DIY Snorkel

I couldn't find any write ups for this and figured what the heck, why not.
I don't do any sorts of river crossings but, sometimes the mud gets deep. I recently just had a completely saturated air filter and about an inch of water in the air box, so I figured it was time to go with a snorkel.

My initial plan, was to keep everything stock as possible. I started sealing all the stock "snorkel" fittings, the drain holes in the air box, and bought some exhaust fittings from autozone and welded them together, painted them, then used an air pre-cleaner from a Ferguson Massey Tractor. However, this didn't work. Plugging the drain holes made it worse. So I kai bosched the whole design and being a plumber, did what i should have done at the start, make it out of PVC Pipe and fittings. I initially wanted to use 3" pipe and fittings



I quickly found out after sealing with expanding foam and a liberal amount of RTV Silicone, that the 3" was too big and the fender wouldn't fit. Who's ever heard of test fitting???



SO I taped and doped a plug and threw one on there and cranked it. Time to redesign again. Third time's the charm right?



This time I drilled a 2 1/4" hole in the side/bottom and used a 2" Male adapter and a 2"female adapter, kind of like a nut/washer and bolt (clamped the air box inbetween the male and female). Then I expanding foamed and RTV'd the hell out of them.



Then I did this crazy maze thing up and over my power steering reservoir, under the intake hose, then back up the fender well.



I used a bunch of 22° fittings to kind of do a weird corkscrew sort of thing to get it back to level



Then drilled another hole through and used a long sweep ST 90°



and this time I test fitted to make sure the fender fit. It did.
I also had to transition into 1 1/2 PVC Because the OD of 1 1/2 is actually 2" which happened to be the ID of the Pre-Cleaner. I just used a 2X1 1/2 coupling.



Then I used a rigid conduit hanger to secure it to the fender.



This is how it sits unfinished.



This is how it sits finished. Taking it wheelin in about an hour so we will see how it works out. I hope the pre-cleaner won't be a problem with mud since it sucks from the bottom of the bowl.



The only problem i have yet to figure out. Is how to make the hole i cut with tin snips look pretty



Any suggestions?? Comments? Questions? Rude opinions?

 

Woah! WTF wow.. lol sorry

Not worried about the plastic that close to the engine?

There are several write-ups on snorkels, probably here, but check pirate4x4 and TTORA.

Oh and

 

Thats pretty cool! Nice job! For that hole i bet you could find like a rubber grommet thing to seal it up or something.

 

Jeebus your engine bay is dirtay! Very unique man A+

 

To clean up the hole in your fender, you could try using a product called flextrim. It's a flexible rubber material used to finish cut edges like that on boats. It has teeth inside of it so once it goes on, it does not want to come off. It may work for you.

 

I LOVE that! Suweet! That is my next mod, Man!

 

Interesting and creative. I'm glad it works for you but I like the clean look of the Safaris so I would drop 400 on one of those before I pulled out the PVC.

You could look into a Safari head unit/prefilter like Supra_TT has on his homemade snorkel though as well. They're ~$70. Once you clean up the fender hole though you'll be golden.

 

Very crafty! Don't think I have the nuts to punch a hole thru my fender for schedule 40 PVC haha

Your not a plumber by trade are you lol

 

Beer can aircleaner would be Mac Daddy.

 

I think that's a innovative way take on the whole thing. and a lot of other components in the engine compartment are plastic i think he'll be okay. I applause you sir seal er up and mud on!

 

Take vacuum / fuel line and cut it length wise and use it to create a grommet

 

This. Find some hose and just split it on one side and press it onto the edge.

And I would just made thoe hole bigger to fit the 3" pipe..keep the PVC away from the engine..

 

Good Job. Very Innovative. Plus 1 sir.

( I couldnt do this to my 2nd gen) I love her to much to cut her myself

 

I dig it. Uniquely done, reminds me of my 4 wheelers I've snorkeled. If its sealed right great job.

 

The only thing I'm really worried about is when it gets colder out here in New England, the rapid heating and cooling of it. I mean PVC is very versatile, I believe its up to 180. So it could prove to be an issue, but maybe not.

I thought for sure this would be my solution and I'm still sold on it, however I could only find it in bulk for like $400 I'm sure I can find a buddy with a boat that has some or something though. Thanks for the suggestion!

I'm a plumber apprentice by trade, but I would NEVER hack anything like this in a customer's house

This may be my solution. Good idea!

I really wanted the 3" but I would have had to go out of the fender right at the air box if I did that. I wanted it as concealed as possible.


And I wheeled her hard yesterday. Not a single problem. I lost my muffler, but I'll weld that up today. I'll post pics after work

 

I think you are going to need to support the vertical peice somehow. PVC in general is pretty brittle. Without any kind of support for that vertical tube, I can see it easily snapping off if it comes in contact with tree branches that are any thicker than twigs.

Also, I'll echo the comments about keeping the PVC away from the heat of the motor. Check out one of your local industrial hose suppliers. They should have some flexible heat resistent hose that would work better inside the engine compartment. Just get a few hose clamps and attach the hose to the fitting at your airbox and the tube inside the fender and you'll be much better off.

 

If he used PVC then the melting temp. is 160f I think this is sch40, it starts to decompose at 140f. CPVC has a higher temperature rating. I think he will be safe, worst comes to worse the PVC may become more brittle after lots of time being in heat. But even then I'm sure he will have a even better plan to re-make it, like maybe angling it abit so it won't get caught up on something like BoxRocket said.

 

I'm not sure how thick the fenders are, but 5/32'' is the smallest I could find on the flex trim. They also have 1/4'' but I doubt it's that thick.

http://www.gandermountain.com/modpe...-5/32-x-25&i=82719&str=flex+trim&merchID=4005

 

Just an update, it has been working mint. Its the winter now and i was worried about snow and ice. Not a single problem. The only problem I may see is I sized the pipe down and I feel it may be restricting air flow and making worse mileage. Its hard to tell though since I have 32s and a lead foot. I alos ended up using dishwasher hose to neaten up the hole. I'll try and get some pics soon to show how it came out. Thanks guys.

 

Can we get a group buy on these?