Snorkel & Power

No.

There is some merit in the belief that on a naturally aspirated diesel, a snorkel fitted with an "air ram" (as opposed to a Donaldson-type dust pre-filter), could aid in getting a bit of extra air into the donk......but only at speeds over about 80k/h.

In a turbo'd vehicle a snorkel isn't going to improve power one little bit (IMHO).

Hi Wayne, had snorkel fitted to old hilux mainly for water crossings dust etc but was hoping it would improve it a bit in the power department as well but it did didly squat. I had the exact same power before and after. Didnt seem to go any better and fuel usage didnt change either way. So I would say if putting one on to gain extra grunt you'd be wasting your money. For water crossings, dusty conditions etc yes. The hilux was shocking for resonating through the snorkel but common with all the 2.8D some thing to do with the air intake design. Wife hated the noise all the time (mounted her side) even with the metal plate safari included in the kit to shut it up,with out it couldnt hear yourself talk. I'm hoping prado when I get snorkel fitted will not be intrusive into the cabin. ?? Regards Steve M

To put this into perspective, the air pressure around us is 14.7 psi at sea level. Typical turbos boost this to around 6 to 12 psi above this (ie 20.7 to 26.7 psi absolute). This amount of boost is easily noticed by the driver.

The pressure created by ram air at the snorkel is so small it would be unmeasurable on a boost gauge. For arguements sake lets say the ram air effect at the snorkel is 0.1 psi (I think it would be far less than this) at 100km/h. I believe there is no noticable improvement.

Something that could make a difference is if the snorkel draws significantly cooler air up high than what is available in the engine bay (if the vehicle draws it's air from there). Most modern vehicles draw the intake air from the inner guard or from behind the grill.

Topend.

I recently bought a non turbo 100 series 74000ks, I drove it from Darwin to Jabiru 250kms at 140 kph top speed.

When I got home I put a safari snorkel on with ram then I had to go back to Darwin and back I sat on 140 kph top speed.

I think that answers your question.

Cheers Steve.

Hows it going Wayne

When I installed mine I found all my intake air was being sucked through a crusty bit of foam over the inlet in the inner guard , you would think removing this obstruction would have to do somthing .

Glenn

I have tested the effects of a snorkel by using a Minihelic gauge to measure pressure drop before the filter compared to atmosphere on a 92 Range Rover with 3.9 V8. The snorkel is a fibreglass custom snorkel with a ARB? type top scoop pointed forwards.
At 100Kmh , there was a pressure RISE of about 0.5 inches of water, ie barely measurable.
At full throttle second gear up a hill there was a pressure drop of about 3 inches of water. ie very low.
FYI total drop even after the standard paper filter of the Range Rover was 10.5 inches of water which is very low. So much for after market filters.
Regards Philip A