Homemade snorkel - many pics

I am a function over form person. If it isn’t necessary, the time and money aren’t going to be spent on it. Because of this, I feel like I have to defend myself with this poser mod. However, I don’t think I can adequately defend myself, so I’ll just admit that this is indeed a “poser mod” (*sigh* I feel better now…). If I could offer a defense – it would be that I have hydro-locked one engine (thus my screen name) and the cost was a total of under $30 to make this. Will I use it, I’m sure I will at some point. Is it necessary, probably not and I’ll probably smack it on a rock before I even get down to the river.

The snorkel body is made from two Mercedes 4 cylinder diesel air intakes that I “welded” together end to end with my soldering gun. Since the plastic is the same, the melting plastic will combine together and form one unit. The top of the snorkel is made from a BMW intake that was cut. I again “welded” plastic gutter screening across the opening so that I wouldn’t suck in any birds (heh, heh). The flexible hose in the engine compartment is from a Dodge Caravan, and the rest of the snorkel is PVC pipe and fittings from the local hardware store.


Here are the Mercedes intakes before they were joined together.



All together



Close up of the "welded" joint



Hole location. The hole is elongated to accomodate the bend in the snorkel body so that it can sit closer to the fender.







To secure the body to the fender and up the A pillar, I pop-riveted hose clamps in position



Snorkel top. The professional snorkel top have slots to allow rain to escape before going down to the air box. I drilled holes to try and accomplish the same thing. Don't know if it will work, but it was worth a shot.








My first attempt to connect the up tube with the snorkel body looked terrible. At this point I was unable to come up with a way to connect the body and tube together. I tried "welding" the plastics together using scrap pieces, but the two plastics are different and they wouldn't stay together. I thought that the pipe fittings were the only solution.



After some thinking, I figured out how to join them together without the pipe fittings. It took some sanding, but turned out looking decent.

I will be painting the entire snorkel with rubberized undercoating to conceal the joints and rivets. I'll also coat the clamps so that they don't stand out so much. The pics are low res. so that those of us with dial-up don't have to wait an eternity...

I forgot this pic. The side of the airbox was sandwiched between these two pieces. I had to make a spacer so that they would fit tight (since the wall of the air box is so thin). This provided me with a flange to which I could attach the flexible hose in the engine compartment.

I didn't see it so I have to ask, where is the rain water going to drain? (the stuff that comes in while your flyin down the hiway)

thats the ugliest thing I have ever seen... :laugh3: Kind of like it though...in a weird "Ima poor redneck kind of way.

Looks pretty nice! I'm sure even better after painting so all the pieces match!

Actually, it looks alot like the arb safari snorkel, except that the arb one is lower and comes out even with the top of the roof:

http://www.off-road.com/jeep/cherokee/98/05_may/arb/arb8.jpg

Also, I wouldn't use rubberized undercoating on it, that stuff really does stay pretty pliable and soft and could rub of. Try herculiner, rhinoliner, or whatever generic bedliner you can get cheap. just my 2 cents

winterparker2b said:

I didn't see it so I have to ask, where is the rain water going to drain? (the stuff that comes in while your flyin down the hiway)

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According to Safari Snorkel, the rain will gravitate toward the outside walls of the snorkel top and out the slots that are just before the down tube. With mine, I just drilled holes in the bottom of the snorkel top to try and achieve the same thing. You can kinda see the holes in the pic of the snorkel top on its side.

Capt. Nemo said:

According to Safari Snorkel, the rain will gravitate toward the outside walls of the snorkel top and out the slots that are just before the down tube. With mine, I just drilled holes in the bottom of the snorkel top to try and achieve the same thing. You can kinda see the holes in the pic of the snorkel top on its side.

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Oh, I see the holes now

looks nice, kinda. but great for 30 bucks.

I think it looks pretty good. That was a great writeup. thanks

Pretty cool. I think that with the after prep you have in mind you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between it and an aftermarket unit from 20 feet.

r@m

Not bad for ghetto fab. I would definitly coat it like you said with some bedliner and turn the screw tabs where the joints are so you dont see em.Or just glue all the pieces together and dont use the metal bands.

not bad, why not go with PVC?

MJ1990buildup said:

not bad, why not go with PVC?

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Funny you ask. I had a huge pile of intake parts at the Pick N Pull I was sifting through, trying to see what would work and what would not with the goal in mind of not using ANY PVC - particularly the angled fittings. I wanted a low profile along the side to prevent getting hung up on rocks, and thought that I could achieve that better with the Mercedes intakes. When it was all said and done, I stepped back and thought that I just as easily could have done this with just PVC and soldered the joints together. There would have been more sharper angles in the joints if you were trying to stay away from the fittings. So, I think 2" PVC would have worked fine.

My wife kept asking how I was going to test it. She had suggested driving down a boat ramp, but I wasn't too enthusiastic about that. I figured that if this was indeed sealed properly, the engine should stall if I plug the top. The threw a plastic bag over the top and the engine died. That part is ready for the water, now for all the electrical stuff...

I've read that you need to have the same i.d. pipe as the intake in order for the engine to run correctly. The 2" is just fine and the engine runs just the same - at idle and at speed.

I think it would look a bit better if you reduced the height of it. No reason to be so high above the roof as if water gets anywhere near that you are in more trouble than any snorkel could help! Lower it at least until the top of the head is level with the roof so it wont snag on trees as easily.

Gojeep said:

I think it would look a bit better if you reduced the height of it. No reason to be so high above the roof as if water gets anywhere near that you are in more trouble than any snorkel could help! Lower it at least until the top of the head is level with the roof so it wont snag on trees as easily.

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I was thinking the same thing. Between the trees, and parking structures (this is my DD), I'm really taking a risk. Thanks for all the input so far...

I heard that pvc will crack and shatter in the cold winter months, anyone heard this. Also captain Nemo how cold does it get in your area? Do you expect any trouble with cracking or shattering? Thanks for a great writeup!


Mike




Edit: just read your location probably doesn't get to cold huh? sometimes i am such a tool!

eric if your going up tank trap don't get to close to the left side. i sanded my snorkel and ripped my top right off.... i think the body of the snorkel did save my drivers side mirror though. :banghead:

Kernel said:

eric if your going up tank trap don't get to close to the left side. i sanded my snorkel and ripped my top right off.... i think the body of the snorkel did save my drivers side mirror though. :banghead:

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tank trap is nothing more than off camber dirt... nothing bad can possibly happen... <-- sarcasim...

XJ_ranger said:

tank trap is nothing more than off camber dirt... nothing bad can possibly happen... <-- sarcasim...

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Heh, heh... My first tip-over was on tank trap in my CJ-5.

I've since moved the snorkel top to sit level with the top of the Jeep now. It's still probably going to get ripped off, but I'm trying to give it a chance. I'll post another pic after I paint it.