new snorkle idea

[zensius]

After drowning my EX in a river last summer I've been thinking more seriously about something to help in high water situations. I've read most of the threads here about snorkles and the general concensus is that we '92's are on our own. But I think I've come up with an idea. How about drilling the airbox. Sure you say it's been done before. But don't stop there. Go to the hardware store and buy some lengths of plastic flexible conduit. It's a light grey. Also buy electrical box connectors for each length. Then connect these lengths to the holes in the box and run the conduit out of the grill. Then zip tie them all together and run them up to the window pillar. They could be easily be removed for all those times when you aren't forging rivers. Any thoughts?

 

[Derrick C.]

You know I've put a little thought into this since I've lost 2 motors cause of water. Why don't you go to a 4x4 shop and see if they can get the measurements from other vehicle snorkels that are already made. Measure yours and go with the closest one. Know if I remember right.....I think one for a early 90's yota would be pretty close. Minor customizing to be done.

 

[Grinder]

I've been thinking a snorkel for some time now, I think some of the Toyota ones do fit, though if anyone has any better info, I could sure use it!

 

[Blue Steel]

it can be done. instead of drilling the airbox, take it off, and clamp a flexible hose, preferably of a heavy duty plastic with metal "spiral" as enforcement on the end. then buy a quarter pannel from a scrap yard and go to town on it cutting out a circle then get a pipe to run up. i've been banging my head on this one for a whlie and the idea works perfectly. you've got a bit of room inside the quarter pannel to run your hose for the air intake. could make the snorkel out of pvc pipe. would be nice and strong. maybe pop a conical k&n or kkn filter in the top and put a cover to stop rain from getting down and voila.

 

[zensius]

For me the most important feature in the snorkle idea that I had was that it didn't require a hole in the fender. And it could be removed. I drive my EX every day and I may only cross 3 rivers in the summer. I don't want to look at some PVC piece of art hanging off my car either. If you add three feet or more to the length of your intake hose is this going to affect performance?

 

[Jason_25]

Ok I've thought long and hard about this and I, too, don't want to mess up the pretty fender on my explorer. You have 2 options.
1.Run it out the front and around
pros:easy to do
cons:ugly, lots of twists in the pipe (restriction)
2.Run it out the back through the firewall and up out of the cowl
pros:less restriction, it would look cool
cons:hard to do

 

[Blue Steel]

what you could do zensius is get a crap fender from the junkyard and cut a hole in it and make a snorkel from it. when you're done with the snorkel, unclamp the hose and put back on your air box and put your original fender back on and voila, no more snorkel. just a thought

 

[Jason_25]

Hey Blue Steel, I was thinking of this, but how would you just remove your fender? It sounds kinda tough.

 

[rpenner54]

Originally posted by Jason_25
Hey Blue Steel, I was thinking of this, but how would you just remove your fender? It sounds kinda tough.

The outer fender is easy to remove. Its the inner fender where you will have the most trouble. More of a pain then anything. It's really not that hard once you get your fender removed you will see all kinds of possibilities.

 

[Jason_25]

Thanks Ryan. Maybe I can run a snorkel in between the two fender panels. Is there enough room? Tell me what you think.

 

[Blue Steel]

you have your outter and inner fender panels. you run the hose between the two that goes to the snorkel. the air box is right next to the inner fender, so cut a hole in that and run hose to where you want and then cut outter fender. you've got enough space between the two to run hose.

 

[Jason_25]

Sounds good. With all the mud and water we have around here it would be nice to have the peace of mind of a snorkel.

 

[Blue Steel]

get up with me via email jason if you're serious about it. i've looked into it but am not going to be adding too many more mods to the truck. i've seen a ranger snorkel kit that you could use as far as attatching the snorkel to the fender pannel.