Originally Posted by
tact
No doubt if you have a snorkel fitted for deep water work (as opposed to just raised intake to avoid dust etc) then full sealing at every joint to the airbox, airbox lid, and every joint to the intake manifold is needed. (Sealed to the point where blocking the top of the snorkel will stall the engine - I suppose)
The following advice would only apply when there is no snorkel in play and pushing the documented fording limits a bit to the point that a good solid splash may hit the standard air intake on the side of the fender:
- In this case (my opinion only) its better if the several joints in the stock intake ducting are left unsealed, specially all the water drain valves.
- Then the unsealed ducting acts like a drinking straw thats got a bunch of perforations in it (i.e. fails miserably at delivering liquid when you suck on it!).
- throw a bucket of water hard at the intake duct opening, with the engine running, and I bet the water wont get sucked into the airbox at all (the several other gaps in the ducting will suck air no problem when the proper opening is dunked.
- prove it to yourself with just a piece of A4 copier paper. Run the engine. Put the A4 flat across the air intake on the fender. There is barely enough "suck" there to hold the A4 from falling to the ground. Get someone to increase engine rpm. A bit more "suck" but hardly - neither the paper nor engine seem to be fussed at all.
Compare this to what will happen where you seal or replace the stock intake ducting so well that covering the stock air intake can stall the engine - if that setup then gets a bucket of water tossed at the open intake end, that water will be gulped in with a lot of force!.