3rd Gen Cowl Induction Snorkel

Ha. I love living in CA. Went to order this and they won’t sell to anyone in CA. Guess I’ll just have to look at Home Depot.

 

try eBay! That’s how I got my HPSI tube!

 

Oh good call. I’ll check there too. Thanks

 

Dislike

 

Have had a cowl intake on mine for a couple months, stock airbox with stock filter. Maybe a cunt hair louder in the cab but was only noticable on the first drive or two at wot, then you're used to it. No issues with Washington rain/snow covering the cowl.

 

Has anyone tried this cowl reroute by going out of the air filter housing thru the fender at the factory location and then rearward above the inner fender liner within the fender and then through a large hole in the side of the cowl? The reason I ask is my area between the factory air filter box and the front wall of the cowl is already occupied with a battery. Don't yet have any idea if there is enough of a side wall to the cowl area for this to be possible but will be having my windshield replaced soon and I will take a look see then.

 

The outside of my truck vs the inside of the airbox. Only time I end up getting it dirty is at hammers with all the fine dust in the air. Been rubbing this cowl intake for 7+ months no issues.

 

Thanks for this tip! Order finally placed!

 

Got the flexible tube from eBay. This box is pretty funny.

 

The Amazon ad had me rolling lmao

 

I guess one plus of buying cheap Chinese packaging.

Custom built adjustable cold air injection pipe to suit most vehicles by changing the direction of the pipes!

 

I had to read that description a few times and still don’t understand it.

Actually the text below the reduce fuel cost is even better.

 

It has outstanding effect on high temperature!

 

When air is introduced to the engine it can bring fresh air to the engine!

 

With the help of this forum, I recently performed this mod. I have the SR so the hardest part was moving the ABS module. I mostly do trail rides in the State Forest here in Northwest Florida and do minor water crossings. But.. I’ve seen members of our group hydro lock engines in some of these spots. I have found water in my air box previously so I decided to go this route. Thanks everyone!

 

I originally planned to use pvc then paint it black. That will be a later project

 

Followed this more or less but I ended up using a 45 silicone bend

$25 Upgr8 Universal 4-Ply High Performance 45 Degree Elbow Coupler Silicone Hose (3.0"(76MM), Black)

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00CB22FQC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details and a regular straight bit with a the bump in it

$15 Hiwowsport 4'' Length Hump Black Silicone High Temperature 4-ply Reinforced Straight Hump Coupler Hose (3.0"(76MM))

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MR461UD?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

However, if i were to do this again, 2 45 bends will be more or less ideal for the flange connections. Ended up using 9" of aluminum 3" pipe, works like a charm now.
as seen here, if i had a second 45 bend, it would line up much better.


granted my flange is as high as i could physically put it.
(sharpie was to figure out the best place to put the hole, IMO if you butt up the edge of the flange against the OEM wiring tie-down bolt and the top of the firewall(?) portion of the airbox, it's fairly easy to mark up and cut out





@Snail81

 

Figured to do a write up in case @atlas99 video
https://youtu.be/hmPEfuB7i1g
gets lost and that the majority of photos get wiped out for whatever bizarre reasons. HE DOES A REALLY GOOD JOB AT SHOWING HOW TO DO THIS,

I'm JUST DOING A WRITE UP SO PEOPLE CAN SCROLL THROUGH

Basically a crash course guide to people who are a bit hesitant and want a proper step by step to read off of with a thought process of what materials were used and what alternatives exists as well as where holes are drilled (the two 3" mains ones going to the OEM air box and the cowl). Obviously take this with a grain of salt the size of the air filter but it's something you can follow along for those that don't want to flip through 8 pages of photos and text to piece it together.

Wanted to avoid this scenario from happening again: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...3rd-gen-today.399305/page-12990#post-28729891
with mud getting inside the air intake box and mudding up the filter.


So overall, What is the Cowl induction snorkel? think snorkel but minus the dorkieness. that's as much as you're gonna get from me.

TOOLS:
Socket set, wrench set (optional but till be better with sockets), 6" extension (you can use a 10" if you want to feel better about yourself), general tool bag of pliers, cutters, vise grips. Anything is a hammer if you use it as one

As @erok81 pointed out in his post, lots of @OPs parts no longer are on the market or are difficult to obtain, So i followed his guide so to speak


Parts and tools:
Stuff i got was all from Amazoom:

1. ($25) one 3"
   $15 Hiwowsport 4'' Length Hump Black Silicone High Temperature 4-ply Reinforced Straight Hump Coupler Hose (3.0"(76MM))
   4-ply Reinforced Straight Hump Coupler Hose
2. ($27) one* 3"
   $25 Upgr8 Universal 4-Ply High Performance 45 Degree Elbow Coupler Silicone Hose (3.0"(76MM), Black)
   4-ply 45 degree elbow coupler hose
3. ($18 per one)two** 3"
   $9 Spectre Performance SPE-8148 8148 Air Duct Mounting Plate
   Spectre Performance 8148 Intake Duct Mounting Plate (or similar style.)
4. ($15 per set) two to four 3"ID
   $11 ISPINNER 2 Pack 3" Stainless Steel T-Bolt Hose Clamps, Clamp Range 83-91mm for 3" Hose ID, Pack of 2
   T-bolt hose clamps (number depends on if your couplers come with a set or not.)
   
5. ($45 ish)
   $23 KOTVTM 3" (76mm) OD Straight Aluminum Pipe Intercooler Pipe Air Intake Tube, Length 12" (305mm), Aluminum Alloy Tube High polished
   one 12" length of 3" straight tube (aluminum or stainless depending how fancy you want to be)

Home Depot:

1. ($11) one 4" Flexible pipe cap (this makes life infinately faster/ easier than gluing the hole shut)
   
2. ($13) one *** SENSOR SAFE RTV Blue. I personally used Permatex Ultra Blue because it has a working temp around -54c/-64F (Because some people live/ lived near the Yukon/ Alaska where shit hits -40c/f for fun) I think JB Weld's RTV Blue is the same but i couldn't find the working temp range for it but regardless MAKE SURE IT'S SENSOR SAFE REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU GET.
3. ($35 to $65) one Milfucky Hole Dozer 3" . i recommend this version as it's cheaper but you need to order it online... otherwise you'll need to buy a separate arbour for it.
4. ($40) one set of tree bits - step bits, basically i just used this One from a set from Canadian Tire but i wouldn't fork out $40 for just one. if you have a drill bit set, just use that to match the bolts.
5. (like $20) 4x Bolts, washers, and Nylocks. Personally used 1/4-20 by 1-1/2 inch long bolts with Washers for both sides and Nylocks to hold everything together.
6. ($15) Tremclad rust paint I had some of the high heat stuff kicking around so i used that. Any flavour of spray paint will work too.

* - I'll explain it later in the post but TLDR, 2 45s will give a slightly better alignment than a 45 and a straight.
** - plastic ones should be super good enough mostly because the rubber coupler will vibrate more than the mounting plate.
*** - optional but recommended

Step the first!
Lets get rid of the windshield wipers, Easy enough to do: Pop the little caps off the base of the wiper assembly. Before removing the Nut, feel free to use a paint marker or something to align the bolt and the wiper for re installation later. Using i think a 14mm socket, pop that sucker off.
Take the passenger side off first, pop the hood open and then take the driver side wiper off. saves you the hassle of opening and closing 15 times trying to figure it out.



Second the step!
tAKING THE COWL OFF. This is a little bit of a pain in the arse mostly because i snapped 3 of the 5 clips taking mine off.
First remove the button fasteners at points 1 and 2 (see below)

this thread has some more info on the rest of the removal: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/has-anyone-removed-this-piece.538174/#post-17347550
BUT TLDR: careful as you yank it out, you will probably snap a peg - mine got caught on a round one in the middle so i just gave up trying to finesse it out.
this post has a lot more detailed photo set as to what you're going to be looking at.
shamelessly stolen photos: thanks @Claudiomartinof



mostly just be careful as you pull the cowl out, there is a lip under the glass that holds it in place. the clips are only at the front edge (closest to the engine) and as you do pull out be careful to not destroy the edges of the cowl. Like this shamelessly stolen photo from the same thread as above.

there is going to be a pattern of stolen photos for a bit longer

Touch third
now that you have this (yes it's a second gen, i don't have photos pre-drilling, but it's the same as the 3rd gen if you squint your eyes and photoshop out the antenna) we need to move the entire air box (i don't know the technical name for it, it's the plastic box that holds the filter)


Remove the air box, loosen the OEM hose clamp and the clamps and pull the entire head unit off and shove it onto the engine. CAREFUL WITH THE SENSOR AND WIRE

and then remove the filter. 3 bolts hold the rest of the intake air box thing down, those are either 12 or 14mm sockets. probably a 12mm but i think there was a 14mm somewhere.

Fin-dangle the thing out and yank the shoehorn looking thing out


2 steps forward, another 2 steps forward.
Putting a hole into the plastic bits to get comfortable before drilling 3" holes into metal bits.
There is a thousand ways to skin a cat for this one, and there is no "correct" answer.
some have it set like this, where you cut the top right corner off the flange

Another guy has it like this, where you trim off just the tips

another guy had this, no bolt in top left (or top right if you're looking in from the inside, this is actually the same as guy 1 above)

and i have this, where i don't have a bolt in the bottom right.


How i set mine up, i placed the flange outside of the box:


use a sharpie or paint marker to mark your hole. The reason i went in this direction is that i have a clean top edge compared to a cut one for when i insert this inside the box and don't want the filter to snag on it (which i don't think is an issue, but see 2 images above)
First Drill your main 3" hole, insert the flange into the hole (i had to trim some plastic off the box for it to be a better fit) and then mark the bolt hole locations.
As the plastic has a bit of a curve, I recommend going a size or two above the bolts you got just in case.
once you trim everything up Dry fit everything, all bolts as well. if not, use a tree bit and just make the hole larger either on the airbox or on the flange itself.
Spread a boat load of that Blue RTV gasket silicone on the inside face of the flange and insert that into the new gaping hole you just made. Slip the 3 bolts in and using washers, cinch everything down with Nylocks.
The top of the flange should be met nicely with the weird lip thing that the paper filter sits on.


it all happened when the 5th step attacked
First off, remove the OEM peg loop cable tie thing, i recommend removing the 2, See below to what I'm talking about)
Drilling the hole in the firewall (i think it's technically the fire wall if it goes towards the cowl cavity? we don't use technical terms here)

OK so there is a LOT of different placements the thread has used to for the cowl portion of the new intake.
See this Venn Diagram:

• Black will be a cut to cut through, and i feel is too low for the cowl intake
• White i took a guess at which would remove the OEM Loom stub
• Green is where i cut the hole.

BuT wHy Is ThAt?
Reason i went with Green, it's repeatable for everyone who sees this guide and it's the highest up you can put this thing that keeps the lower edge of the intake far away from the bottom of the cowl where water may seep in over time if it gets full during rain.

How to set up green; Simple, place the flange against the top of the cowl lip, slide it against the wire loom peg. draw your hole.


First trim out the firewall filter fabric mesh stuff
and then cut your hole.

doing the same thing with the air box bottom bit for the first flange. insert flange backwards, mark your holes. drill them and up size them a unit or two. The cowl has a funny bend to it so your holes might not line up perfectly. just expand the holes in the plastic flange if needed. (it's what i did)
and then Paint it all with some rust paint or spray paint or whatever.


RTV the flange the same way we did for the air box. I paid for the full tube, I'm going to use the whole tube:
clean it up with a rag for presentation. (you can also see why i have my intake so high up as there is a bunch of water/ dirt that collects at the bottom and may or may not drain)

Bolt it up the same way with washers and Nylocks

what are you doing StepSIxter?
thank you for joining in my loss of sanity.

Mount the airbox bottom back into place (loosely for now, no need to bolt all the way tight)
so now slip the silicone couplers on along with their. For the 45 Bend, Basically cut short one leg of the coupler to have enough width that will hold a t-bolt hose clamp, slipped that onto the airbox and crank down the t-bolt.

Do the same with the cowl sided coupler.

Measure once, Cut once. Mine came out to be 9" of 3" pipe, cut that off and slip it onto the coupler, tighten the t-bolt hose clamp and repeat for the opther side.



on the 7th step, we rest

Tighten down the airbox, tighten down the nylock and bolts, the t-bolt reassemble the rest of the... Oh wait we forgot the gaping hole IN THE SIDE OF THE AIRBOX.
Thanks @Brownmatthall for your idea of the rubber cap, it's perfect.


slap that 4" rubber cap on (rubber cap is easier to deal with, if you get a hard cap for PVC pipe, it will fit but you'll need to glue it into place)

EDIT: ALTERNATIVE WAY TO CAP THE INTAKE
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-cowl-induction-snorkel.731453/page-10#post-28857270
this would let you keep the 3.5" OEM intake but you'd plug it from inside the Airbox. meaning if you're in higher elevations and you need more air in the truck, you can easily remove the plug and go about your day.



Now reassemble everything and that's about it.
Welcome to the path of my sanity and loss of about 3 of my last remaining 01 braincells and thanks for listening to my comprehensive Ted talk.

SOurces: probably everything from T-world

End cost: $250 ish +/- inflation
but you dont need to spend $1000 on a snorkel and kit

 

Only issue I see with the cowl snorkel is water either from heavy rains or water crossings.