Do you think the design should be a solid piece which would be near impossible to clean. Or should it be seperated with a gasket to make it easy to disassemble and clean?

 

Well think. If you make it two pieces it'll ship smaller too right? I'm fine with a down spout solid piece, some kind of flex elbow and then the piece that runs behind the fender. Is that what you're alluding to? When you get your final design nailed will you do any kind of cfm flow measuring? Stock vs what the snorkel does. To know of you lose/gain breathability.
I can't imagine you wouldn't gain with a front facing ram air application.

 

Of course, my brother builds open wheeled modifieds and has a sweet shop for testing. We have already talked about a few designs for max air flow. However there are a few nice little secrets which by-pass the smooth interior design concept that increases efficiency. I'm traveling from Oklahoma to North Carolina on Sunday for a few weeks to complete this project. Can't wait. One big factor with the black snorkels on the exterior of the vehicle would be the fact that it increases the in-going air temperature from the sun. Especially on hot days. Keeping the air cool and effortlessly flowing is my concern. The colored snorkels can help, but the interior design can be made to inhibit the exterior heat from penetrating the air cavity. Many things to think about. After researching the snorkels on the market today. I can say that yeah those are truly just hot air straws. Not much design or creativity. More suggestions please.

 

I would like mine to articulate like a snufulupugus trunk so I could pick things up with it and I could reward it for a job well done with peanuts. Too much?
What kind of pre cleaners are you going to offer? Your own design? After market? What are your plans for the diy kit? Just a template and a "good luck" before we cut our fenders?

 

I think its great that you're pursuing this. The only snorkels I know of currently on the market now are Mantec and Safari. I REALLY like the Mantec. Everything about it looks good. The top, the nice straight pipe running up the A pillar, and the really nice part is how it runs behind the fender. Very clean. The only thing I don't like is the price tag.
If you could duplicate the Mantec for half the price you'd sell the snot out of them.
I would want matte black and I think you'll find most people would want that as well. Color matching wouldn't go over to big I think because the snorkel would still run up the Black A pillar. So the snorkel might match the body paint, but would contrast against the pillar.

Something else you may want to look into is a short snorkel. I have no idea what the aerodynamic properties yada yada yada may be, but here's the idea.
People get snorkels for 3 reasons:
1) To look cool. This can be thrown out immediately, IMO.
2) Improve cold air intake. A snorkel isn't the only way to accomplish this, unless you also are concerned with reason 3.
3) Keep water from entering air box/MAF. Very few people are submerging their trucks up to the windshields
So my thought was to basically take the Mantec design and run the intake behind the fender, daylighting at the A-pillar. But instead of running all the way up the pillar, the intake would terminate just above the hood. This would move the air intake out of the engine bay and away from the front of the vehicle where water is most often encountered. Again, I don't know if having a "short snorkel" would make sense from an air flow standpoint but it was just a thought.

 

And I guess my last question ( I can think of now that's actualy remotely constructive) is how do you plan on dealing with rain? Fluting the head lime the safari snorkels?

 

And in chrome...

 

I didn't even think about chrome! If they can electroplate plastic silverware to make it look real you can def electroplate a snorkel. Haha

 

Finally, a snorkel option for ME!

 

Nice jeep.