Hey everyone.

A while back there was a guy (can't remember name) who put a great looking air intake on the side of his fender to feed his custom air box.

Someone suggested moisture/rain might be a problem.

I understand you shouldn't feed an engine water ;) , but wouldn't moisture/rain collect at the bottom of the airbox and not go into the filter/intake?

I ask, because I see dump trucks and tractor trailer rigs with what I can only assume is cold air intake sticking out on the side.

I thought about making something like I have in the attached pictures. I was planning on running it into the stock airbox through the same hole currenly used by the snorkel.

I'd love to get some cold air into their to let it breathe...but man...there isn't a whole lot of room inside to run plumbing

What do you all think about the water problem...

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Hey everyone.

A while back there was a guy (can't remember name) who put a great looking air intake on the side of his fender to feed his custom air box.

Someone suggested moisture/rain might be a problem.



I've a Hummer H1. The air intake is on the passenger's rear of the hood area, nearly level with the hood (so water that 'slides' up the hood in rain does go right about there). THere is a channel in the hood that will catch and reroute some of the water away from the pickup.

Our biggest risk is that because a Hummer will do 30 to 36 inches of water fording easily, it is easy to hit water fast enough that it flows up the hood, and directly into the intake. We're talking a wall of water here, not a small wash. I've seen a number of engines bite the bullet that way, and I have a 18" extension to raise my air-intake to roof level. Then again, I've had water two or three inches up my windshield.

The Hummer's air cleaner has a 'dump valve' in teh bottom. It has a baffle that forces water to go around and down to the bottom (and the dump valve). I've never had any significant water damage to the filter (let alone the engine) from rain, no matter how much rain there was. Once in a while a bit of a wet stain, that's all.

My take on it is that you'd have no problems, as long as you are only worried about rain, and are not trying to cross rivers or lakes like we do sometimes (OK, we race Hummers and do push 'em hard). If you are going through solid water, I'd recommend serious engineering to keep water under control, otherwise for occasional rains (hard ones) just make sure the air bbox has a way to drain the water collected (a dump valve) so it won't build up.

Search for posts from ChevyDave. He did the cold air intake, looks factory and I'll be it's working great during this blistering summer. Good thing there's no global warming to worry about.

a small amount of moisture going in the intake is acceptable - look up wather/meth injection. And yes, a flood of water going in the intake will grenade the block. I think in chevydave's application, there's not significant water that goes through the intake.

Thanks for the input.

I really liked ChevyDave's vent he put in the fender. I'll probably go that route. I just thought about something that stuck out just a small amount to "scoop" or otherwise gather air.

I'm not an engineer though, and I know that "flow" can be a tricky thing.

I don't do much, if any, stream crossings where I'd have much of a chance of flooding it out.

I really looked at the stock intake...while the engineers made a valiant attempt to get cold air given the other constraints, it's just hard to see the 6.5 adequately breathing through that setup.

Search for posts from ChevyDave. He did the cold air intake, looks factory and I'll be it's working great during this blistering summer. Good thing there's no global warming to worry about. That's right no evidence for global climate shift, we're just returning to the time of eternal summer. Just in time too those glaciers were headed my way.

I've a Hummer H1. ...Then again, I've had water two or three inches up my windshield.

That would be fun! I think... I think my heart would be going crazy hoping to h*ll the truck makes it out. I have had a Ford F150 4x4 through 4 feet of water in the process of a high water rescue

I've a Hummer H1. Then again, I've had water two or three inches up my windshield.

Oh I'd be scared I'd hurt the truck, and/or drown inside the thing! That must be so much fun (once you know the truck can do it).

I had a Ford F150 4x4 in 4 feet of water during a massive flood in our town, and we used the truck for running police calls since our *CVPI's were about useless that day. Water was about 6" shy of the side windows at one point, and I figured the truck was a goner but it made it through somehow w/o sucking water into the intake. The 4' depth was momentary, but a full 3' of water on the street we were on. Crazy!

The local Ford dealership had about a dozen CVPI's in for hydro-locked engines (and flooded interiors, shorted electronics, etc) after that crazy day. Obviously each and every one was a "customer pay" repair order.

I was nothing short of lucky with the F150, they are certainly not made for that! (lets not start a Ford bashing thread, as a GMC 1500 isn't made for that either)

* CVPI = Crown Vic Police Interceptor

That would be fun! I think... I think my heart would be going crazy hoping to h*ll the truck makes it out. I have had a Ford F150 4x4 through 4 feet of water in the process of a high water rescue

The H1 is nice, as long as the air intake is above water, and you don't care about water inside (which is usually not a problem) then swimming it is fun. Seeing 2 inches of green water (not just a minor splash) is something else.

One thing is that the exhaust system and engine gets hit with all that (cold) water-instant steam, which steams the windshield up! The only other problem is that it is necessary to check the hubs, tcase and diffs for water contamination if you're in water for more than a short period of time. Seals are meant to keep oil in, and do zip towards keeping water out! (The military ones actually use the engine (blowby) to pressurize the hubs, tcase and diffs to keep water out of them).