Snorkel success

[Simon Hitchen]

Having read about so much grief concerning the snorkel installation I got stuck in. Im really pleased to say that the snorkel fits beautifully. This is the VA 132-2 snorkel 7/8.
The only cutting required was around the top to fit with the baffles. I didn't get away Scott free, the mixture cable rod end bearing touches the rear of the snorkel in full rich. Ah well.
So for anyone moving into this stage, I'm thinking Vans have modified the design and it's not nearly as bad as I believed it would be.
I've got a Titan IO-360, superior cold air induction sump, sky tech SL starter and plane power 60 amp alternator. It all fits.

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[Z-EDD]

Thanks for the update Simon. But can you tell us if your engine is a wide deck or narrow deck( Angle valve or parallel)? I too had been hoping vans had corrected this, but I kind of gained an impression from my research that the snorkel is sized for the 200hp engine, and the fit problems occur on the narrow 180s.

Hope I am wrong.

[Simon Hitchen]

No mine is a standard ECI parallel valve, 180 HP! stock IO-360. I too was under the impression that the snorkel fit the 200 Hp version neatly and would require major modifications. Was very pleasantly surprised. It of cource still depends on which stater and alternator you have but the fuel servo to baffle length issue appears to have been corrected.

[Bubblehead]

Wow. That went in a lot better than mine did. I had to make cuts and slits and re-glass quite a bit to get the geometry right and to avoid interfering with the cowl. It would be a lot easier the second time but I am glad to hear Vans has improved the part.

[clam]

Does the Superior cold air induction have a square face or 7 deg angle face like the Titan cold air sump?

[RKellogg]

Simon,
Looks good. Did you check clearance to the cowl yet? Need adequate gap to allow engine motion relative to cowl. That may be when the fun starts, IIRC...

[RVbySDI]

I used the snorkel on my ECI IO-340. My build was completed in July 2010. The engine install and snorkel, baffle, cowl fitting all occurred in 2009. I was also told of all the difficulties involved with fitting a snorkel. Everyone from Vans to ECI was concerned I was working with this non-traditional IO-340 engine in a 9.

Well, I had absolutely ZERO issues with the installation of the snorkel. I made no modifications to it. The most difficult part was having to fabricate a bracket for the air filter on the floor of the left baffle intake. I cannot even really say that was difficult. Once completed the snorkel, baffle, air filter, cowl all just fit like they were supposed to fit. 6 years of flying now and not one issue what so ever on the installation.

Take heed to opinions that are given but don't simply take them at face value. Evaluate them with a measure of skepticism then get busy making things happen. Once you build things it almost always becomes an issue of looking back on the process you were afraid was going to be difficult only to find out they really aren't as bad as first thought.

[Simon Hitchen]

Well said Steve, Couldn't agree more. I did check the clearance to the cowl and I have lots of room for engine movement . I'm going to address the mixture cable interference in the morning with a heat gun.