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Building a Snorkel




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How deep are you all going in the water? With a snorkle like you are talking about it seems you could damn near submerse the whole car. burristracy was talking about a cheap homemade system that would allow you to go until it is about 4 inches under the hood. All of this river crossing talk makes me want to get wet.
Matt
 






SNORKLES

Just thought id shoot this on up to the top for those that might want to know about it.
Howard
 






Im about to redirect my intake also but im taking a different approach. Im gonna plug up the current intake and cut a hole on the other side of the air box. then cut a hole on the inner wheel well in engine compartment. ill then run about a 2-3 inch flexable hose up inside the fender well. have to take off wheel fender for this. then ill bring it up as high as it will go up the passenger side. secure it up there and i have an intake thats high enough...about hood height and its concieled inside wheel fender where hardly any water shoud get
 






Just to add another 2 cents, but I have some input from my last adventure. I was in water almost above my bumper without any intake problems. And as long as I kept moving, water didn't come in the doors. It seems my lack of an airbox actually helped, as the filter didn't want to suck in water from underneath. I'd think rather than worry about the intake immediately, you'd want to worry about your breathers, electrics, and ignition.

Like I said, just another 2 cents.
 






oso_polar has one on his Explorer Sport (if he has put it on yet).
 






Well, I did it! I made a snorkle for my '92. It may not be the most pretty but it's practical as hell. It only needs to be attached when needed. It uses the factory airbox and about $30 worth of plumbing supplies. It took me about 4 hours. Here's how. See attached picture for reference.
1. Under the passenger front of the truck is a flexible rectangular hose. Take it out. Now remove the factory airbox. (three bolts in fender well.) Take the whole apparatus out. Attach a plastic downspout to 3 inch drain adapter to the end. I used sheet metal screws and Household goop for all my non abs connections. Take the 3 inch 90 degree elbow and cut off the coupling section. Join the cut end to the downspout adapter with the elbow pointing down. Next attach the threaded abs 3 inch adapter. The threads go up inside the elbow. The elbow might need to be cut on the other end to get the right angle. Now goop up all the other seams in the factory part of the intake.
Remove front two bolts holding plastic fender lining in front. Now insert the airbox and it's new longer hose. The new end of it should come down just behind the body mount. Cut the fender well to clear the pipe coming down. A half circle cut out should do it.
Now you've got the part that stays on the truck all the time. All the other abs parts are cut to the right lengths and glued together( abs glue) to allow the pipe to come up in front of the vehicle to the inside of the headlight. I chose a height about 18 inches above the hood. I added the deflecto bird protector, painted black, on top to finish it off. Now, I keep the all abs 'j' shaped piece in my trunk when wheelin' until I need it. Also attached to the truck in front are two pipe straps that hold the pipe on. One mounts under the bumper attached to the short section of straight pipe. The other sticks out of the grill holding the larger verticle section. They're cool straps as they work like zip ties on a rigid post but the zip part can be released and used over and over again. The connection of the pipe pieces when putting the snrkle on is a tight friction coupling. I'll have a picture of it on the truck soon. All the parts were bought at The Home Depot. Sorry about the picture attached. I had to cobble it together from pictures taken off the net as I didn't have a camera while I was building it.
 

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I like it :D Can't wait to see the photos. Try and get some detail shots as well as an overall view.

Thanks!
 






ADVICE FOR THE SNORKEL

When you put a snorkel, watch the case of the air filter because it have 3 holes in the bottom, so you have to release the case and seal the holes for a good function of the snorkel. I put it one and i have ti do it.

See my X on the oso's polar page!

I recently put my new roof camp on my X, photos cooming soon!
 






Here's the pic of my snorkle. The first one is of the two hoop clips that I use to support the snorkle when it's on. The next pic is of it on. The botton left pic shows how my newly directed air intake comes out under the front passenger side of the car. The lower right one shows the removable part of the snorkle that can be stored when I'm not crossing water, which is most of the time.
 

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Here's how it looks connected under the car.
 

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I wish to have one mounted in my X, but I dont, Chola and ricky-venezuela, have fiberglass snorkels mounted on their X's in diferent ways, check out my posts, recently I posted some images of Ricky's snorkel and about six months ago, I posted some pics of Chola's X too, I believe the snorkel is a copy of the first safari snorkel that Ray posted before...
 






I have asked this question before but I just have to ask one more time. Besides raising the intake and adding extensions to the breather tubes on the Tranny, transfer case, and differentials what do you have to do to prepare your car for river crossings. Do you have to protects the electronic system or anything else?
 






Zenius- that looks good, but aren't you worried about crossing a mud pit or something and slamming the front bumper in a hole and cracking your snorkel below the water line?

Don't forget about your breather tubes to your axels, TC and trannies. They can be pretty costly repairs too!!

Does anyone know where I can buy the top part of the snorkel only? I have mine all planned for "my other ORV" but I need a way to keep the rain/ splash out of it? I just need the last piece on the end where the air enters. Thanks
 






How does this connect to the airbox? What did you do to the airbox to make it water tight?

From the pics, it looks like you did some cutting and have made (during non-water crossings) a cold air intake. Can you show some pics of the airbox, possibly removed? I would be interested in the cold air modification if nothing else.
 






Here's my airbox pictures. It looks messy at the seals but I didn't want any leaks and no one can see it anyway. The red lines show where I cut the 90 degree elbow.
I don't have to worry about hitting the snorkle into the ground in mud pits because there is no mud in CA! I'm always amazed at how different the wheeling is on the West coast from back east and how different we set up our trucks. Any other snorkle questions?
 

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More...
 

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zensius, ther is no mud? ....dude! go with me out to hollister after a rain... :):):)
 






A few weeks ago I was up wheeling near the border in VT and did some rather deep water/mud holes. I stalled my motor once let it dry for about 5 min and it started up fine afterwards. Were talking water over the top of my 35 inch tires!!! - it was a lot of fun. Who ever said that running a snorkel with all the bends is restricting hasen't taken a look at the stock set up. First its only about 2 inch tubing and it makes a bunch of crazy turns to face forward. Then it finally gets air in from a dead air space just to the side of the passenger light, completly blocked from the wind in all directions. Mounting a snorkel on the side of the fender would be a job and be expensive if gotten from the safari company. But man does it look rugged, increased air flow = better gas millage and a little big more power, plug the chicks would dig it.
Scott
 



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Well it would be nice to think it would increase power but I doubt it. It's like breathing through a straw. The longer it is the harder you have to suck.
 






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