A little link about By-Pass Valve I found in CL Forum...

http://www.aempower.com/magart.htm


Very interesting article... looks like there is still chances of water getting into engine with By-Pass Valve...

P.S. Sorry if this has been posted before...

Andy Kuo

 

Yup, the bypass valve might not even be worth it

 

but at least there is still a fifth fifth chance of no water going in... but with out it, you can pretty much say goodbye to your engines life...

 

I think the correct way to solve this problem is to copy what aviation turbojet engines do to avoid sucking in rain and snow into the turbines. Since water has much greater inertia than air, it tends to move in a straight line. So, they put a kink in the pipe. Air comes around, water goes straight out the back.

An even simpler idea is to put a "T" pipe under the filter box:
At low speeds, water will be hopefully too heavy to get sucked up the pipe. If not, that's what the bypass valve is for. At high speeds, the inertia of the water will cause it to flow straight out the back of the T-pipe.

Of course, the "T" pipe should be angled down slightly to look more like a "^" so water drips out.

Remember folks, you saw it here first!

 

On the other end of the spectrum, I have a co-worker that has a highly modified Prelude running a CAI that opens up in his wheel well (he cut a hole in the plastic wheelwell ). Yes, the filter sits right in front of his wheel. So not only is the filter getting wet in the slightest drizzle, but a downpour will give it a good drenching. This is a mid-14s daily driver with no problems so far even after many trips in the rain.

 

There is no seal between the right side of the hood and the drivers side fender. Water drips through this crack and onto your filter element. Your filter gets wet every time it rains and everytime you wash your car. In order to blow your engine you'd need to submerge your whole frickin filter in water. Extremely unlikely with short ram or stock (but still possible). And unless you drive through a HUGE puddle, even with CAI you aren't going to have any problems. However, I live in a rainy area and don't run a CAI because of how dirty it gets behind my fender, espcially now with a meshed fog hole.