Snorkel & Cowl

I'm finally fitting my cowl with IO360 180hp Superior and the snorkel. My goal is to have the filter as far back as possible on the ramp and somewhat centered left to right in the opening. After doing the necessary notching for alternator clearance I have a "good" sight picture of snorkel placement. Unfortunately it is too far outboard (about an inch) and could go back about 9/16 to 5/8. I have succumbed to probably cutting up the snorkel to fit those dimension areas. I could possibly leave it as placed but not sure if I will have the outboard clearance necessary. Also it is forward enough to be blocked somewhat by the cowling inlet lip. I believe I read on the forum (Dan) that the inlets should be trimmed short for better airflow. That would be ok to do but not sure how much to trim and if I need to leave the inner screws as shown for strength or just omit the aft screw and trim straight. This pic off internet is similar to what I'm talking about.



I plan on working on the ramp and leaving it long until I need to trim and need feedback on ideas and options. I also think that the drawings for the snorkel install are not very clear as far as the filter install. Does it just slide under front edge and rest on snorkel and held in place by just the two side retainers?
Here is pic of my setup.

I have posted a couple of pics of my installation. See the links below.

There are some questions I have though. What are your reasons for the position you have chosen? Have you fitted the snorkel in place as is, to see where it naturally sits?

I ask these questions because when I fitted my cowl and snorkel everything fell into place without any modifications to the cowl or the snorkel what so ever. The only issues I had to deal with was manufacturing a mount for the K&N air filter.

Have you searched the forum for other posts on this topic? Here is a quick search I did on the subject:
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/search.php?searchid=29671341

Here are some threads I have posted to:
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=143743&highlight=snorkel
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=119754&highlight=snorkel
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=132727&highlight=snorkel

This thread has a couple of pics I took of my construction (post #4):
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=124144&highlight=snorkel

Yes

I have attached the snorkel to the fuel servo and maintained adequate clearance to the accessories. The intake opening (where the filter goes) is too far outboard and needs to come aft about 5/8 inch. As configured the filter would be too far outboard and not centered in the cowl opening. My thoughts are that the filter needs to sit at least somewhat centered left/right in the opening.

Tbone said:

As configured the filter would be too far outboard and not centered in the cowl opening. My thoughts are that the filter needs to sit at least somewhat centered left/right in the opening.

Click to expand...

I am curious as to why you have these thoughts? Just trying to understand your thoughts so my question is not meant to say anything is wrong with this.

In my case, when it came to placing the air filter brackets, I concerned myself with where the filter bracket would fit as it related to where the snorkel opening was oriented. I did not just cut a hole in the floor of the air intake floor. I actually cut the floor away and rebuilt it with a bracket in place. It has been 7+ years so some of my memory of HOW is a little sketchy now, but basically I ended up fabricating a replacement for the floor that incorporated the brackets necessary to attach the snorkel and air filter to them. Everything I built is quickly removed with a few screws that are inserted into plate-nuts. I am not sure if any of my previous posts show pics of this bracket arrangement. I will try to see if I have any pics that I may be able to post with this detail.

On my Superior IO-360 I had to trim the bulbous area near the servo several times to allow the snorkel to pivot CCW around the servo opening until the upper square opening lined up with the correct position in front of the cylinder/cowl opening, then trimmed the square section down until it matched the left ramp profile. The square opening sides do not have even heights, in order to match/warp to the sloped ramp.

I did have to trim off a couple of unused "ears" on the Skytech starter.

Trim front

I guess I will move opening as needed to center left and right and move aft as needed. I will also trim front inlet areas shorter to allow as much room for filter.