We recently finished with making some improvements on the air intake "scoop" that a PO installed on the rear driver side corner above the tail light. The PO made an opening to the compartment above the air separator where the intake pipe makes an offset before going up the corner of the coach to the vent in the mid center where the backup camera is located. The problem with his modification was that there was nothing to keep bugs, leaves and debris out of the air separator. The separator did a fine job of keeping trash out of the filter tho' as little was found when I changed it. It was also possible for water to enter the separator if it was raining hard while driving. Again the separator must have kept water from the filter as I saw no signs of water damage or stains on it.
I removed the scoop and installed a plastic "funnel' about 4" on the small end and 6" on the top, placed it inside the opening down to the separator and used some foam sealer to keep it in place and prevent water from entering. To keep "things" out of the compartment I fabricated a small screen out of 1/4" hardware cloth and screwed it to the inside of the opening before replacing the scoop.
Looks like it should work like a dorade vent on a boat. The one thing they have in addition is a small drain from the box for any water that comes in.
Good modification of the modification. I think the wire screen is a no-brainer...should have been there from day one.
What is the "scoop" made of? Have you considered painting it white, to better blend with body color?
I would like to do something similar to our U240 but haven't found the time or courage to cut into it.
I may be missing something.....why was the "modification" done in the first place?
Ram Air Intake?"A ram-air intake is any intake design which uses the dynamic air pressure created by vehicle motion to increase the static air pressure inside of the intake manifold on an internal combustion engine, thus allowing a greater massflow through the engine and hence increasing engine power."
My main goal would be a much cleaner source of air.
I have been looking into The Donaldson intake. I have not had time to really look at what kind of room is there but a setup on top of the rear cap would sure be a improvement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsaumoXtmSw
Interesting, have never heard of it. Makes sense!
Seems like a lot of work for negligible benefit. At 70 mph you would get only about 0.18" Mercury pressure boost. Withe the boundary layer separation that far back on the coach, I doubt you get half that much.
I don't travel into the rain country anymore, and my power is plenty. I also wonder how the unit would retro to mine.
Agree. My comment was tongue-in-cheek. We are talking, here, about turbocharged engines - true ram air intakes are normally used on naturally aspirated engines.
Yup, very little improvement on a turbocharged engine unless the coach maker did a very poor job with the intake system.
Foretravel did a good job.
Its made of stainless steel, seems to be of good quality and professionally made. Was installed by the second owner sometime between 2002 and 2010, I am the fourth.
I don't know..... with a turbo the best reason I can come up with is a cleaner source of air. Seems to be a lot of dust that accumulates on the rear of the coach. Often wondered why FT installed the intake where they did. Maybe most don't drive down dirt roads! :D