Does a snorkel block the view?

[haffi]

Building my own fiberglass snorkel.

Few week ago my cruiser had a "near death experience" in a deep river.

I had water inside the car up to the center of the windshield and just about everything inside the car got wet. I even had to pour water out of the ashtrays in the rear doors. The engine also flooded and I most likely have a bent piston arm. I´m going to open the engine in the next few days and look for damage and replace the piston rings and all the bearings while I´m in there.

So now I am thinking about snorkels

Can anyone tell me how much the safari snorkel blocks the view from the drivers seat. Perhaps even snap a picture from the drivers seat looking to right and post here?

What I´m thinking about doing is to make my own snorkel from fiberglass. I´m never driving in the woods so I´m not worried about braking it from tree branches. Also the fiberglass fender flares we use here in Iceland seem to be strong enough.
I´m inspired by this companys snorkel design.

Haffi

 

[Sterkur]

Why not buy from Rocasilva?

What do you expect the savings, if any, after making and installing a homemade snorkel including fittings and pipes etc?

 

[jvazquez53]

Why not buy from Rocasilva?

What do you expect the savings, if any, after making and installing a homemade snorkel including fittings and pipes etc?

That's one expensive snorkel!!!

 

[nuclearlemon]

view blockage is minimal, although it is a bit more than the pillar itself

 

[treerootCO]

This is the Safari snorkel. Shot was taken approximately where you would see it from the driver's seat.

 

[mickeyt]

What made you go thru such deep water without a snorkel?

 

[Brentbba]

A snorkel wouldn't have saved you if you had water in the truck half way up the windshield. They do look cool tho!

 

[CycloSteve]

Haffi, sorry to hear about your rig's submarine-adventure. Knowing your other posts, looking forward to the re-birth and improvements to the rig.

With the Rocasilva snorkle, that is pretty nice looking, but whoa is it pricey. Safari's are still the best return on functionality, durability (UV) and ease of finding spares should anything happen. If you do go with your own custom version, I am sure it will be top-notch.

TreerootCO, nice picture as I too wondered about the view from the drivers' seat. The snorkle is now on my short-list of mods. Not that I would be going hood-deep in water, but more likely running in the sand/dirt and looking for clean air higher up.



Steve

 

[haffi]

Thanks for your replies guys, and thanks alot for that pic treeroot

The main reasons I want to make my own are: That RocaSilva snorkel is too expensive for me. To import that thing legally to Iceland would for sure double that price (shipping+taxes+Icleandic VAT). Then I´m not 100% happy with that look, but looking at that web page is giving me ideas. I want to exersice my fiberglassing skills and making my own would be a fine lesson and I have some fiberglass mats and resin to start with.

That river I got stuck in wasn´t that deep. I almost made it, but the river bank on the other side was to steep so my rear wheels did not make it up. Then in the third or fourth try to reverse and try again the river took the truck and we went down with the flow for a few meters.
When a car is stuck in a powerful glacier river the river seems to dig the car down and remove rocks and sand from the tires so the stuck car sinks deeper and deeper. When we got pulled out the water was flooding over the dashboard and half the way up the windshield.

I know that having a snorkel would not have helped me in getting across that river, but it might have saved my engine. I was to late to turn it off myself before sinking to deep and filling the air intake.

My head is spinning with snorkel making ideas right now, I might start my fiberglass experiments as soon as I have my engine rebuilt

If you know any cool home made snorkel threads or pics on any other forums please post them up. I think I have found everything here on mud.

 

[cody c]

wow, is your engine alright Haffi?

 

[haffi]

wow, is your engine alright Haffi?

There is something wrong with it. My mechanics guess that I have one bent piston rod. The compression in cylinder 3 is much lower than the other 5. Since I have to open it I´m going to replace that rod and change all bearings and rings.
It is about time to have a look inside there with 507.000 km on the clock.

The engine runs, I drove it home after the river and have been using it after the truck dried.

Just after the truck was pulled out of the river I removed the glow plugs and blew the water out. Then installed the glow plugs and started. It ran and has been running ever since. It is about two weeks now. But it is running a bit rough and smoking a lot. Mechanics and diesel experts I know guess that I have one bent rod but I will become clear in few days. I´m taking the engine out next weekend and open it.

 

[Grouseman]

Snorkel

A snorkel wouldn't have saved you if you had water in the truck half way up the windshield. They do look cool tho!

It might... Last May I was flooded out of my home and had to drive in water that was even with the top of my hood. The LC made a wake about 4-5" higher than the hood. I drove about a block without a snorkel and made it. I had no choice. She almost choked out once I flipped her into neutral, reved her up, then went back in drive.
I hope to never do that again in this lifetime, but I am probably going to put a Snorkel on my truck.

Gman

 

[mickeyt]

Well I am sure you will be able to sell quite a few if yours comes out slick

 

[B Legit]

I made Haffi cross the river. I was egging him on the entire time. Seriously though buddy, I had the same issue with the snorkel being in my field of vision and I just turned the head around. It is much better now. I still haven't bought a new camera yet so I will take a picture with my phone and send it to you on facebook. Also, if it would be cheaper for me to pick you up a safari snorkel and claim a duty tax of a lower dollar amount, I will do that. ARB is right down the street from my work after all. We could possibly cut the snorkel to fit it in a smaller box and you could just couple it together with a rubber intake coupling. Maybe I should just come back, help you rebuild your engine, and pack a snorkel in my bag.

 

[sky90]

Sorry to hear about the cruiser hangover... for this gem of an 80, i think a custom, color-matched snorkel is in order... nothing less

haffi, yr build thread/color choice pushed me over the edge on an 80

 

[B Legit]

for this gem of an 80, i think a custom, color-matched snorkel is in order... nothing less

haffi, yr build thread/color choice pushed me over the edge on an 80 [/QUOTE]

Agreed, Haffi's truck is one of the coolest cruiser's I have ever had the pleasure of riding in. So many cool little hand done touches that make it very unique. He is a smart and resourceful guy and will have it back to good in no time.

 

[sky90]

Here's talking drunk... since you already hv the air intake into the 80, route it up a pillar (prob B) into the roof liner, then onto the 'roof intake'.

The roof intake should prob sit an inch off the roof surface to stop regular rain water running in... or just give you an additional inch of submarine fun

Make a lip around the roof intake so you can stretch a filter-material over it for dusty conditions... err... volcanic ash perhaps

Here's a pic of a nice blue air intake...

 

[Rusty]

A snorkel wouldn't have saved you if you had water in the truck half way up the windshield. They do look cool tho!

Really? I know this is an ad, but I bet it would have saved him...

YouTube - Safari Snorkel

...especially since Haffi's machine is a diesel.

 

[Ozdunc]

I agree. With a snorkel and a mechanical injected diesel you can wade until the snorkel intake goes under.
Petrol have problems with the electrics usually before water gets into the intake (unless you take additional precautions), but putting a tarp over the front usually creates a nice air pocket in the engine bay and stops the fan cutting a nice circular hole in the radiator (100series trick).
Haffi - if you diesel suck in water you will have broken something I'm afraid to say, but I'm sure you'll find something to improve whilst you're rebuilding it

I've been very pleased with my Safari snorkel. It doesn't leak and it's pretty robust. I've had no probs pushing past branches and creepers, etc. Once I got used to the snorkel being there, I very rarely notice it

 

[haffi]

Thanks guys for all your comments.

Brent, thanks for that tip on the SafariSnorkel and the pics on Facebook. The thing is I really want to make my own, I´m not quite happy with the look of the Safari.

On the pic below you can see the my dream look made by RocaSilva, but of course on the other side. (Please ignore that Nissan). Then I would paint it in the same blue color as the rest of my rig. In my opinion this looks soooo much better than the Safari Snorkel.

Lets see what happens in the next few weeks, I might give it a try I will post some pics if it happens.