I was swapping out the grille on my 2010 Legacy GT and something about my stock intake setup caught my eye. I noticed the intake "snorkel" that runs from the airbox to the grille is mostly blocked off by a panel that sits between the grille and radiator. This is the snorkel I'm referring to. I'm not sure if "snorkel" is the right name for it, but here you go: Here's the puzzler. This is a shot from the side, with the intake snorkel on the right and the grille on the left. As you can see, the bottom is vented to allow air to flow up into the snorkel. It seems a little questionable to pump air from near the radiator into an intake. Maybe that isn't a problem at speed but it seems like it would promote heat soak. I am completely stumped as to why it's solid directly in front of the intake. I highlighted the bit that intuitively looks like it should allow direct airflow: Here's the same panel as viewed from directly on top of the intake shield: I was thinking about cutting or at least perforating the highlighted sections. Is there some kind of mystery science that explains why the bit directly in front of a hungry intake is solid, yet there are vents underneath? Was this done this way for a reason? I don't want to jack things up but this seems like a borderline design flaw barring some physics shenanigans that I'm not familiar with. Some engineer made the choice to vent only the bottom of what amounts to a factory CAI. Why? I've been around long enough to know that technical merit is far from the only influence on engineering decisions, but not long enough to know if this is a case where sales/accounting/mfg overruled sound technical theory. **I should clarify that I'm not very concerned with volume of air. But if I can get the same volume of COLDER air with very little effort, why not?** Also, I posted this on the LGT.com forums and the current prevailing guess is this reduces turbulence and/or managing debris. Also, also, I showed it to Fuji and he was in the "cut out a hunk" camp. Also, also, also, this would give me a good excuse to buy a new Dremel.
I think the LGT.com guys are probably right, I bet a small bird ended up in someones airbox and so they put this panel over it. I can't see why the chance of a little debris would be a terrible thing if you clean or change your filter regularly. Water is the only other possibility I can think of
The WRX has the same "snorkel" and nothing blocking it. I'd say just cut a hole for some air to flow through.
A little chicken wire over the cutout and/or the snorkel opening seems like it would address most debris issues, with the filter taking care of the rest. Wacky fluid dynamics stuff I'm not so sure about... I'd like to get a look at the WRX snorkel mentioned, I'll harass someone at the next tues/fri I get to.
What does the bottom of the hood look like?? I think my fxt the air follows the bottom of the hood and over the top of the rad support to get to the intake inlet. Then you are grabbing all the displaced air that bounces off of the radiator. Russ
