Re: <E36> Snorkel Intake May not Work

[Boltonite@xxxxxxx]

Brian Kennedy wrote:

 > Clint Huff wrote:

 >> If you have the snorkel intake on your E36 M3, you may want to determine
 >> if its working like you think.  I've found that the air flowing through
the
 >> brake duct actually creates a vacuum in the snorkel, rather than providing
 >> air to the air box.  The snorkel is sucking air out of the air box, rather
 >> than providing additional air.  (snip)

>Question:  why not steal a little air flow from the center grill and direct
it
>around the radiator?  That would seem to provide much better airflow, much
better
">ram" effect, since the flow could be a bit straighter than from the brake
duct.
>And, unlike the M3 brakes, the M3 engine is not known for overheating -- so I
>doubt a little airflow loss there will matter much.

I recently succumbed to replacing my Euro airbox with a big K&N cone,
(#1785), a 3 1/2" I.D. rubber PVC coupler (Home Depot), and a 2 1/2" piece of
3 1/2" O.D. GMC truck exhaust pipe to mate the K&N to the HFM,
and made a fanwash shield from a sheet of aluminum ducting (home depot), 
all thanks to info from Duane C &  Bob S & Jim C, and others.  (I'm also going
to try a longer piece of pipe, ~5" and have it extend INSIDE the K&N 
to see if this improves airflow to the HFM, as there just is no room to use a 
longer pipe w/ this big filter; Will Turner showed me a setup that used a
J-shaped 3 1/2" pipe that extended down into the horn-well, well away from 
the HFM and any fan wash turbulence). 

Rather than installing the snorkel, I used the intake duct that connects
the stock/euro airbox to the opening in the front grill--I cut the duct off so
that the air is directed onto filter (also, the filter would not fit with this
duct 
installed unless I did so)

I will be dyno testing various intake configs (longer pipe to HFM, more
shielding, more/less "ram" air) to see what if any performance impact
this has--from what I gather, there is a goal of providing lots of cool, 
non-turbulent air to the HFM/engine. . it may be that a vacuum from 
the snorkel may IMPROVE air flowing from the grill to the K&N ;^)

Fred Ferguson 95M3
Boston BMWCCA






Brian

------------------------------