It’s hot, it’s dusty and it’s dry – so why should you consider fitting a raised air intake?
1. Cleaner Air
Primarily, raised air intakes help get cleaner air into the filter.
Normal engine air intakes are situated near the front wheel arches. In dusty environments, like dry unsealed roads and sand the air filter can get clogged up easily and possibly damaged.
2. Water Crossing
The secondary benefit of a raise air intake is that it can allow a deeper wading depth than standard.
I don’t particularly like the word snorkel. Visions of tropical fish and coral reefs come to mind. A vehicle cannot do this.
They can go fairly deep but that depends on surface and current flow. Flotation/ buoyancy coupled with a fast flowing river…
- If a vehicle is taken through water above the recommended wading depth then all sort of things need to be checked for water contamination.
- Prep work has to be done to try and eliminate the damaging effects of water getting into bell housings, timing belts, electrics, breaking fans that smash radiators.
- Also the raised air intake will have to be checked for water tightness, damage etc.
If water does enter into the engine through the intake system then it’s generally good bye engine.
Inspection
If you do fit a raised air intake to your vehicle, make sure to regularly inspect /maintain the hoses from the intake to the filter, and likewise from the filter to the intake manifold. And of course that the main components are intact!
