in telling me i didn’t need the strut tower bar or anything else really unless i was trying to cosmetically improve it. he said he drove their swapped gbody monte on the power tour, which is cool. going on my 7th one this year, first with the 1LE.