Different approach to a snorkel

I am a firm believer in metal being superior to plastic 99.8% of the time. Plus, I really didn't want to look in my engine bay and see a piece of Homey Despot DWV pipe all the time. Also, it sits directly above the exhaust, which means I need something that can handle the heat without melting or breaking down. And one of the bigger reasons: Living in SoCal means that when I take it in for smog check, anything that stands out the least little bit is going to draw the attention of the tech, and mill finish aluminum looks stock.

 

Like I keep trying to explain, it draws from the exact same location as the cabin air.
So if someone experiences a wet cabin air filter, or has puddles on the passenger floormat, or the glove box turns into a lake every time it rains, then this mod is not for that person......also, I would recommend that person take hir truck back to Toyota, because it seems as though it may be the only one with that issue.
This mod is also not for someone who is more concerned about water entering the intake through the cowl than s/he is about water entering the intake through the wheel-well.
This mod also is not for someone who prefers to spend $300 on a fancy pre-made snorkel than spend $30 on a custom-built, personally-crafted intake that also frees up a ton of space under the hood.

 

I'm going to have to do this. I do not like that ice cream scoop that stock has fender liner or not, that shit is not cool.

 

Where I got my 90* elbow:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/UNIVERSAL-B...Parts_Accessories&hash=item3f1d8b606e&vxp=mtr

Went with this one because of the construction (I believe in overkill), and because I was able to drive to pick it up and therefore make a cash deal in person. It is a QUALITY part!!!!! And he sells T-bolt clamps to match, too.

If you get this one, you'll need to trim one leg. How I did it was I installed a clamp on the leg as close to the inner radius of the bend as I could get and still keep the edge of the clamp parallel with the end of the elbow, then just ran a razor blade around the edge of the clamp to cut off the excess. Perfectly straight, flush cut that way.

 

Thanks!

 

BAM!



And look at all that freespace!

 

Looking good!

What's the filter in pic 2??

 

It's on the return line for my catch can.

 

Where did you get your 90* from? Can it be purchased from Home Depot?

 

Nice!!!

 

I bought mine from intakehoses.com. Not sure if I would recommend it unless you have a 4.5" hole saw maybe (that is if you use the end you cut off the elbow as the gasket for the hole in the firewall like I did). I used a 4.25" hole saw and I had to widen out the hole quite a bit with my grinder (which is a pain in the ass to do). That rubber is thick. The intake tube I got has a 4" OD and was a super tight fit in the rubber elbow that I'd guess had an ID that is just under 4". So I basically widened the hole out til the elbow was almost loose fitting in it and then I used motor oil to grease it up and jammed the hose into it.

Elbow:
http://intakehoses.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=90HL4SR&Category_Code=9DEH

Tube: (I had to take a couple inches off of it. Probably should have taken about 3-4 off, but it fit)
http://intakehoses.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=AL4X12&Category_Code=SIT7

 

Just took it for a drive and when I am on the throttle it is definitely noticeable in the cab. Kind of a cool noise though and my wife said it wasn't too bad so it's all good.

 

You mentioned that you saw an increase in vacuum of 2" Hg if I remember correctly. That indicates an increase in flow resistance. To put it another way, vacuum is the absence of air. An increase in the absence of air in your intake piping is not what you're going for.

2 inches of Hg converts to 27.2 inches of water column as a pressure measurement. At my work, we have air filters that we replace once the differential across them reaches 0.8 inches of water column. So you can see that a difference of 27.2" water column is a significant change. I came across an air filter test article that showed the difference between NO air filter installed, and an air filter installed on this dudes car was 2" water colum: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/air-filtration-test/

If you can't notice a seat of the pants difference, than I guess you should be alright. Either way the engine management is going to put the correct amount of fuel in for the air flow, and in open loop it's going to dump too much in, which is fine. But I would think you're looking at a bit of a power loss with this. They say you can't really feel anything less than a 10% change in power through the seat of your pants. But at the end of the day, hydrolocking your engine in a water crossing is a hell of a lot worse than a bit of a hit to your HP. I'm still considering this set up myself because I'm sure I will tear a snorkel off my truck on trees, and I don't like the look of them... Anyone got a dyno handy?

 

Good points.
I'm thinking any restriction in the system is going to be at the immediate inlet -- i.e. where I have my diverter wall. The clearance isn't much (~2-3"). I'm wondering if I should try angling the diverter wall as far toward the windshield as possible...??...

 

You're not getting any water with this install? isn't that where all the windshield water is guttered?

 

Do you get water in your cabin air/passenger feet? it's the same area that the cabin air intake is.

 

This is awesome. I just chopped my fenders for my 285's and immediately realized the problem with the stock ice cream scoop intake. I am deff going to do this.

Before, when I was running stock inner fender wells I would occasionally find some pine needles caught between the removable and the secondary air filter as well as dust collection. I wasn't going to remove the secondary for that reason. Now that the ice cream scoop is fully exposed I absolutely need to do something. Maybe this would eliminate the pine needle/dust problem? I have always had cheap paper filters and have not been changing them as much as I should. Is the debris coming in through a clogged filter? I am thinking if I change it on time, maybe I wouldn't have this problem in the first place.

 

Finally found this thread, great idea OP, will be doing some sort of variation on this in the future.

 

I think I am going to coat my aluminum tubing with a rubberized coating to see if I can keep it from picking up so much heat from the motor. When I am moving at like 55+ my intake temps are within 5* of what the thermometer in the headline is reading, but when going slow or sitting and idling I typically see 100*+ at the intake.

While going down the highway at 75mph I also noticed that turning my air on full blast would cause my intake temp to increase 2-3* compared to off. I didn't try the in between settings, but it was super consistent and still has been.

 

Has anyone tried using that airplane ducting? I like the look of the aluminum tube, but the airplane duct seems like it would be able to provide enough insulation from the heat.