I changed the air filter today as it wasn’t in stock when I changed the oil. I took a few pics so that you can see what’s under there. I also had a look at the intake to see how water tight it was. (Not very). I am not intending to wade with the car above the bonnet but I wanted to see where any potential water ingress points were..
The filter cover is pretty easy to remove, just some large pozi screws, a hose clamp on the intake and the wire for the MAF sensor.
The old filter had an extra layer of material that the new one does not, It was glued to the filter so not intended to be transferred to the new one.
The filter cover has some kind of expansion tank attached to it, this is attached using a couple of torx screws and an O ring. The O ring was a little pinched and not the best fit, a potential site for water ingress although not a lot.
The filter housing base is attached to a plate bolted to the inner wing / wheel arch. It is attached with 3 rubber grommets, it can just be pulled out. There is a piece of sponge attached to the bottom of it.
The housing base is attached to the air intake with a rubber section which comes from a plastic intake part that sits inside the inner wing. This part is not particularly well sealed. There are no clamps on it and it’s just a fairly loose pressure fit.
There is no seal between the top and bottom of the air box apart from the soft orange foam of the filter itself. That said there was no sign of any dust getting past the filter.
There is a small drain hole under the air box housing, this is difficult to access with the housing in situ as the metal plate covers it.
So if you wanted to seal the air intake against water you’d have to:
Seal the RAI where it joins the inner wing intake.
Seal the rubber connector between the inner wing intake and the filter housing.
Seal the expansion chamber to the housing
Seal the top and bottom halves of the filter housing to one another??? Dunno about this one..
Fit a tube to the drain hole somehow which could then have a bung fitted as required. This would either need a very tight bend on it or you’d need to drill a corresponding hole in the metal base plate to allow the tube to pass through..
In conclusion the RAI is DEFINITELY not a snorkel.
The filter cover is pretty easy to remove, just some large pozi screws, a hose clamp on the intake and the wire for the MAF sensor.
The old filter had an extra layer of material that the new one does not, It was glued to the filter so not intended to be transferred to the new one.
The filter cover has some kind of expansion tank attached to it, this is attached using a couple of torx screws and an O ring. The O ring was a little pinched and not the best fit, a potential site for water ingress although not a lot.
The filter housing base is attached to a plate bolted to the inner wing / wheel arch. It is attached with 3 rubber grommets, it can just be pulled out. There is a piece of sponge attached to the bottom of it.
The housing base is attached to the air intake with a rubber section which comes from a plastic intake part that sits inside the inner wing. This part is not particularly well sealed. There are no clamps on it and it’s just a fairly loose pressure fit.
There is no seal between the top and bottom of the air box apart from the soft orange foam of the filter itself. That said there was no sign of any dust getting past the filter.
There is a small drain hole under the air box housing, this is difficult to access with the housing in situ as the metal plate covers it.
So if you wanted to seal the air intake against water you’d have to:
Seal the RAI where it joins the inner wing intake.
Seal the rubber connector between the inner wing intake and the filter housing.
Seal the expansion chamber to the housing
Seal the top and bottom halves of the filter housing to one another??? Dunno about this one..
Fit a tube to the drain hole somehow which could then have a bung fitted as required. This would either need a very tight bend on it or you’d need to drill a corresponding hole in the metal base plate to allow the tube to pass through..
In conclusion the RAI is DEFINITELY not a snorkel.
