Lol like the Kawi road bikes? I can see a ram air intake between the headlight and the mudguard on Kawi Wawi's bike now

 

Water tends to travel in generally straight lines as it's flying through the air towards your air intake... It doesn't really bend and turn en route (unless it hits something of course like the seat bottom)... So, when the water hits the snorkel, even if it does go IN the snorkel, it's going to splash against the sides of the snorkel and hopefully down into the bottom of the airbox... Without an airbox lid, that water would fall directly onto the foam filter element.

It's a matter of compromise - the bigger the hole, and the more direct line the water has, the more that it's going to splash onto the element.
And no, the element doesn't filter out water very well... It's made to remove dirt particles from air - water flows right on through.
Try pouring water on it the next time you clean it and you can see it penetrates pretty easy.

 

Has anyone ever used Outerwears for anything? It's a water repellent mesh that lets air through and keeps the water and dirt out. On my Z400 quad, I had a Outerwears over the filter AND ran with NO airbox lid. Eventually I cut out the top of the airbox lid and made a square piece that clamped a square piece of Outerwears over it keeping water from even getting to the inner Outerwears cover that was over my K&N.

Doubt they have anything specific for our bike, but the 6x8 inch square replacement pieces were only $5 a couple years ago and I'm sure they have a air filter cover that would fit over ours if we wanted to just leave the airbox cover off. Another thing, if you want to improve airflow don't let that snorkel piece press against the stock filter, cut it off or move it back. I'd like to get to a K&N setup with the Outerwears, just haven't had time yet. Not sure the $20+ bigger snorkel is worth the money...

 

Well, for anyone that is interested, my version of the double snorkel mod is not going to work out. My thought was to position both the stock snorkel & KDX200 fat snorkel facing forward. I was hoping that there was enough vertical clearance above the fat snorkel to rest the stocker facing forward, with something fabbed up to seal around the bottom since the stocker would be raised and therefore not sealed the point of entry.

Anyway, upon inspection after installing my new KDX200 snorkel this evening, there is exactly zero room between the top of the snorkel and the bottom of the seat. The only way to get more air in with this snorkel would be to widen it somehow, which I am considering trying to figure out.

rkutzner's comments about the Outerwear product have given me another idea that I may try soon, though. I feel strongly that instead of just an open top (cover in OW), the bike would benefit from specifally directing all available air downward into the air box. With an open lid, much of the air will blow right over the top of the box, never entering the box. I can see a wedge-shaped structure that fits over the top of the open airbox with the widest part of the wedge open (covered with Outerwear) and facing forward. The cross-section of the wedge would be the full width of the airbox. In this way, all air that made it's way under the seat would be directed back and downward into the airbox.

All of this may be a moot point if the KDX200 snorkel is giving enough air to adequaly service my re-jetted carb, but I've got to think that this idea would maximize the airflow. Whether we need or can handle that much air is another question altogether.

Anyway, I might give that a try in the near future.

 

thats all good... i just find it hard to actually see how much room is between the airbox and underside of the seat.... what about getting another kdx 200 snorkel and cutting the bottom of it off to fit right over the air filter facing foward?

 

You do not need a wedge or anything else, this is NOT a ram air setup! You can face the stock snorkel backwards or sideways and it won't matter. The engine is pulling the air in and the bigger the hole the less it has to work. Take a stock bike and remove the cover and see how much it leans it out.

I've seen people just duct take their outerwears over were the lid is supposed to be and it works great. Water out. More air in. Leave the snorkel to your Mach1 !

 

must have missed this post about "outerwear"..... what the heck is it?

 

It is a pre-filter. It is a very fine mesh that usually fits over an air filter like sock. There is no air restriction, but the mesh is so fine that it repels water and dirt. It is a neat product. Outerwears

I think that I may try this, thanks for the good idea rkutzner.