3rd Gen Safari Snorkel Install - How To Article

SAFARI SNORKEL INSTALL GUIDE

This is a step-by-step guide on installing a Safari Snorkel on a 3rd Gen Tacoma. The installation is pretty straight forward for the most part, if your handy with tools you shouldn't have any issues installing this unit.






Tools and supplies needed:

*10mm socket
*12mm socket
*Flat Blade Screwdriver
*Medium Strength Loctite - Available here: CLICK HERE
*13mm wrench (Ratcheting Preferred)
*10mm wrench
*Drill
*Drill Bits - Pilot bit/final bits.
*Half Round and Rat Tail (Round) files
*Jig Saw with thin metal blade
*Painters tape
*Metal Primer and Paint
*Side Cutters

Optional supplies:

*7 new OEM inner fender screw grommets for the inner fender. Makes the job easier and faster. (These are available at the dealer or aftermarket below)

Toyota part number: 9018906236

You can also get aftermarket units that are cheaper than OEM: CLICK HERE


*3M Acrylic Plus Trim Tape 06384 (Modified Upper Snorkel Bracket Install)

*Body fastener removal tool - Available here: CLICK HERE



Removing the air box:

Start by opening the clip that holds the wiring for the mass air flow sensor. Insert a small screwdriver in the back edge of the clip and pry downwards to release.







Now remove the connector to the mass air flow sensor, squeeze the connector at the top and pull upwards to release.






Take the wiring and loop it back to the firewall, you can hook the connector on the wiring bundle to keep it out of the way.




Loosen the hose clamp holding the air box assy to the intake tube. Remove the upper portion of the air box and air filter, set them to the side.




Now remove the three bolts holding the lower air box to the fender. Remove the lower air box assembly from the truck and set it to the side.






Using tape close up the intake tube to the engine to keep any dirt or debris out while the work is being performed.




This is the hole in the fender that the new Safari air boot will pass through.




Removing The Inner Fender Liner.

This part of the job is the biggest pain, it's not that hard just tedious getting all the clips out. The inner liner is held in place with a combination of retaining clips, screws and fasteners. I will be leaving the fender flares in place during this process to eliminate the risk of breaking the retaining tabs on the flares during removal. You can remove the flares if you choose for your install.




Remove all the retaining bolts with 10mm heads (10 Total). Three of them are hidden up under the lower lip of the fender flare, you can easily see them by looking up under the lip of the flare.






The front lower retaining bolt is longer, take note of this and re-install it in the same location.




The rear lower bolt has a wider backing face on it than the others, make sure this gets re-installed in the same location as well.




This fastener is on the front edge of the fender flare, you turn it 90 degrees with a screwdriver and pull to remove it.




Now to remove the inner fender screw grommets. There are 13 of these total. These can be a little tricky to remove, the grommets are square and there are two tabs that need to be compressed to get the fastener to release. You can use a couple screwdrivers, a special tool for these style clips or just use a set of side cutters and cut the fasteners off then replace with new units when re-installing. I'll be doing a combination of removal with tool and cutting to make the process easier.

The tool I'll be using to remove the clips.






Here's a pic of a removed grommet. Seeing this will give you a better idea on how to go about removing it. The two retaining tabs (Red Arrows) need to be compressed while you pull the grommet outwards. The two tabs are on opposite corners meaning the other two corners have no areas to be compressed. When using the tool or screwdrivers make sure you are working on the corners that have the tabs.




This picture shows how the tool engages the grommet and compresses the tabs.




Two more fasteners need to be removed. The left one (Red Arrow) holds the splash shield onto the frame. Just pry under this fastener with a screwdriver and it will pop right out. The other fastener (Blue Arrow) releases by prying the center button up then pulling the whole fastener out of the frame. You can do this will a screwdriver or a special tool.






There are 7 grommets hidden under the lip of the fender flare (Red Arrows show a couple of them). These are harder to remove with the fender flare in place, as mentioned above I will be leaving the flares on for this install so I will cut these 7 grommets with side cutters and install new grommets when re-installing. Gently pull the edge of the flare back, insert the side cutters and cut the head off the grommet.






With all the fasteners removed you can remove the inner fender liner from the truck. Start at the front of the truck by pulling down on the back edge of the liner and work your way to the rear. Once the back side is released push the whole liner towards the engine and out from behind the fender flare. Set the liner to the side.






Looking up into the fender well with the liner removed.




Drilling and Cutting The Holes:

Time to lay out the areas to be drilled and cut. Pop the center piece out of the provided template.




Line up the upper edge of the template with the top edge of the fender and the rear edge of the template with the rear edge of the fender. Using painters tape attach the template into position.






Using a fine tip marker mark the hole locations onto the fender. Once marked remove the template from the fender.




Here I'm using a spring loaded center punch to mark the center of the holes.






Next drill a pilot hole at each hole location.




Now drill the holes to final size. I drilled them to 11/32 (slightly over size) as it gives you a little room to get the snorkel on and off the truck without the threads grabbing while doing fit up work. The tape in the picture keeps metal shavings from getting down between the flare and the fender. I also drilled a hole close to the line on the center cut out location, this hole will give you a place to start using the saw.




Apply painters tape around the marked center hole to keep the fender from being scraped up during the cutting process.




I'll be cutting the center hole with an air powered saw, you can use a jig saw as well.




Using the saw cut out the center hole.




Use a half round file and a Rat tail file to clean up all the freshly cut edges, file them smooth and eliminate any sharp edges, burrs etc. I like to use a De-Burring tool to clean up the smaller holes, a rat tail file will also work fine.

De-Burring tool.






Edges cleaned up and ready for test fitting.




Preparing The Snorkel:

Installing the mounting studs on the snorkel.




I like to use Loctite 243 for my go to medium strength locking compound. 243 will set even when surfaces aren't perfectly clean unlike 242 that requires very clean surfaces.




Place a bit of Loctite on the studs and thread them into the back of the snorkel assy, snug them up tightly by hand.








Test Fitting:

At this point you will want to test fit the snorkel into place on the truck. Some holes may need to be slightly filed (oval shaped a bit) for clearance with a rat tail file (The template is very close but isn't perfect). You might find that it's easier to over size one or two holes slightly if they are hanging up on a stud by drilling them to the next size . CAUTION: The snorkel should go on easily without much effort, if it's tight don't pound the snorkel onto the truck or the threads on the studs will grab the fender when you try to pull the snorkel back off and make removal very difficult.

Prepping The Edges:

Once the test fitting has been completed it's time to seal the bare edges of the holes with primer and paint. I let the paint dry over night in the garage and finished the install the next morning. You could get away with installing the snorkel faster if needed.

Primer and Paint applied.






Modifying The Air Box:

While the primer and paint is drying it's a great time to get the air box modified to accept the snorkel's rubber boot. You will need to remove the factory intake tip on the lower air box. The tip can be removed by prying with a screwdriver at the retaining clip point on each side of the tip (Red Arrow).








Set the tip to the side as you won't be re-using it. Next you will need to remove the three index ridges and the two clips on the side of the air box piping (Red Arrows). This area needs to be smooth so the Snorkel's rubber intake boot will slide onto the air box and seal tightly.

Use the side cutters to clip the index ridges as low as possible.








Now use a file to finish smoothing off the ridges and side clips. The intake piping should be smooth all the way around now.






Installing The Snorkel Rubber Air Boot:

Here is the supplied snorkel rubber air boot. The red arrow is pointing to the indent where the boot passes through the factory hole in the fender.




Install the boot from up under the fender, fold the tip of the boot to get it to squeeze through the hole in the fender.






At this point place the two silver hose clamps on each end of the rubber boot, don't tighten them at this point.




Re-install the lower portion of the factory air box and install it into the rubber air boot. Tighten the three air box bolts down but don't tighten the hose clamp on the boot at this point.




Installing The Snorkel:

Place a very thin layer of lubricant on the edge of the snorkel to air boot connection.




Install the snorkel onto the truck making sure that the air boot slides into the snorkel during assembly.




Reach up under the fender and install the supplied washers and lock nuts. Leave these a tad loose at this point.




Installing the vertical snorkel support bracket - MODIFIED INSTRUCTIONS

The Safari instructions tell you to mark out the bracket on the A pillar and drill three holes, the supplied plastic retaining nuts snap into the holes then the provided screws will attach the bracket to the A pillar. I don't mind drilling/cutting holes in the fender but don't want to drill any holes in the body/A-Pillar. If you would like to utilize the factory hardware follow the Safari instructions at this point.




Modified A-Pillar Bracket Install Instructions: Instead of drilling into the A-Pillar I will use 3M tape to attach the support bracket to the A-Pillar. This tape is VERY strong and holds extremely well, I've used it in the past with great results. Best thing is this is fully reversible (can be removed by sawing through the tape with a piece of fishing line) and creates no leak points into the cab.

3M Tape being used.




Tape applied to the back side of the support bracket and trimmed to shape with a razor blade.






With the snorkel bolts still loose under the fender there is a little flex in the snorkel assembly. Pull the snorkel forward a bit, slip the support bracket into position on the snorkel (with the backing removed on the tape), snug the bracket up on the snorkel and press the snorkel against the A-pillar. At this point to snorkel is locked onto the A-Pillar.








Now go back up under the fender and tighten the 6 mounting nuts. A 13mm ratcheting wrench works perfectly in this space, especially on the front two nuts as there is limited space available for tools.




Tighten the two silver air boot hose clamps at the snorkel and air box connections.





Finishing Up:

Re-install the air filter and upper air box lid. Re-connect the mass air flow sensor connector at this point as well.

I like to apply a thin layer of grease on the air filter seal, this ensures no fine dust can make it's way around the seal and into the engine.








Re-install the inner fender liner. Do the reverse of the removal process, get the lip under the fender flare started first and work your way from rear to front. Install new clips at this point if you decided to cut any of them during the removal process. Re-install the hardware and retaining clips removed during the removal process.






Using the supplied black hose clamp install the intake onto the snorkel.




And the job is all finished




The fit and finish of the Safari unit is top notch! Feel free to ask any questions that might come up during the install.

Hodakaguy

 

Wow. Awesome write up!

 

Very nice write up .

 

Thanks, hopefully it will help someone out wanting to do the install themselves.

Hodakaguy

 

Awesome write-up!

 

GREAT write up! Thanks for the detail in the instructions! Sticky game for sure IMHO.

 

I have no intent to install a snorkel... ever. I just don't have a need for one... but that write up was awesome and I enjoyed the read. Like watching one of those garage TV shows, but more info and complete. Well done!

 

Nice wright up! Subbing for future reference.

 

I can’t believe you had the balls to cut a hole in that beautiful Tacoma.

 

Also very well done.

 

No Fear! Worst case if you decided you didn't like it down the road you could just have a body shop install a new fender....bam, back to stock

Hodakaguy

 

Or ask to swap fenders with someone. You would have many takers!

@Hodakaguy awesome write-up. Thanks!

 

How long do you think it would take to do the mod with all the parts, pieces and paint at hand and ready to go?

 

Thanks for the install guide, worked great. Knocked it out in 4 hrs taking my time and letting paint dry.

 

Bookmarked.
Need to do this when it warms up a bit more

 

Bad ass write up. Nice work OP.

 

Not something I would ever need to do, but a really awesome write-up.

G.

 

Great write up wow

 

Hey did you use factory grommets to replace the ones you cut or did you use something else?

 

I replaced the ones I cut with OEM fasteners.

Hodakaguy