E36 M3 Euro Snorkel
by Christian Behier
Round Rock, Tx.
Goal: Install the European intake Snorkel into a US Spec E36 M3. The advantage of the European Snorkel is the additional duct to the front driver's brake duct. Cooler and more abundant air is passed onto your Airbox. Combined with a K&N air filter, the removal of the air silencer, it provides a more efficient, cooler (denser) air to the engine - gaining a few HP. Cost for the Snorkel was about $50USD, time to install it was about 2 hours.
Left=Stock US Snorkel -- Right=European Snorkel
Installation:
1. Remove the Top shroud (4 metal screws, 2 plastic screw/holders), and the Airbox by undoing the clips at the Mass Air Meter, removing the 10mm bolts to the right of the box, and popping out the snorkel up front. remove your Air filter - this is a good time to install a K&N filter if you have not already done so. See figure 1.
Figure 1
2. Remove the front Snorkel, if you have to loosen the radiator clip, do so to give you some room. To remove the clip, press down with a screw driver on each side of the clip until it "clicks" - the clip will raise up and free up the radiator - see figure 2 below.
Figure 2
3. Once everything is removed, you must remove one of the horns (the one directly over the Brake vent), using a 10mm socket at the top, and a 13mm wrench at the bottom of the brass colored bracket. See Figure 3
Figure 3
4. Once the Horn is out of the way, you must drill a hole into the driver's side brake vent. Use the outline on the plastic (US Spec vent mold blocks off this vent, but the layout is clearly seen). I used a knife to rough cut the hole and then a 1.5" sanding drum and a drill to smooth out the hole. Make sure to NOT hit the temperature sensor below, located inside the brake vent. - illustrated in Figures 4 and 5.
Figure 4 and Figure 5
5. Once the hole is cleaner up from the plastic debris, install the new snorkel in the same location as the stock one - secure the clip at the front. Make sure the snorkel vent shaft is in the brake duct before clipping the snorkel in place. See Figure 6
Figure 6
6. Reinstall the horn bracket with the 13mm nut, then secure the horn to the bracket. Note that now the snorkel shaft gets in the way for the normal orientation of the bracket. Basically, the horn will have a slight offset. Keep the bracket close to the shaft when securing. See Figures 7 and 8.
Figure 7 and Figure 8
Note: If you do not care to keep the silencer located into the Airbox, this is the time to remove it. The side effect is the occasional small whistle upon acceleration - barely audible. The issue with the silencer is that is has a significant amount of obstruction from the snorkel outlet - reducing airflow efficiency. See Figure 9 for the silencer.
Figure 9
7. Once the horn is back in, unscrew the rubber grommets off the Airbox for an easier installation. Focus on mating the European snorkel first, once mated, you can easily mate the MAF back on. Once everything is aligned, pull the Airbox to the left, and re-install the rubber grommets so as to fasten the Airbox back down.
8. Clip the Mass Air Meter back onto the Airbox. Make sure one more time that all components mate properly.
9. Reinstall the top plastic shroud, and the result should look like Figure 10 and 11.
Figure 10
Figure 11
Results/Impressions: Taking the car for a spin after the installation, I noticed 2 different changes with the car. The throttle response is a little sharper than it used to be. The other, which is more important, it got rid of this small HP/Torque dip i used to have in the 3.5-4K rpms. The car pulls a lot smoother throughout the rpm band. My senses have not been calibrated to detect sub-10HP therefore I could not scientifically measure anything more that this.