Hey... I was out riding the other day, and i went through a brook that turned out to be a liitle over the racks, (big fright) i made it through no prob, i halled over and checked my Air Box (where the air filter is) after i got out of the brook..... and at the bottom of the box there was a bit of water... so i put it back togeather and continued to ride with no problems..... when i got back to the cabin, i looked where the end of the intake pipe thingy is, and it is up by the top of the steering colum... Now if i cut a whole in the plastic and add a foot or 2 of pipe to the pipe that is there, will it hurt the engine? is it safe?..... wil it cause a loss of power? Help! all comments/insight is appreciated.... Thanks!

 

Bayou3004X4, if you seal the existing carburetor air intake hose leading to the airbox and extend its opening higher than its present height with an additional length of hose, you can indeed raise the level of water depth operation possible on your machine.

Some air restriction results from the longer and twistier air intake path (Bernouli and Venturi and all those guys know about this effect); however, with reasonably large cross-section area tubing, I doubt you'd notice any appreciable performance decline. The plumbing or pipe-fitting challenge will be interesting; I imagine you'd have to cut a U-shaped hole in the bottom of the plastic tank cover allowing the extention to pass, permitting tank cover removal without disconnecting the air intake.

Reading your post at first, I thought, "What's this guy talking about? The Bayou's air intake comes from two ports in the rear of the airbox lid, under the seat, at seat height!"

I removed the seat of a Y2K Bayou and looked; there, big as life, were the two intake ports, just like on my 1989 Bayou 300 4x4. About to congratulate myself on my superior knowledge, a closer examination revealed: The "intake ports" on the rear of the 2000 model Bayou's airbox lid are SEALED! Completely blind! The late-model Bayou gets its aspiration from the "OEM snorkel" you describe, routed along the right side of the engine, up behind the tank cover, opening to the atmosphere at about fork crown height. The air intake point for the carburetor is actually several inches higher than the racks (explaining why you shipped only a little water in the airbox in your descent, and why I got none on the Y2K when I crash-dived it to seat depth in the Tidewater two Saturdays ago).

Is extending the air intake even higher a good idea? Maybe, but remember--if you operate deep enough requiring the extended snorkel tower, all the other vent hoses (differential, rear final drive, carburetor, etc.) hoses are under water; although each hose has a U-shaped bend at the top to prevent sucking water, the mechanism probably has its limitations; be careful.

Thanks for pointing out Kawasaki's efforts at preventing "that Great Sucking Sound" (apologies to Mr. Perot) of water entering Bayou carburetors. Keep us informed if you experiment along the lines you suggest, raising the snorkel intake height.

Tree Farmer

 

Hey, thanks for ur help Tree Farmer!!, hehe before i post something like this i always make sure i know what im talking about. Kawasaki did a good job placing the snorkel up high, it can take on ALOT of water before suckin' it in....

I dont see a real need for a extra foot or 2 of snorkel, I drive though some fairly deep water, and if it turns out to be deeper than it looks, well there goes my engine. So i would like to add a few feet to the air intake snorkel. It is nice to have some security incase i do travel into that unexpected handle bar seep hole one of these days

I do look over the water hazzard before I cross it and if it look ok, i go for it but sometime u can get a BIG surprise.... I would like to try it but i am affrid of screwing up my engine.

but if i have to mess around with snokeling everything eles, maby i will just leave it be....

Thanks!