Borne Off-Road Snorkel R&D Thread

[Mishimoto]

Any updates?

Not quite, but we're getting close! We're having another sample produced currently since we made some adjustments to our design, so I'll have something for you once that arrives!

How come everyone is cutting fenders instead of chopping a $100 plastic cowl trim piece to route it out of the hood

Great question, especially since we also prefer not to go through the fender if we can help it.

So our routing choice really boils down to balancing performance with the path of least resistance. We did initially investigate routing through the cowl, but we'd have to route around a few critical engine components. Once we get to the bulkhead, we're faced with shrinking the snorkel size to squeeze between the hood and firewall or making cuts into the bulkhead for better flow, or both, which introduced plenty of other variables into the design, like leaks as @da_jokker noted. Now, we don't expect to increase the Bronco's intake performance with the snorkel, but we're aiming to avoid restricting the airflow at any cost.

Running the snorkel through the fender gave us more freedom with our design process to engineer our snorkel to promote the best flow to the airbox while still minimizing what we need to cut. We're going to also include detailed instructions for when you need to slice into the sheet metal along with a stencil

Let me know if you have any other questions!

-Nick

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[Bigguyry2000]

Not quite, but we're getting close! We're having another sample produced currently since we made some adjustments to our design, so I'll have something for you once that arrives!



Great question, especially since we also prefer not to go through the fender if we can help it.

So our routing choice really boils down to balancing performance with the path of least resistance. We did initially investigate routing through the cowl, but we'd have to route around a few critical engine components. Once we get to the bulkhead, we're faced with shrinking the snorkel size to squeeze between the hood and firewall or making cuts into the bulkhead for better flow, or both, which introduced plenty of other variables into the design, like leaks as @da_jokker noted. Now, we don't expect to increase the Bronco's intake performance with the snorkel, but we're aiming to avoid restricting the airflow at any cost.

Running the snorkel through the fender gave us more freedom with our design process to engineer our snorkel to promote the best flow to the airbox while still minimizing what we need to cut. We're going to also include detailed instructions for when you need to slice into the sheet metal along with a stencil

Let me know if you have any other questions!

-Nick

Yea I understand all that, but looking at the intake tube leading into the airbox, it's not very big. A flat bellow type connection could accommodate the required flow area. The packaging you're referring to is probably why the everglades is a 4 cylinder only setup. Snorkel mounting is much easier with that much room under the hood.

 

[Bigguyry2000]

I'm not an engineer, and I haven't had a chance to actually look at Bronco that close, but usually the cowl area captures water in routed to a drain tube somewhere.

If you were to just cut a hole in it, you'd be creating a leak... Not to mention you can't cut down usually because that's inside the cab.

There is a couple small drains in the wiper pockets, but for the most part it seems pretty open in there. Nothing much in the way. It looks like it's mostly a cover to hide wires and windshield washer lines.

 

[Mishimoto]

Yea I understand all that, but looking at the intake tube leading into the airbox, it's not very big. A flat bellow type connection could accommodate the required flow area. The packaging you're referring to is probably why the everglades is a 4 cylinder only setup. Snorkel mounting is much easier with that much room under the hood.

Those are actually great points!

So, going back to the flow aspects, our engineer wanted to make sure that the cross-sectional area of our design never dips below the OEM air inlet on the air box, which makes sure that our snorkel isn't diminishing performance. We also wanted to ensure that our design wasn't exclusive to a specific engine option too, like the Everglades kit.

It's not a bad idea, though! We actually looked at going this route at first, since we're always looking to reduce the amount of cutting needed, but opted for going through the fender to reduce the design's complexity. Basically, we went this route to keep the design simple to keep it affordable for you guys and ensure that it would fit both engine options without adding too much of a flow restriction on the system.

-Nick

 

[Bigguyry2000]

Those are actually great points!

So, going back to the flow aspects, our engineer wanted to make sure that the cross-sectional area of our design never dips below the OEM air inlet on the air box, which makes sure that our snorkel isn't diminishing performance. We also wanted to ensure that our design wasn't exclusive to a specific engine option too, like the Everglades kit.

It's not a bad idea, though! We actually looked at going this route at first, since we're always looking to reduce the amount of cutting needed, but opted for going through the fender to reduce the design's complexity. Basically, we went this route to keep the design simple to keep it affordable for you guys and ensure that it would fit both engine options without adding too much of a flow restriction on the system.

-Nick

Yea fitting what I described in a 2.7 is a total no go.

I'll still be following this thread as I'm considering a snorkel still to finish off my build. Is the inlet reverse able? I'm in really dry, dusty conditions and I'd really like an option to reverse the inlet so it doesn't get force-fed dirt, and an option for a pre-filter without me having to further modify something. Even if the filter isn't included, it would be nice if I can just order a sheet of filter from UNI and then cut my own to fit easily in a bracket or something.

 

[Mishimoto]

Yea fitting what I described in a 2.7 is a total no go.

I'll still be following this thread as I'm considering a snorkel still to finish off my build. Is the inlet reverse able? I'm in really dry, dusty conditions and I'd really like an option to reverse the inlet so it doesn't get force-fed dirt, and an option for a pre-filter without me having to further modify something. Even if the filter isn't included, it would be nice if I can just order a sheet of filter from UNI and then cut my own to fit easily in a bracket or something.

Yep! The snorkel head is a separate piece that can be rotated in any direction that you need! We also kept this top opening a standard size so that it's compatible with different heads and pre-filters as well

-Nick

 

[killaz05]

Any new updates on this? I am hoping it is getting close!

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