Custom snorkel, how to build?

[DrveJeepDrnkBeer]

My buddy and I are gunna work on building a snorkel for his '77 wag, and im looking for some idea's. Any help would be great.

Thanks,
Bryan

[Fornesto]

Everything I've read about snorkels is that they are worthless unless your entire bay is waterproofed first, which means electric fans w/switch, sealed carburetor, one-way breathers, etc. I would start at the bottom and work your way upward.

If the purpose of the snorkel is just to keep a steady supply of dry air coming into the carb when splashing in puddles, you could probably just get tricky with vinyl rain gutters. Remember that too many bends will increase resistance and make your engine suck harder for air.

[orangecherokee]

i wrote a super long reply and computer took a dump on itself so i lost it and i'm not writing it again. sorry but you don't need a snorkel unless you plan to constantly be in the mud or water.

sorry if i'm coming off as an Great Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley Moogley, i'm just fed up with these school computers!!! :mad: :mad:

[ April 02, 2004, 11:50 AM: Message edited by: orangecherokee ]

[FSJ Thing]

Originally posted by orangecherokee:
i wrote a super long reply and computer took a dump on itself so i lost it and i'm not writing it again. sorry but you don't need a snorkel unless you plan to constantly be in the mud or water.

sorry if i'm coming off as an Great Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley Moogley, i'm just fed up with these school computers!!! :mad: :mad: I hate that, our t-1 gets plugged up with 1200 recruiters across the country BS on the net and it's caused me to lose a few really long in depth technical replies as well.

I agree with the concensus, snorkels may be great if you do alot of water crossings that are in the 3-5 foot deep range, but I've found that all the places I wheel, the water is either less than 3 feet high, or more than 6 feet deep, meaning that I don't need it or it ain't gonna do anything anyways. If you're bent on doing it, I'd use the stock aircleaner but turn it towards one of the back corners of the engine bay, hook up vinyl rain gutter tube (the downcomer parts) to the pan handle and and route it out the fender and up the pass side of the cab, then hook up a conical K&N filter to the end of that. It really won't let you ford deep water unless you go through it and RTV or silicon the joints and every possible leaky place, get an electric fan with cutoff switch, water proof your dizzy, run all your tranny and diff vent tubes up to the roof, and put a check valve in the exhaust or route it to the roof too. These are just the things I can think of off the top of my head. Had a friend with a Nissan hardbody, BOUGHT a snorkel kit for it. We took it wheelin one weekend, milage dropped into the crappy range normally associated with domestic trucks, noticably lost torque and HP, and it almost worked in the pond we went through. If Flatbackdragon reads this, he's probably been where this happened. It's an abandoned resivior out 29 1/4 rd in Grand Junciton. Back to the snorkel though, we got sideways in an underwater rut. The snorkel dipped into the water, hydrolocked the motor, and left me laughing my butt off while he ripped his expensive fancy snorkel kit into a thousand peices while screaming profanities and cursing his Nissan back to Japan. I had so much fun that day that I didn't mind that I ruined a new pair of shoes and smelled like the nasty black mud that the bottom of the pond was made of. This is my only snorkel story, but it's why I've never really seen the value of them for wheelin, but if you really wanna do it, I promise not to make fun of you :D

[DrveJeepDrnkBeer]

Well my buddy is dead set on building one. I don't need one for my Wag, I stay away from water....its its comming into the cab, then its to deep of water for me!

Thanks for the replies, ill let him know what ya'll said. When we wheel, we never go into to deep of water, so I think he pretty much just wants it to get a good supply of air in while out wheeling.

Bryan

[Mikel]

At least a schnorkell will assure that your engine is not hydrolocked when it dies smile.gif

[Elliott]

http://www.backcountrybinders.com/snorkels.htm
Go for it, but be sure to unbuckle first!
http://www.backcountrybinders.com/images/Crazycross.jpg

[Subconscious]

That guy in the Scout there is nuts! That's a wash-out wating to happen!

[Elliott]

Originally posted by Subconscious:
That guy in the Scout there is nuts! That's a wash-out wating to happen!Famous last words... "hold my beer, watch this!"

[scotty]

Originally posted by J-truck Thing:
The snorkel dipped into the water, hydrolocked the motor thats why i ran mine up the middle ;)

i do like to cross deep water(when i can find it),my engine is waterproofed and been completely under water before,so a snorke is neccessary for me.

mine runs into the cneter of the firewall,up thru the center speaker hole,and up to where the rear view mirror is. this is not the easiest way to run it,however,and required the creation of a new glove box,and i dont think theres room for a radio any longer. i also had to fit it togetehr in the truck,and it wont come back out without cutting. it fits inside the cab,behind the windshield,when its in

the best way to runa snorkel with the least vehicle damage,IMO, is to notch the rear of a hood you dont have any particular fondness for. this is what i did on my XJ(no it doesnt really NEED a snorkel,but it gives it character),using a stock air box. all i need is a new stock air box and a new hood and no one will ever know that it was there if i decide i dont want it any more

im currently using a custom adapter and elbow on the carb to route 2" PVC to a samuri air box,but ive used stock air cleaners in the past. make sure there is a gasket between the carb and air cleaner,and also that the gasket on the lid is in good shape. i used a piece if rubber on the stud under the wingnut to make sure water didnt get in right there. i also used 3 C clamps on the stock air cleaner to make sure the lid stayed pressed tightly to the bottom.

if you have an auto tranny,a late model GM lockig dipstick does wonders to keep water out of the tranny. youll have to cut it to length and scribe the add/full lines.somewhere round $6 at the GM dealer

as was mentioned,run all the vents up high.

make sure all seals(tranny,xfer case,axles,engine) are in good shape,cause anywhere fluid leaks out can let water in.

use dialectric grease on all elecrtrical connections,as well as both ends of the plug wires,and the contacts inside the distributor cap.

the vent on a motorcraft dizzy is on the bottom. i have not found it neccessary to silicone the cap to the base,mess with the vaccum advance mechanism,or add a vent line,or a second vent in the cap.

make sure you have NO vaccum leaks,including the carbs throttle shafts.

last and not least,if youre really serious about driving thru deep water,you need electric fans that you can switch off in the water,as it is really hard for the engine to spin the mechanical fan underwater,and the blades can bend,and pretty effectively ruin your radiator :eek:

further waterproofing/snorkel questions? smile.gif

[ April 03, 2004, 11:46 PM: Message edited by: scotty ]

[Sycho15]

I put a snorkel on my YJ. It was one of my very first mods. I used silicone adhesive on the cap, and white-lithium grease on the distributor. This let the silicon form a sort of gasket while not gluing the cap to the distributor. I had a custom adapter made for the top of my carb, that air-intake tubing (wrapped in duct-tape to keep it from getting holes) attached to and ran to the corner of the hood. I used 2.5" PVC pipe to come out of the hood, along the fender, and up the driver's side windshield frame. A semi-conical K&N filter sits above the winshield frame. The filter is higher than my head, insuring I don't drive into any water deep enough to submerge it! I used metal fuel line along the frame rail that all my vent lines tied into. I ran this up the rollcage.

With some 31" mud tires that little Jeep would go a great many places, and I was often enough in lap-deep water. I could cross rivers, parts of ponds, ditches, and all sorts of stuff that annoyed the guys in lifted trucks with no snorkels.

[Chrome]

I would check with a company that sells parts for Diesel trucks. You can use the 4 inch rubber boots and elbows to make any turns and use aluminum tubes or chrome stacks for the straight pieces. as for coming off the carb I would look into a custom made piece that has a 90 degree inlet and a wing nut with a rubber washer to hold it tight against the carb. I thought about this a while back and came up with the box on top of the carb going into a rubber boot then into a short piece of chrome/aluminum pipe over to the drivers side of the truck into a 90 degree rubber boot with another chrome/aluminum stack. You can get a breather that fits on the air tube for the ricer rigs at Auto Zone. I have seen a chrome piece that is a shroud for the front of the breather that would help keep out rain during normal driving conditions. You can cut a 3-4 inch hole through the inner fender right under the ignition box then out through the side of the fender where most of the emblems are located. I assume the truck has a lift so you should have plenty of clearance for the pipe to pass thru this area. If he goes with a snorkel then how bout posting some pics, I would like to see the set up.

[HeepofaJeep]

Depends on how nice you want it too look ;) . your typical four barrel carburetor is 5" diameter at the opening (at least I know a Qjet is), so you can run a air filter riser ($5-10), which is just a plastic 5" tube that raises the air filter ~2". You can then find a seal for an air filter to go in between the riser and the carb. The riser can be bolted on by taking a 5" length piece of relatively thin flat bar (I used square stock, but it doesn't matter), and then drilling a 1/4" hole in the middle of it. This plate can now be bolted onto the carburetor using a 1/4" x 20 bolt. This plate is what securely holds down the riser. Now get a 5>>4" fernco, and secure that onto the riser. stick a 90 bend into the fernco, and then run your tube from there.

I can be more detailed if you want, but right now I am late for class.