Raised air intake

[Anderzander]

I really don't want to fit a snorkel ... but I'd like to increase my wading depth a bit.

The height a snorkel offers seems a bit moot given that the dash etc isn't waterproofed - plus vainly, I don't like the look of them.

So - do you think there is any merit in moving the intake to the wing top instead of the standard position? Seeing the snorkels that run from the wingtop on here recently got me thinking of it.

If I could fit a plate to the underside of the wingtop vent that had an angled pipe on it and then run a pipe straight to the airbox...

I could perhaps also angle the pipe and put a drain in it to remove rain water and the odd splash over..?

Any one share an opinion please? any value in it?

[landroversforever]

Warning... possible silly idea brewing....

What if you routed a snorkel through to some kind of vent panel on the hard top side?

[dirtyninety]

Warning... possible silly idea brewing....

What if you routed a snorkel through to some kind of vent panel on the hard top side?

FAIL

Now, It is quite possible to add a wing top, as most defenders have a blanked off panel on the offside wing.( a TD5 certainly does) especially as the TD5 air intake is on the offside anyhow! it wouldn't be hard to pipe up to this.

You could probably do it with standard off the shelf parts!

Have you seen the military wingtop covery things? i figured they are to stop snow entering the intake, worth a look!

CLICKY LINKY

[GBMUD]

The (practical) point of a snorkel is to raise the engine air intake above where there is, or may be, water, dust etc. An egg cup full of water in the engine air intake can wreck the engine so a snorkel can be a good prophylactic measure. Since the dash is on the inside of the car, it tends to stay dry even when wading, the snorkel then permits for water to rise/wash over the bonnet without the danger of the engine ingesting water. A little water in the dash will cause little if any problem. Moving the air intake to the wing-top position will, IMHO, create a much greater danger of getting water into it as water commonly washes over the wings and bonnet when entering even quite shallow streams or pools.

In short, if you neither need nor want a snorkel, leave it alone. Landrover made it that way for a reason.

Chris

[LandyManLuke]

Moving the air intake to the wing-top position will, IMHO, create a much greater danger of getting water into it as water commonly washes over the wings and bonnet when entering even quite shallow streams or pools.

In short, if you neither need nor want a snorkel, leave it alone. Landrover made it that way for a reason.

Spot on IMHO, the wing top would be a worse, not better, position.

[Anderzander]

Thank you!

I would like the practicalities of a snorkel - but because it would be used so infrequently and because I'm not keen on how they look, I was looking for an alternative.

[Retroanaconda]

Looking at the pictures of the D-Lander at Seven Sisters made me think about this too, this must have some sort of raised air intake, but no external snorkel is present. So does it have an internal ones that goes up into the roof or something?

[Turbocharger]

The wing-side location is actually quite clever - so long as you enter water with a reasonable (sensible) bow-wave, the water level peaks just ahead of the front wheel and can actually sit lower than "ambient" at that point just ahead of the door hinge, before it settles to an average level behind the rear edge of the doors. It can't work miracles in fast-flowing water, but it's also quite possible to swap the bonnet and both wings briefly while keeping your dash (and even your feet) dry, so a snorkel is a good investment IMHO.

[Anderzander]

Looking at the pictures of the D-Lander at Seven Sisters made me think about this too, this must have some sort of raised air intake, but no external snorkel is present. So does it have an internal ones that goes up into the roof or something?

This one?

[mickeyw]

Despite all that big splash over the bonnet, I expect the under bonnet area was relatively dry.

[Retroanaconda]

Well, that is certainly true (although I bet some came in the window ), but surely the D-Lander has a raised intake of some kind?

Would be silly to build a purpose-built off-road machine like that and then leave it with an air intake at the top of the engine bay, surely?

[LandyManLuke]

It may well come up in the boot/load area. We've just done something similar on a mate's build. It's well protected from trees etc back there.

[landroversforever]

I think the snorkel is piped from the elvis bulge. Certainly is on Mike's tomcat.

[Range Rover Blues]

Just remember that the longer the pipe and the more bends in it the more it restricts the flow of air.

In order to debunk the "ram air" theory associated with the Safari snorkel we were able to demonstrate by experiment a significant raise in air filter partial vacuum when a snorkel was connected. It's enough for example to cause a draw-through LPG system to stop working.

[mickeyw]

LPG systems are very sensitive to air flow. That said, most I know running gas with a snorkel manage well with the mushroom top type.

But back to the OP's Q -

The std Defender side-of-wing intake grill is, as TC has said, positioned nicely to be just behind the bow wave. This is good all the time forward motion is possible. As soon as progress stops, or you reverse, this all changes.

Agreed, through the top of wing grill is a bad idea.

Now think about where the V8 air intake is positioned as std in a Defender: that huge dustbin air cleaner is right at the top and rear of the engine bay, and better still, it has a deflector plate that shields it from anything coming directly at it.

Even if you were in deep water and stationary, this location is relatively unlikely to take a gulp. Let's ignore for a moment, the minor issue of std V8 electrics getting the hump before you get this deep

My current V8 uses the RRC EFI air box, but it is right at the back of the engine bay, and faces sideways, pretty much the same a 50th V8 Defender.

So, my advice for an alternative to a snorkel, especially given your infrequent need for one, is reroute the pipe work so air is drawn from a sheltered place behind the engine, as high up as possible.

Once you have gone deeper than this you'll have plenty of other things to worry about

[Range Rover Blues]

Isn;t the position of a TDi air intake (on a standard LR) as much to do with the engine's need for cool air as anything else? I ask as you cite the location of V8 air intakes as a comparison.

Another thing to consider is the areas of high pressure on the skin of the vehicle at various ponts along it's length. The base of the windscreen will see higher air pressure, which is handy for the heater. The top of the winscreen see relatively low pressure, also not good for snorkles.