OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Briggs & Stratton Engines Remote snorkel / air intake tube?

I recently purchased a replacement Briggs 450e series engine for my old Rover, because the engine was worn out but the base was still in pretty good nick. I've been noticing with this dry weather, the air filter gets clogged in no time. I am forever cleaning it, and it is not easy to clean.

I made some inquiries about getting a remote snorkel for it. Blunt reply I have received is "We are not making them for these engines". This is a bit sad, considering they are being sold as lawnmower engines. In fact I note that one of the Victa mowers has this same engine, but no snorkel! And when looking at mowers in the shop recently I noticed that some no longer have snorkels. Is this some sort of "cost cutting" measure I wonder? If so, it will come back to bite the companies big time. There is the risk of sucking in an enormous amount of grit over time, due to the constant need to clean or replace these filters. Even if I am careful I find little bits of oily muck still end up on the filter or housing inside. And I can see the little plastic flap that holds the filter in place will soon get worn and then keep dropping off while mowing.

It is a pity, but it seems there is nothing that I can do, apart from try to make one myself. I wonder if anyone has had any success with purchasing remote snorkels that will fit, or modifying the filter cover to adapt a snorkel on to it? I suspect the answer will be "no", but it can't hurt to ask. :-)

The biggest challenge you will face in making one is being able to eliminate the ability of the original housing to draw air into the filter. If you can overcome this then fitting off a snorkel should be relatively easy if you've got all the bits you need.

Hi Guys,

I have been lurking for a while but this is my first contact so please be gentle with me. I have been retired for a few years now but have always liked to fiddle with mechanical equipment (served my apprenticeship as machine tool fitter in England but not worked on machinery full time since coming to Australia in 1970), I have a bit of a reputation with the neighbours as Mr FixIT and most come to me first for help with their broken/not working equipment to see if there is anything I can do before they buy new things or they give them to me to fiddle with before disposing of them if can't be fixed!!!

This subject regarding the Snorkel for a Rover with B&S motor is very appropriate to me because I recently "inherited" a non runner Rover Crusader with what I believe is a Quantum 50 motor with reference numbers: 12F802-1975-B1 03072556 which, seaching serial numbers etc I believe makes it a Quantum 50 motor built in 2003.

As I said this motor is a non runner, spins freely with no compression at all and by removing the spark plug I find the piston is not moving at all so I presume piston seized and broken con rod etc.

But back to the original sublect of the Snorkel, this motor is fitted with a snorkel with a special genuine air filter cover (no air slots in the cover) with the spigot moulded into the cover and facing to the handle of the mower, the snorkel tube is connected to it and runs up the handle with the air intake housing fastened on the handle just below the Throttle lever, but there is no filter in the housing!

Question: Is there supposed to be a filter cartridge in the housing on the handle? if so what type and model is it? I tried the Victa long series air filter but it does not locate the open end of the filter to the spigot in the botton of the housing. The spigot in the bottom of the housing is a larger diameter than the hole in the bottom of the Victa filter, is there supposed to be some adaptor for it to work? I cannot find a reference to the filter that fits this housing in any parts lists I have looked at.

When I saw there was no filter on the snorkel housing I thought this is why the motor has seized with dust and crap getting through the carburettor, but checking the on engine filter housing it is fitted with the standard pleated paper filter (491588S) and a pre filter so this was doing the air filtration, so is there supposed to be another filter in the snorkel or is it just there to get cleaner air from up high on the handle and does not have a filter in the housing even though it looks like it should have one?

The rest of the mower its self is in quite good condition (underneath the grass clippings, dust and spilt oil residue) with good wheels/bearings, blades and the chassis is sound with very little rust, so I may try and find another motor to fit in it and put the complete unit back into circulation after a thorough service. Shame the previous owner didn't keep the oil topped up because it probably would still be running if he had done so.

Thanks for your patience and hopefully you can answer my first question on this forum. I hope I can contribute to the forum and make some sensible remarks to some of the questions asked in the future.

Cheers
John P

I can't really answer that Panther, as I am not familiar with the mower. But I am sure someone else can help.

bigted, regarding my filter, I tend to think if this engine can suck air through all that foam, it should have no trouble through an air tube. Of course the trick will be to seal everything up so it is air tight. The old Briggs engine that I had on this engine had a snorkel and was roughly the same capacity engine.

I notice that there are some reasonably priced replacement filter covers on ebay, so maybe I will buy one rather than cannibalize my existing one. That way if I make a mistake and it fails horribly, I won't have ruined my original set up. Just looking at the mower this morning, I think I may be able to manufacture something to suit.

Hi Panther and welcome to the forum.
As for your Rover, they generally don't have a filter in the upper housing but if you want dual stage filtration you can put the cartridge in there. It's a genuine Rover part and not a Briggs and Stratton part. The OEM part no. is A03189.
Regards, Ted

Hi Ted,

Thank you for your welcome, much appreciated.

Thank you also for the Part No of the filter for the snorkel. If I get this mower up and running again (probably replacement engine) I may fit the additional filter in the snorkel.

I was concerned when I found no filter in the snorkel but pleased the original filter and pre filter were fitted to the on engine filter housing so the dirt and muck hadn't caused the engine to seize (lack of oil will do that all the time!!!)

Thanks again.
Cheers, John P