Poor intake air flow??

[mgroeger]

2018 JLU Sahara 3.6

I noticed that the airbox intake faces up which makes sense for off roading. What I don't get is there is a rubber flange that surrounds the opening so that when the hood is shut it looks like this thing can barely get any air to it.
Is it just me or does that seem a little crazy? I thought of popping the rubber flange off to allow a little more air into the box. I have no idea how this things runs with such little air flow.

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[Chocolate Thunder]

You’ll get more dirt and leaves than air in there by doing that.

 

[mgroeger]

Hmmm... not sure I agree with that. In an off road situation I can see more dirt especially under sandy dusty conditions. But under daily driver use I wouldn't agree, look at any other vehicle on the road and you will see most have some sort of snorkel or opening toward the front of the car to suck air in.
Obviously the Jeep can't do this because of it's offroad capabilities. But they seem to have really gone overboard on this model.

 

[BillyHW]

 

[JIMBOX]

I haven't looked at the new JL intake config--but my '08 JKUR had the same , but the actual intake was from the passenger side (HOOD GAP)-

MY '16 RAM/5.7L HEMI used to draw intake from the passenger side fender well--YUK

Now it's a VARARAM CAI-

Whatever

JIMBO

 

[WXman]

To me the JL airbox is clearly designed to seal close to the edge of the hood to prevent water ingestion while having fun. Could a guy replace the setup with a more direct path intake system and pick up a few horsepower? Almost certainly. Would it be worth the risk of hydrolocking your engine? That's up to the user.

 

[Rockmaninoff]

To me the JL airbox is clearly designed to seal close to the edge of the hood to prevent water ingestion while having fun.

We've all established that it's designed that way. But no one size fits all, especially with Wranglers. There's no issue even running a cone filter without having an airbox... you just need to be a bit careful around water.

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