I had installed the universal K&N Apollo kit on my GV early last month.. It came with a flexible cold air hose you can place inside your bumper low down or connect it to the factory cold air inlet inside the fender..

http://www.knfilters.com/universal/apollo.htm

It sounds exactly like the stock intake under low throttle / everyday driving. You won't even know i have such a free flowing intake under the hood. It's only when i open it up, say to climb a hill or pass someone that the intake roar gets noticeable.

The K&N Kit is made of a pretty strong plastic that is very sturdy. Seems well built. I had to get a 2.5" to 2.75" silicone coupler to make the connection to my throttle body and a 2.5" straight coupler to connect it to my MAF sensor.. The temperature sensor was installed inline with the 2.5" straight coupler..





Sadly, i don't have any before / after dyno charts to tell how it performs.. but a slight difference in acceleration was felt, especially in the top end.. and just by looking at the straight design, you can see it is alot less restrictive than the stock setup..

Anyway, enjot the sounds of the Zuki J20A motor!

K&N Apollo on a Grand Vitara

I would suggest you not take that thing wading.

As a matter of fact - you might want to take a step back and look at the intended use of the vehicle - last I looked you had fitted a lift kit, which suggests you want to take it off pavement, this, on the other hand is a step in the opposite direction.

I'm pretty certain K&N do an insert that replaces the OEM filter element in the airbox.

I try not to drive through deep water with my vehicle, I know the dangers of hydrolock on an engine..

K&N does have the replacement drop in filter, but since my vehicle spends the majority of time on pavement, i figured this was he best option..

If you were to end up taking it swimming, I'm figuring it wouldn't be much harder sticking a snorkel to this as to a standard filter, especially since most snorkels I see these days are just lengths of drainpipe and duck tape 

If you were to end up taking it swimming, I'm figuring it wouldn't be much harder sticking a snorkel to this as to a standard filter, especially since most snorkels I see these days are just lengths of drainpipe and duck tape 

i like this one!

Is that the exhaust pipe on the other side 

3stagevtec

Here's one you might be interested in - http://www.puresuzuki.com/vitara%20snorkel.htm

3stagevtec

Here's one you might be interested in - http://www.puresuzuki.com/vitara%20snorkel.htm

with a price of 429.99 I will stick with the drainpipe and duct tape thanks.

^ my thoughts exactly...

I have a question though, what stops rain water from getting into the inlet and making it's way to the engine? and wouldn't a snorkel suck in more dirt and debris as it is located outside facing forward?

I have a question though, what stops rain water from getting into the inlet and making it's way to the engine? and wouldn't a snorkel suck in more dirt and debris as it is located outside facing forward?

The snorkels are designed to minimize the amount of rain that gets in - a fair bit of engineering expertise goes into them - which is one of the reasons they cost more than drain pipe and duct tape.

Now - let's start with a visit to the ARB website and see what they have to say about snorkels - whilst you're there I want you to look closely at the first picture on the page I linked to - it's not a fake - only the lead vehicle in a convoy runs in "clean air", and the further back you are the worse it gets.

Imagine how much dust is being drawn into the under hood area of the trailing vehicles (and that's where that shiny K&N Apollo get's it's "fresh" air)

Next - if you have the time - pull out the fender well lining and see where the standard intake draws it's air from - I also think you'll find there's quite a bit more in there than you expected.

A snorkel puts the air intake higher up, further out of the dust cloud and it does significantly reduce the amount of dust ingested by the engine - they're not just for water crossings.

Down here in Guyana (and I know you where that is, and what the terrain here is like), in the dry season I'll see your dust cloud long before I see you - we flip the snorkel head around so that it faces backwards to further reduce the dust ingestion.

Maybe the next time my daughter comes home, I'll take a couple of pictures of her truck and post them for you - it's not a Suzuki though - she drives a double cab, turbo diesel Toyota Hilux - snorkel, bumper, winch - and believe me. none of it's for show.

Edit - Here's the Safari Snorkel FAQ - it shows a bit of the head design principles that separate the rain from the intake air.

your daughter.. a Hilux.. bumper!.. winch!!! can't wait for those pics! 

I had gotten a quick glimpse at the inside of a crashed GV fender and saw alot of pipe work in there, so i know there is alot going on.. I just never got the chance to follow it to see where the air is pulled from..

I just recently went on an off road trip in Trinidad with some friends and we ran into some pretty dusty conditions as well.. my entire engine bay was dusty.. so i know my filter was working overtime..

Thanks for the link from 4x4connection.. really informative!

(btw, i plan to connect the inlet of my K&N to the factory CAI inside the fender.. i didn't like all the dust that it sucked in during the trip we made)

Here is the intake in the fender.

I hope you guys can forgive a brief offtopic excursion - Trackerprts - what tire is that?

They are B F Goodrich MT KM2 31 10.5 R15 .

I guessing that's just a resonator box closer to the driver..