Snorkel alternatives?

I actually like this a lot.

 

Me too. My jeep buddy showed me the raider designs intake. Problem is I don't really have a flat spot for this to go...

 

Yup. You could made something that molds to the shape of the fender but then you're dealing with the hood that needs to go up...

 

Yeah looking at it, those 3rd gens don't really have much room to work with there.

 

Mount it on the hood with a flexible line to the intake.

Better yet, get that skewp to be functional.

 

As far as snorkels go, that is probably the worst lol

 

Snorkels......functional on trucks you dont give a shit about. I had one on a 73 Chevy that would regularly cross deep water. I do not cross water deep enough to get up to the air box in my new truck. I also dont think placing the intake outside the engine bay is getting you "cleaner" air as opposed to in the bay. For what its worth my engine bay is consistently cleaner than the outside of my truck.

 

Why?

 

Any water deep enough to need a snorkel will usually come up on the hood some....going to get right in there lol.

Same with the other snorkel reason. Dust. Follow another truck and that thing is catching some serious debris.

Big snowfall....probably not great to have it right there where a lot of snow could pile up.


My snorkel up near the cowl is iffy enough. If I hit water too hard it is a little too close to water for my liking (compared to a standard A-pillar high one)

 

This is kind of what I am going to do. I’m thinking more of a scoop or something. Not quite as big as this.

The main reason @mesojdm and I are looking at these is because we don’t have fender liners. So the intake is just open to the wheelwell.

Moving the intake out of the well will indeed give cleaner air for us. And some water protection. It’s not a lot but my intake box has a bunch of dirt and water stains.

 

Stock trucks don't take air from the engine bay....sucks it right in from the wheel well. Those are VERY NOT clean.

edit: ah, ya beat me

 

That’s not really the case. The stock intake is behind the fender liner. I would bet my money, that Toyota put careful thought into its location. I have not seen anyone here complaining that their stock intake, with fender liners in place, was a problem for dust, mud, water etc. Things might be more dusty in the engine bay with the big grille they give us these days.

If you remove your fender liners, then all bets are surely off. At that point, going full bro, with one of ‘em “Vermont Castings” snorkels from ARB probably makes sense.

 

You are forgetting that Toyota also builds cars for the street, not the dirt. They advertise to dirt people, but the vast minority actually takes them off road. It won't implode from being dirty, but cleaner air is better.

 

After some beach driving I had some dry sand in the bottom of my filter it would be nice to have a snorkel so my truck isn’t sucking sand from the wheel well

 

I disagree. There is quite a bit of thought put into a Tacoma to make it work well off pavement. What you are saying is just what everyone says about everything. People like to be critical.....and sound like experts...but the fact is a stock Tacoma is a very capable off-road vehicle. I’ve put a few thousand kMs off-road on mine, and the things Toyota did to make it work well become self-evident after a while. It isn’t at all like my Ford Ranger FX4 “off road”, that was pretty much “on road”.

 

Do you still have your fender liners?

 

I know they are capable. Never did I say that they weren't.

I'm not critical at all. I just made the statement that the air you get is cleaner from a snorkel than your wheel well. It's a fact and it's why a lot of people justify a snorkel. I don't think it's necessarily important or crucial, but it is a reason.

I just meant that Toyota designs their cars and trucks as primarily on road vehicles.

 

The snorkel is the reason I haven’t gotten 35s yet. The fender lingers will be removed for the 35 trimming and I really don’t want a snorkel...but I also really want 35s so a snorkel will be in the future unless I can fab up some new liners.

 

I made it through winter in SLC with 35’s and no liners. Wasn’t too bad. In fact I had a snorkel at one point but removed because I didn’t like it.

 

Supposedly the air is less dusty higher up but my issue with snorkels as much as how cool they look are:

1: Totally agree with you on taking a $30k truck through water up to the engine bay possibly near cab level — not gonna happen at least for me.

2: Old school trucks and military vehicles were all mechanical back in the day so snorkels made sense. Nowadays you’re gonna fry your ECU or any other multitude of fuses or electronics in your engine bay that may get splashed upon going through deepish water.