Motorcycle Air Box De- Snorkeling Explained

• Apr 21, 2016
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I am sure you must have heard about the term “Snorkel” or Snorkeling in context of diving but the same exists in motorcycling also. Today we are going to discuss this aspect of motorcycling, what is Snorkel and where is it present in a motorbike? What happens when we remove it etc?

So, a Snorkel is a part which works exactly how it does in scuba diving, it is meant to channelize the uninterrupted flow of air. But in case of automobile a Snorkel is responsible for routing the air to the Air Filter or Air Box. In most of the cases it situates beside the Air Box at a higher point and it acts as passage for fresh air to the Air Filter, which later gets filtered and sucked by the carburetor air intake.

Now, as it is quite apparent that the job of a Snorkel in a motorcycle is vital and it actually not only directs the flow of fresh air to the Air Filter but also keeps the bike running by supplying uninterrupted air flow. It is designed in such a way and most of the time placed as high as possible that a regular air supply should be maintained. At this point of time a question arises that if an Air Box Snorkel plays such an important role then why one would remove it? And what could be the effects of De-Snorkeling? To get the answer of this question one must first understand the fundamental of combustion, in every internal combustion engine, be it 2-stroke or 4-stroke, there is a need of three things- Fuel, Air and Ignition. Air being the second most important factor in any internal combustion engine for its efficient working, it is not only required to get the cleanest of air for efficient combustion but also it should be available in adequacy.

Now, to clean the Air we have air filter in any automobile but what would be the amount of air that needs to be supplied to the cylinder of an engine depends mostly on two factors- the setting of carburetor that defines the limit of air intake in the engine and the actual available supply of the air through air filter. The Snorkel being the penultimate part of the air supply to the engine actually decides the amount of air intake. But natural if we either increase the diameter of Snorkel or remove it altogether, we can increase the volume of air intake in the air filter and subsequently the increased supply of oxygen rich air can be assured to the engine via carburetor resulting increased performance. This process is called “De-Snorkeling”.

RELATED ARTICLE: Motorcycle Air Filters- All You Need To Know

De-Snorkeling of the Air Box can be done easily by removing the Snorkel, which sometimes already comes detachable. But the easiest way to increase the air supply to the engine is the use of “Free Flow Air Filters”. These filters don’t use the Air Box instead they get fitted directly on the carburetor, this way maximum air gets in contact with the increased surface area of the air filter, which comes as multiple folding. But there are people who don’t get satisfied even with the free flow air filters; they use another way to further increase the supply of air and they cut down the extra rubber/plastic at the boot of the free flow air filter to increase the flow of filtered air into the carburetor. Some of them even call this as a De-Snorkeling but actually this should not be considered as one because it has nothing to do with the Snorkel, instead it should be called as ‘re-boring’ of the free flow air filter.

Points To Remember Before Going For De-Snorkeling: Hope our performance junkies find this article helpful. Leave your thoughts in the comment section below and do let us know about your personal experience with the process.

By: Farhan Kashif