FOR SALE: Cowl Intake (Snorkel) Kits and HVAC Screens

I've never had water come out of my HVAC in a downpour when driving.
Also, don't forget there is the plastic cowl cover that hides all of inners. so technically water cannot flow off of your windshield, off my HVAC cover, and into the intake. I'd recommend taking your cowl cover off to see how it is all built and placed. Way easier to understand. Here are some pictures to help explain.

Red circles are approximate locations of cowl holes for air flow.





Here is what the it looks like with the cowl cover off and the hood closed.





If your cowl area is filling with water so much that it overflows in your HVAC intake, I would recommend cleaning out the sides. Leaves and debris can build up in there.
Here is where the water drains out (right near your front cab mounts):





Let me know if you have any more questions or concerns!

Cheers,
Dan

 

I don't see how that's a possibility, unless you drive around with no cowl.

I just did a test poring water onto the cowl here is why it looks like.

Also, I see your point about there vents in the Center of the cowl.
I don’t see how water droplets can make 4 90degree turns without losing momentum and hitting something.

 

I think you have bigger issues if water is flowing into that HVAC vent.
Flooded engine, ECM damaged, wet feet, etc

 

I completely understand how the system works I have taken the cowling apart more times than I can count. There is the known 2nd gen Tacoma flaw in the cowling. If enough rain water falls that area can fill up with water faster than it can drain off. Hense the recall and modification to the AC intake.

I'm not knocking the idea, I absolutely love it and would love a system like that, but I've been in hurricane storms with 12+ inches of rain falling a day and that trough does get overwhelmed.

My biggest selling point is that when I have to go into emergency situations like that, this system would remove the intake from the wheel well. But if the cowling get overwhelmed I would be back where I started.

If I can make it work and not have to worry about massive amounts of water overwhelming the drainage, I'm all in!

 

I think your best solution is a boat!
But in all seriousness, I see how that could be an issue. Although, not too many people will be driving around in 12" of rain/day situations.
I feel like you can make the drain holes bigger. I know that debris does build up in there (hence why I deigned side screens) and that would definitely slow down the draining in 12"/day rain.

Let me know if you want to place an order!

 

I love the idea, let me do some pondering on the drainage see what I can work out. Awesome work!

 

This is going a bit far but it'd be great if someone did some well-controlled and well-video'ed tests of different water ingress situations, using a series of spray nozzles / hoses pointed down the windshield of 2nd gens. Determining what the max flow rate / gallons per second / equivalent rainfall rate is before the cowl drains overflow.

I'm glad I haven't gone for this cowl induction setup yet as it would be Very Bad™ to have clogged or slow cowl drains leading to water being directly ingested into the modified cowl air intake..

For the truly paranoid.. I wonder if it would work to modify the metal cowl intake pipe to have a grid of holes or even a cut-out with mesh welded onto it, on the bottom of the tube, so that if water ever got in there most of it would drain out of the metal intake pipe before going further down the intake.

 

I can speak to what happens when the engine directly ingests water, which is why I am looking at this kit in the first place.

(To preface, I have an aftermarket front bumper that required me to cut out the frontmost parts of the fender well liners. Most aftermarket bumpers require this.) A few weeks ago, I drove through deep water, and the portions of the fender well liners that remain intact scooped up the water and fed it directly to my engine intake, where it easily pushed through the air filter, flooding my plenum and filling my cylinders with water, killing the engine. Fortunately, I had mostly exited the deep water by the time my truck stopped rolling, due to forward momentum.

After removing the saturated air filter and spark plugs, then turning the starter, geysers of water erupted from my spark plug holes. With the spark plugs reinstalled, the engine ran just fine. I had apparently avoided bending my piston rods by having a light foot and low rpm’s when crossing the water, and then not trying to restart the engine when it died, until pulling the plugs.

My only worry about this kit is the following: sometimes, when crossing deep water, the front of a truck produces a wake that can briefly run up over the hood and onto the base of the windshield. When this happened before I had cut my fender well liners, I still apparently had enough air within the inner fender to let my engine continue to run for a few seconds without choking. What are the chances the Toyota cowl will provide the same temporary coverage against the wake that splashes over the hood?

 

I've thought about making a video to simulate wake splashes over the hood and torrential downpours. I am confident that the water will egress through the drainage holes (unclogged) with no issues.
Clogged drainage holes can be anyone's issue. Torrential downpours will also effect the standard snorkel unless to turn it backwards or have a prefilter. There is really not a perfect system and some things won't be in your control.

That's terrible! Sucks that happened, but glad your engine survived!
Bow wakes are common with water crossings and that is why you need to know how to deal with them. You don't cross the water right behind someone (make sure the water is as still as possible), keep a constant speed and forward motion, and constant throttle. If you are going through water crossings passed your hood, you will definitely have other problems. All of your electrical is 100% submerged. If you are going to be using you truck like a submarine often, I would recommend a standard snorkel with all the holes plugged lol

The Toyota cowl cover has holes placed in strategic areas where it will drain away from the HVAC system. That is why you install the new engine intake pipe right in front of it. There is enough room in the cowl for the engine to use the air if water is coming through the cowl cover holes. See my post above with the circled hole locations.
I would honestly be completely fine with a bow wake coming over my hood. I've been in the cowl a number of times, and I've tested dumping buckets of water on it with no issues.

 

When you add a bumper and have to cut the liner this is how you avoid what happened to you. You cut the liner to where you can screw it shut

 

Anyone ever notice during Co-Vid that the N95 masks would let air through but not water. I wonder if a screen could be made with a similar material without blocking too much air flow?

 

Subd for a later date

 

IMO this would block too much air. The closest thing to water-blocker in the air intake is the factory pleated filter itself, plus the secondary thin activated-carbon anti-vapor filter. Those can be much more densely woven because they have a far larger cross-sectional area.

 

Black Friday Deal!
Save 15% off on all items (KIT1 to KIT4).
Sale runs from November 24-26, 2023.
DM or email peleprints3d@gmail.com to purchase.
Applicable taxes apply.

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I've actually had this issue before. Random water puddle on the passenger floor mat.
However I noticed it after coming back in from work, a week or 2 after the possible ran. So I wasn't certain what had actually occured. Currently we are having some serious rains and I noticed a puddle again. (only the 2nd time witnessed since 2007)

My in cabin filter is wet so it's coming from the cowl. The truck has been parked so now I know where to look to troubleshoot once the rain subsides.
I'm also in southern Louisiana, south of Lafayette.

 

PM'd

this looks way better than the "OG" method...

 

It’s raining pretty heavily and drive thru some flooded streets at speed for fun.

Here is what the cowl intake looks like.
Looks pretty dry.

 

I got the full kit and I really like it. All of the parts are good quality. The install went well. Putting in the side screens is a little tedious but they look great and fit well. I had no problems with any of the parts or hadware like mentioned from someone else on the previous page of this thread. I have been wanting to do this for a while and I saw a few different guys doing diy stuff but could never commit to doing it. I'm sure you could do something similar on your own but buying it from @dpele was easy and it's nice to support TW members that are doing cool stuff. I had some questions during install and Dan got back to me right away. I highly recommend.

 

Thank you for your kind words! I'm glad you like the kit and the install went well!
Enjoy the product.

Cheers,
Dan