That is, of course, unless you’re driving a Ranger. That is the idea behind this truck, after all, to add a little more spontaneity to your daily life. Even though Ford engineered this truck with traversing the great outdoors in mind, it still requires a little extra planning and modification to make sure those spur-of-the-moment adventures go according to plan. Much like explorers of the world, we’re not setting off on our snorkel journey without a path in mind.

For us here in the States, the Ranger is making its return home after almost a decade abroad. The 2019+ Ranger is a brand new truck, both figuratively and literally, so taking a Sawzall to any of the freshly pressed and painted body panels is less than ideal. Instead, we’re opting for a less conspicuous route from the airbox that requires much less cutting. Since we’re adding something entirely new here, some modification is still required, but we plan to minimize the number of holes you need to chop into your Ranger.

Our path leads us to the passenger-side fender vent. Removing the trim reveals a large void that’s perfect for a snorkel mid-pipe, which is precisely our intention. Our design will split the snorkel kit into two sections consisting of a mid-pipe that provides a secure channel for the fresh air to flow from the roofline to the airbox and the exterior snorkel piece. Our plan for connecting all of the components starts at the airbox. This side is more simplistic, including a silicone coupler, a short section of metal piping, and an application-specific grommet.

The snorkel side is a little more challenging. With the fender grill removed, there’s isn’t much in the way of provisions to mount a snorkel, so we needed to devise our own. This part requires drilling into the Ranger’s body; luckily, the two holes for mounting the bracket are hidden under the fender vent if you need to return your Ranger to stock. When installed, this bracket will upgrade the vent mount from trim holder to snorkel inlet. Our bracket will incorporate mounting provisions for the mid-pipe section and serve as a means to keep the snorkel securely in place.

It’s a group effort when it comes to our Ranger snorkel kit, but the snorkel is the star of the show, so we gave it the star treatment. Because it’s the only part that’s visible outside the truck, we’re employing a tag team of form and function. For form, we wanted to make sure that this snorkel looks like it belongs mounted to the side of the truck. We’re giving it a sleek shape that resonates with the Ranger’s modern design while retaining a rugged, utilitarian vibe.

We have a few things planned when it comes to the function of the snorkel. The first is to make sure we don’t block any driver visibility or sacrifice airflow. To achieve that, our engineering team is working out the perfect tube diameter. We also want to make sure that our Snorkel is ready for every environment, so we standardized the top of our snorkel tube to fit with the provided Mishimoto head or many of the available cyclone separators if you’re in some seriously dusty terrain.

Most major excursions aren’t something tackled in a single day. Even the planning can take months to ensure that every part of the expedition goes off without a hitch. The same could be said for our snorkel design. We want to ensure that every aspect of our snorkel is tough enough to wear the Bourn Off-Road logo, so we’re planning for every contingency. Stay tuned to check out our prototyping and initial testing coming soon.

Missing Link

Before we started testing, however, we still had a gap to fill, literally. The whole concept behind adding a snorkel to your off-roading rig is to entirely relocate your primary air inlet location out of harm’s way, but a means of blocking off that inlet didn’t appear in our last blog post. So we wanted to make sure that it got the spotlight it deserves.

Shown here in its 3D printed prototype form, this rubber plug is form fitting to the lower air inlet on the OEM Ford airbox. Our engineer, Dave, ensured to taper our design for a proper seal through the airbox’s inlet, but an extra layer of sealant never hurts for an added layer of protection.

DynoMITE

It’s no secret that snorkels aren’t installed for power gains. More so, they’re there to help protect the power that’s already under the hood, but adding a few feet of tubing to your intake is less than ideal for maintaining power figures. So, to make sure that our snorkel was maintaining flow and power, we put the Ranger up on our DynoJet:

We did leave you on a bit of a cliffhanger with our testing video, but the results are in, and our design performed exactly as intended in terms of maintaining power. As explained in the video, we tested our kit with the OEM airbox in three different configurations to get a complete perspective of the addition of the snorkel kit. With both the airbox inlet and snorkel open we measured a moderate increase in power, primarily in torque, over the fully stock setup. With our snorkel supplying 100% of the air to the engine we were able to maintain the power figures collected in our baseline test. Breaking even was the plan in terms of performance since this kit is intended for engine protection, but the extra torque with both inlets open is the cherry on top. For the occasional off-roader, pairing this snorkel with our performance intake kit would be ideal if you’re also looking for a performance boost on the road.

Field Trip

These snorkels are destined for the great outdoors, which is exactly where we too our Ranger for its first venture into the real world. Over the summer, we met up with fellow off-roading enthusiasts at The Great American Crawl at Rausch Creek in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania. Sponsored by Rockstar Garage, this traveling off-roading event featured any and all of the terrain that our snorkel was designed for.

Ever since the Ranger returned to the US, it’s been destined for a higher plane. Its compact yet beefy design gives it the versatility to be right at home in any environment, from concrete jungles to vacant deserts. No matter the terrain, though, the Ranger can always use the added layer of protection that a snorkel provides.