2012 Molon Labe Build-up

Another update

I replaced the roof rack LEDs from this:



To this:





I also got around to moving the Trailer Plug.

 

Another Update

I have no idea if there was a TSB or recall for the secondary air injector filter? Regardless, I removed the foam and install a Uni filter.


I replaced the 2-meter 440 Ham antenna (homemade) spring mount I installed several years ago.


With a robust spring mount.


Replaced the OEM tailgate cover.


With a Hooke Road flat cover.


Replaced all the OEM speakers.


With a not so Plug-n-play NVX speaker set from Sonic Electronix and soundproofed the doors.



Replaced the OEM Stereo/CD Head unit.


With a Sony XAV-AX3200 from Crutchfield.


Replaced my (resting on bed rails) crossover tool box.


With a used UWS tool box that rests perfectly on the wheel wells.


I cleaned up the UWS box and bed lined it.


I still need to do the rear dif breather mod. I ordered a 4 breather kit so I will probably extend the others and locate them all in the engine compartment.

I have a few other things I am working on such as the bed lights and tool box light as well as adding a chase bar.

 

Update,

This weekend I knocked out several things.

First, I ran the wiring for the bed lights and the vacuum tube for the rear dif breather under the cab body along the wire harness that runs under the driver’s side. I mounted the breather manifold and completed the rear dif breather mod.



I plan on running all the breathers here. Most likely I will just extend the existing breather but that will depend on how hard it is to reach the breathers. If I can, I will run completely new tubing but as I said its likely that extending the existing tubing is as far as I can reach.

Next, I wired and installed the bed lights. These are a fairly simple pod setup from Amazon. Although, they are powered on at the 8 gang box, I installed a separate switch in the bed to activate the bed lights.

At the same time, I installed the tool box and installed one of the light pods in the box with a separate switch.









Lastly, I fabricated and installed limb risers.





I still need to install the chase rack. I need to modify the mounts and extend the bottom of the bars so that the rack sits high enough to allow the tool box to open. Also, because the tool box was designed to rest on bed rails, the tool box had to be mounted with a 2” gap between the back of the box and the bed. I need to figure out how to fill this gap so that I don’t drop something behind the box (like my keys).

 

Update,

I have been wanting a chase bar with a basket for some time. Someone here on TW built one that had a folding basket and I liked. The closest commercially produced chase bar that I liked was the Blackhorse Atlas; however, at over $1000.00 plus shipping that price is too steep for something that will see limited use. I assume the Blackhorse is well built. The specs say it is constructed of 3” tube and can support 150 pounds.



Looking around I found what looks like a clone of the atlas on Amazon and it was less than half the price of the Blackhorse with free shipping. I knew I was going to need to modify the chase bar so starting with something less than 1k was better for my needs. The specs on the TKM Auto chase bar were the same as the Blackhorse with 3” tubes and 150 pounds weight limit. This clone did not come with an installed 3rd break light, so I purchased a 6” break light to add to it.



After I received the chase bar, I assembled it then mounted it and determined that I would need to raise it up 5 ¼” so that my toolbox (under it) could open fully. I also did not like the look of the mounts that accommodate a tonneau cover or the TKM Auto on the side plates. I planned to modify both of these as well.

The chase rack 3” tubing is .065” walled steel tubing. I do not know if the Blackhorse Atlas has thicker walls. Anyway, since I needed to extend the bottom of the rack, I ordered some 3” .065” low-Carbon Steel round Tubing from McMaster-Carr and cut 4 sections at 5 ¼”. Next, I stripped the powder coating on the chase bar around the bottom of all 4 legs. I welded the extensions to the rack then painted the whole thing with bed liner (yellow circles). Next, I cut out the TKM Auto on both side plates then painted them with bed liner (red circles). Next, I cut down the mounts and welded 4 pieces of 2 7/8” OD ¼” wall steel pipe about 2” tall. The rack 3” tubes sit over these 4 pieces of pipe. Next, I drilled holes and threaded the holes in the ¼” walled pipes. Next, I painted the mounts with bed liner (blue circles). I let all the parts cure for 72 hours. Next, I mounted the 3rd break light to basket (green circle) and ran a wire from the DS taillight. I mounted the chase rack and connected the break light. Overall, I am pleased with how it turned out.

 

Just a quick update,

So, the crappy oval marker/ break lights I got off Amazon for a 3rd break light on the chase bar are total crap. I got a 2-pack and both burnt out after three presses of the break pedal. My guess is that the brake lights pull more amps than these chicom things can handle. I ordered a cheap motorcycle/ ATV break light and installed it. So far it is holding up well.



I do not recall if I mentioned it before, but I ordered a few small items and installed them. I replaced the winch hook pull (yellow arrow). The original was getting really worn out. Next, I replaced the winch controller connector cap on my winch control pack (red arrow). The original plastic cap retention strap broke and I did not want to lose the cap, so a replacement was in order. Next, I ordered a replacement windscreen for my Baja Rack (blue arrow). I had drilled and repainted the original so many times it was no longer effective in cutting down on wind noise. Lastly, I added a legacy grill badge (yellow circle) because I liked it. My snorkel should arrive today so that will be coming soon.

 

Like the build brother! Looking forward to your snorkel write up. I’m interested in the “ebay special” quality and fitment. F a $500 snorkel lol.

 

Corny Taco, thanks and here is the first of it.

Update 1/22/24 Snorkel

I have been thinking about a snorkel for several years now. I researched several options available and lest face it, if we assume that most, in not all snorkels perform the same then its really down to looks and price. That being said, there are some particulars that I was paying attention to.

1. The material the snorkel is constructed of. Most snorkels are made of ABS, LLDPE, Carbon fiber, and PE. Of these, I believe LLDPE is the best option for strength, UV, and element protection.
2. The shape and size of the head as well as the height of the snorkel. I have a Baja Rack roof rack and a 40” LED light bar. So, I do not want a conflict with the snorkel and the roof rack or the light bar (For example, the Airaid upper bracket mounts to the same roof mounting points that my roof rack mounts with).
3. The included hardware, I am not a fan of pop-rivets for the A pillar mount (for example, the ARB uses nylon threaded nut inserts and stainless screws, the Dobinson uses the pop-rivets). I also see that some brands include an adhesive backed neoprene gasket for the back side of the snorkel body and some brands do not.

Brands I considered for my 2012 2nd Gen Tacoma:

ARB Safari @ $627.00 – My first choice and I like the look


Dobinson @ $395.00 – My second choice and I like the look. Looks like the ARB at just over half the price.


Airflow @ $482.79 – I like the look and the smaller footprint on the fender and its further back from the front of the vehicle.


Airaid @ $499.99 – Not a fan of the sharp angle looks on my generation of Tacoma, I think it would look better on newer generations and its not available for my generation.


Alphaequipt Carbon Fiber snorkel @ $900+ - Not available for my generation but I do like the low profile.


UpTop Overland @ 699.00 – Not available for my generation and it would conflict with my light bar but I do like the “over the windshield” design.


TJM Airtec @ $449 – It’s unclear if they offer one for the 2nd Gen Tacoma but I also like the “over the windshield” design and the smaller footprint on the fender.


Modify a Hilux snorkel @ $100ish – Not my first choice but doable.
Ebay Clone snorkel @ $100ish – possibly the best choice.

Before I decided on which brand to go with, I watch a ton of YouTube videos on stalling a snorkel on a 2nd gen. Most of these videos were helpful but I can not speak for the experience of the people doing the installations. Regardless I observed several helpful things like moving the secondary air pump during installation, filling in the holes in the OEM air box and intake and the use of the nylon threaded insert nuts. Here are some of the links to these videos that prove helpful for anyone else going down this road.

Probably the best video of all of these. I like what he does to delete the OEM air box and hose and may do this late to my installation.
https://youtu.be/zgWYoxpIZf0?si=aUTts_5mqPIeKxdn

Nylon nuts
https://youtu.be/Rto01ELrpk4?si=-74Ctviw4jVXYNuG&t=266
https://youtu.be/HrXdwlq8gDI?si=UfmZDazN8PeFX93Z&t=963

Filling holes
https://youtu.be/HrXdwlq8gDI?si=_ftAoS1UdJpGTmG0&t=1158

Moving the secondary air pump
https://youtu.be/VpjHdSkMhHs?si=OGC7ytQFEZk_2fxL&t=90

I said in another thread that I am not a fan of buying ChiCom stuff off ebay. Several issues come into play, for example the quality of the clone, supporting a communist regime, supporting the theft of IP, and I could go on for some time. Regardless of these issues, I reconcile my choice for buying a clone for two reasons. #1, ARB and even Dobinson are charging crazy prices for a roto molded tube of LLDPE. I suppose you could argue that all the R&D that went into these designs also has a cost but honestly, if either company sold snorkels around the $200.00 price point, I would not have even though about it. Once you pass the $300.00 threshold, I start to shop around. #2, It is extremely likely that the clone snorkels are being pumped out of the plant as the ARBs and other brands. A similar situation confronted me when I was searching for my 8-gang switch relay kit. The Auxbeam was $169.89, the Spod was over $600 and the ChiCom 8-Gang I got was ~ $50.00.

I digress, the snorkel I chose to go with was a generic clone for the 2005-2015 sold by Lift supports on ebay. I paid $71.75 with free shipping. I chose this snorkel because it is listed as being made of LLDPE, there was a money back guarantee, and the pictures of the components looked comparable to both ARB and Dobinson.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1859139046...uid=q3FBZltTSOW&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

There were two items I planned to alter when I installed the snorkel. First, there was no neoprene gasket in any of the pics so I purchase some neoprene for that purpose, and I did not want to use the pop rivets so I purchased some nylon threaded insert nuts and stainless screws from Ace Hardware.

I received the snorkel about a week later. More pics and installation coming soon.

 

Good info, this helped me. Looking forward to seeing the fitment and quality. Thanks brother!

 

A little more information on the Clone Snorkel I purchased. The box had two labels on it. This first label states a part # of

$627 SS171HP Safari Snorkel Air Intake Snorkel Cold AIR Induction Accessories

SS171HP which is the ARB Safari Snorkel listed on several sites. This further supports the idea that this Snorkel is a clone of the ARB Safari.



The other label on the box lists 5 model numbers ST171A, STR450A, Y160A-1, Y160A-2, and STCM172A.



There are only two markings on the Snorkel. One is on the back side of the main body STT171AA.



And one is on the Rubber Joiner Hose STT171AB



All the parts were in clear plastic bags loose inside the box. Regardless, all the parts look great with no damage. I was not expecting a neoprene gasket, but it was inside the bag with the template and loos hardware. As expected, no instructions were included. Here are some pics of the various parts:

Head









Rubber Joiner Hose



Main Body







Neoprene Gasket



Template and Hardware



I purchased some JB Weld Water Weld to fill the holes in the OEM airbox and hose.



There are the Nylon Insert Nuts and Stainless Screws I purchased for the ‘A’ pillar. I also grabbed a square punch for the holes I will drill to get a tighter fit.



Initial impression is that this is outstanding quality. The molded parts look very clean and finished. The LLDPE plastic is thick and well formed. Honestly, if corners were going to be cut, it would have been in the thickness of the PE plastic and the quality of the mold process. The inside of the snorkel is smooth and defect free. All the hardware looks to be quality. A general statement I have seen about these clone snorkels is that the template is crap. I will determine if this is the case once I get to the install. Also, as I previously stated, I did not expect the neoprene gasket. Lastly, the rubber joiner hose looks to be a quality part. Fingers crossed on the installation.

I am planning on installing this thing this weekend if the temperature cooperates. More pics and information coming soon.

 

Man you weren’t kidding about the quality. Looks fantastic! Do you plan on putting on a pre filter like the guys in the other thread were talking about or just run as is since you’ll be keeping the stock airbox?

I hope you have a garage to work in because I don’t think this rain around ATL is going to be going away for another week lol.

 

Corny Taco, thank you. Yep, the quality looks amazing, and I hope the back side of the snorkel matches the fender contours, but I will not know for sure until I get time to play with it. I do have a garage; however, my truck barely fits inside so to have any room to work on it I have to let 1/3 of the truck sit outside the garage. That should not be an issue and the rain is not as big a deal to me as cold weather is. When you can’t feel your fingers its hard to start threading a nut. As for the prefilter, like you said, I will be keeping the airbox main filter, so I don’t see a need for one and honestly, I do not like the look of the Sy-Klone or whatever. I will most likely grab a pack of those snorkel socks from AOB and keep them in the truck in case I need them at some point but here in GA, dust really is not an issue. Saturday cannot get here soon enough.

 

Nice so you should be good then and like you said, it’s not that dusty around GA unless you’re far south where things get more sandy. It would be a little ironic to spend more money on the Sy-Klone than the actual snorkel lol.

 

Update, Saturday was the day to drill holes in my truck….

Here is my fender before I started.



And this is the inside of my engine bay. Apparently earlier 2nd gens do not have the secondary air pump and even earlier ones have a different airbox. This is my setup. I will need to loosen the three bolts under the secondary air pump and push it towards the firewall. Then I can remove the two bolts that hold the intake hose. Unclamp the intake from the top of the engine and remove the filter and intake hose. Note there is a wiring harness that runs along the left wall under the intake hose. The hose rest on it so when installing the hose clamp for the snorkel, keep that in mind.



I decided to leave the wheel on but removed the fender flair and wheel well liner. I previously purchased a large pack of the attachment clips for the flairs and the liners off Amazon for $13.00, here is the link.

$13 120Pcs Fender Flare Clips, Xislet Retainer Fastener Rivets for Bumper Fender Liner 90189-06065 Compatible with Toyota 4Runner Tacoma RAV4 Replace 75495-35010 75397-35010 90189-06013

https://www.amazon.com/Xislet-90189...75397-35010+90189-06013&qid=1706539079&sr=8-1

If anyone has a method to remove either the fender flairs or the liners without breaking most of the clips in the process, feel free to share.

The template…

Well, the paper template that came with my snorkel was fairly accurate. There were three reference points to align the template. A cut line along the top of the template that I aligned with the top of the fender. A cut line on the left side of the template that I aligned with the left side of the fender. And the cutout around the antenna that I aligned as expected. With the template taped in place, I was very concerned that it put the joiner hose too far towards the rear of the fender but and its really hard to judge this without the large hole in the fender. I eventually decided that as long as all the holes are behind the snorkel, I could adjust as I went along, and the snorkel would cover them.



I used a 2” hole saw to drill out the two centered holes for the large hole in the fender. Once I had those two holes drilled, I aligned the joiner holes inside the fender and verified that at lease this hole on the template was correct. I then used a Dremel with a cut off wheel to widen the hole.



Next, I installed the threaded studs in the back of the snorkel and marked them with a paint pen then test fir the snorkel.



From this test fit I realized that my hole needed to be widened for the snorkel to sit flush on the fender. Also, only two of the studs were touching the fender. I needed to widen the large hole to the lines on the template along the top and right side (red line). Also, the two studs that did touch the fender were fairly close to the marked stud holes on the template (red circles).



I ended up backing out most of the studs, so they were longer, and test fit the snorkel again and everything was spot on. If I had drilled out the holes for the studs to the size of the holes on the template it would have made it much easier to align the snorkel, but I drilled out my holes one drill bit size larger than the studs and end up having to widen one of the stud holes, but the rest were very close to center of the marked holes on the template.

Next, I moved to the air intake and cut off the end along the green line in the picture.



Next, I mixed up the JB Weld Water Weld and filled in the holes in the on the intake and set aside to cure.



With the snorkel sitting in place, I marked the A pillar where the bracket sits then removed the snorkel and transferred the markings for the three holes to the tape. I made sure the passenger side door would open and close without hitting the snorkel before I did any drilling.



I drilled out the holes with a 3/8 bit (my nylon clips needed a 13/32 square hole). When doing this you need to make sure you do not penetrate any deeper than 5mm or you could damage the air bag. It looked to me that there was another metal piece inside the A pillar, but I do not know how thick that metal is, so I was careful to not penetrate too deep. Once the holes were drilled, I attempted to use the square punch to widen them and make them square, but this did not work so well. The punch dented the area around the hole rather than widening it. I eventually just drilled the holes to 13/32.



Next, I applied some silicone TRV sealant into the holes, removed the tape, then applied more RTV to the back side of the nylon clips then installed them with a hammer. The stainless screws I got were 5/8” long and I found that I needed to cut them down. Probably screws 3/8” would have worked. I installed the backet with the screws and removed all the tape from the truck.



Next, I cleaned up all the drilled holes with sanding drums and files. Then I masked off the fender again and applied black rust preventative spray paint to all the bare metal.



After that was dry, I installed the air intake hose and filter.

I installed the joiner hose with the hose clamps on and aligned it with the hole in the fender. There is a flat index surface inside the joiner holes that aligns with the flat index point on the intake hose. I found applying some super lube clear grease to the inside of both opening on the joiner hose made this easier and probably aided in sealing.

Once the joiner hose and intake were mated, I tightened the hose clamp at that joint.

Next, I reinstalled the secondary air intake.

Next, I applied Loctite to all the studs and installed them in the snorkel body. The Dobinson instructions said to tighten them all the way down, but I found that If I did that, trying to thread on the washer and nuts was next to impossible on some of the studs so I install all of them about ¾ of the way.

Next, I cleaned off the back of the snorkel and installed the neoprene gasket.

Next, I installed the snorkel. Again, If I had to do this again, I would have drilled all the stud holes to the diameter of the holes on the template. Regardless, for most of these nuts you will not be able to get a socket on them. Ratcheting wrenches really made it easier but that once stud up near the antenna mount is a real pain to get to. Getting the joiner holes to mate to the snorkel was fun as well. Thank God, I coated the inside of the hose with the super lube. Using a plastic body tool, I was able to get the joiner hose over and seated on the snorkel then I tightened the hose clamp.

Next, I installed the two screws that attached the snorkel to A pillar mount and again made sure the passenger side door operated without hitting the snorkel. Next, I installed the snorkel head and hose clamp. Lastly, I cleaned everything up and reinstalled the liner and fender flair. Here are the installed pics.









I think I will go back into the fender at some point and tighten down those nuts more and that should mate the snorkel to body better but it’s sitting really good at this point. Overall, I am very happy with this snorkel clone kit and would recommend it to anyone looking to add a snorkel to their 2nd gen.

 

Cool build!
What's the IR light for?

 

Thank you and since you know its IR, you should have some idea for its purpose. Driving with nods is always fun but we need an easy way to blackout the interior lights.

 

I actually don't know lol
I looked through the thread to see what that thing was.

 

Ok, well the IR head light is used to illuminate the front like a head light but in the IR spectrum. Assuming you are driving with no lights except the IR headlight, while wearing nigh vison optics like the PVS-14 you can see in the dark. Something sneaky to do in the North GA mountains. All military vehicles have them and its why we "Own the Night".

 

Great build thread, very detailed. Curious about how the snorkel is holding up? Thinking about ordering this same snorkel kit.

 

Thank you. The Snorkel is holding up great. I highly recommend the one I purchased. Not one issue.

 

Did you find the gasket to help or leave more spacing between the body and the snorkel? I'm debating using it. Ive had the Arb snorkel before and they obviously don't come with a gasket so I was wondering if you did it all over again would you use it again or did it really make a difference. Edit: I did have to cut my gasket to even line up correctly it was sticking out on some places this why I'm asking about it