So, I was on the side of the fence that snorkels were for the birds... That was until I just got back from an almost 800-mile round trip adventure that took me all over the 395 and Death Valley. Upon return the inside of my engine bay was caked in mud and dust, and my air filter looked just about as bad. So, I read up on what people were buying, and bit the bullet on an eBay snorkel. I ended up getting it for $80 bones, and even though it came with free shipping, I opted to pick it up as the warehouse was only 7 minutes from work.
First impressions:
It looked like a snorkel. I mean, theres only so much you can do with this thing. It was solid, all the parts are there, and it didn't show any obscene molding marks or imperfections. It also came with a black hose clamp to hold on the top, which I was pretty happy about as I was not a fan of the stainless ones the others were pictured with. It's the little things that get to me...
Install:
I imagine this would work with any brand of snorkel. The install was as painless as it could be for a guy who completed the job by himself on his front lawn and didn't have a hole saw. I popped out the corner light, took out the factory air intake piece in the fender, and held the snorkel to where it looked like it should be. I covered the estimated area for the hole with lots of masking tape. I drew a rough outline of where I thought the hole should be, and then started to cut. I drilled a few pilot holes, and then went to town with a saber saw. It cut like butter, but the shape of my hole isn't the roundest
I cleaned up the edges with a file drill bit.
Next I taped the template to the snorkel, and corrected the bolt holes. The front three holes were spot on, the rear ones were a bit off. I ended up taping up the original holes and punched my own. While the template was still taped to the snorkel body, I positioned it on the truck. I then traced around the template onto the truck, and pulled the whole thing off. I removed the template from the snorkel, and used the lines i drew on the truck to reposition the template and tape it to the fender. I then took a punch and marked where I needed to drill. I started with a small drill bit and then went up to the size needed for the studs to fit through. Once everything was drilled, I pulled the template off. I then test fit the snorkel with the supplied rubber elbow that goes between the snorkel and the factory air box. I needed to trim approximately 1/2" off each side of the rubber elbow. I also found that the antennae base interfered with the placement of the snorkel. Instead of heating up and reshaping the snorkel like I've seen others do, I just trimmed the rubber off the antennae base. Worked like a charm!
I took some blue loc-tite and installed the allen studs into the snorkel. This is where things got gross. Despite my best efforts at measuring and test fitting and everything, the back two holes I drilled (the ones closest to the door) were off. they were WAY off. in retrospect, I wouldn't even drill these holes. With the front four bolts very easy to align and bolt in, and the A pillar part being riveted all up, I think the back two are not really necessary. I may be wrong, but they really are a huge pain in the butt. I think I loss some blood trying to reach them through the holes in the fenders. Anyhow, once I corrected all the bolt holes, I attached the supplied A pillar mounting bracket to the snorkel upright with some tape, slide the snorkel into place, and then taped the mounting bracket to the A pillar. The mounting bracket was too wide, so I had to drill three new holes in it. This took about 4 minutes and really wasn't a big deal. I did the taping it all up thing again to find where it was going to be when the snorkel was bolted in. This let me see where I needed to drill into the A pillar for the bracket. I then marked those holes with the punch, pulled it all off, and then drilled away.
I had ten fresh holes drilled into a perfectly straight fender:/ i took some nail polish (pink i think) and touched up all the raw metal in the holes. While that all dried, I slid the trimmed rubber elbow onto the air box and positioned it where it needed to be. After everything dried I riveted the A pillar bracket into place, and then slid the snorkel into place. I was able to screw in the front two nuts by reaching in through the corner marker hole. The middle two i went through the air box hole and antennae hole. The back two sucked so I left them off. I might try at them tomorrow, but after I attached the upright to the A pillar mount, it was solid. VERY SOLID. once all was said and done, I attached the top of the snorkel, and then took a picture. Voila, snorkel complete. The rear did not mount up exact, and I have a little gap at the bottom. My whole rig is far from perfect, so I am just chalking the little gap up to "character."
Anyhow, that's it. from start to finish maybe 5 hours, but that includes a trip to home depot and explaining what I was doing to every person who walked by my house. Enjoy!
Oh yeah, final impressions: This thing is quite nice. I am not a fan of chinese knock offs, but I cannot currently afford, nor will I ever be able to, $400 bucks on a name brand. I am happy with the quality, and I already have about 3,700 miles worth of trips for the Land Cruiser planned for the summer, so I will follow up with a "long term" review at another time. Enjoy!
First impressions:
It looked like a snorkel. I mean, theres only so much you can do with this thing. It was solid, all the parts are there, and it didn't show any obscene molding marks or imperfections. It also came with a black hose clamp to hold on the top, which I was pretty happy about as I was not a fan of the stainless ones the others were pictured with. It's the little things that get to me...
Install:
I imagine this would work with any brand of snorkel. The install was as painless as it could be for a guy who completed the job by himself on his front lawn and didn't have a hole saw. I popped out the corner light, took out the factory air intake piece in the fender, and held the snorkel to where it looked like it should be. I covered the estimated area for the hole with lots of masking tape. I drew a rough outline of where I thought the hole should be, and then started to cut. I drilled a few pilot holes, and then went to town with a saber saw. It cut like butter, but the shape of my hole isn't the roundest
I cleaned up the edges with a file drill bit.Next I taped the template to the snorkel, and corrected the bolt holes. The front three holes were spot on, the rear ones were a bit off. I ended up taping up the original holes and punched my own. While the template was still taped to the snorkel body, I positioned it on the truck. I then traced around the template onto the truck, and pulled the whole thing off. I removed the template from the snorkel, and used the lines i drew on the truck to reposition the template and tape it to the fender. I then took a punch and marked where I needed to drill. I started with a small drill bit and then went up to the size needed for the studs to fit through. Once everything was drilled, I pulled the template off. I then test fit the snorkel with the supplied rubber elbow that goes between the snorkel and the factory air box. I needed to trim approximately 1/2" off each side of the rubber elbow. I also found that the antennae base interfered with the placement of the snorkel. Instead of heating up and reshaping the snorkel like I've seen others do, I just trimmed the rubber off the antennae base. Worked like a charm!
I took some blue loc-tite and installed the allen studs into the snorkel. This is where things got gross. Despite my best efforts at measuring and test fitting and everything, the back two holes I drilled (the ones closest to the door) were off. they were WAY off. in retrospect, I wouldn't even drill these holes. With the front four bolts very easy to align and bolt in, and the A pillar part being riveted all up, I think the back two are not really necessary. I may be wrong, but they really are a huge pain in the butt. I think I loss some blood trying to reach them through the holes in the fenders. Anyhow, once I corrected all the bolt holes, I attached the supplied A pillar mounting bracket to the snorkel upright with some tape, slide the snorkel into place, and then taped the mounting bracket to the A pillar. The mounting bracket was too wide, so I had to drill three new holes in it. This took about 4 minutes and really wasn't a big deal. I did the taping it all up thing again to find where it was going to be when the snorkel was bolted in. This let me see where I needed to drill into the A pillar for the bracket. I then marked those holes with the punch, pulled it all off, and then drilled away.
I had ten fresh holes drilled into a perfectly straight fender:/ i took some nail polish (pink i think) and touched up all the raw metal in the holes. While that all dried, I slid the trimmed rubber elbow onto the air box and positioned it where it needed to be. After everything dried I riveted the A pillar bracket into place, and then slid the snorkel into place. I was able to screw in the front two nuts by reaching in through the corner marker hole. The middle two i went through the air box hole and antennae hole. The back two sucked so I left them off. I might try at them tomorrow, but after I attached the upright to the A pillar mount, it was solid. VERY SOLID. once all was said and done, I attached the top of the snorkel, and then took a picture. Voila, snorkel complete. The rear did not mount up exact, and I have a little gap at the bottom. My whole rig is far from perfect, so I am just chalking the little gap up to "character."
Anyhow, that's it. from start to finish maybe 5 hours, but that includes a trip to home depot and explaining what I was doing to every person who walked by my house. Enjoy!
Oh yeah, final impressions: This thing is quite nice. I am not a fan of chinese knock offs, but I cannot currently afford, nor will I ever be able to, $400 bucks on a name brand. I am happy with the quality, and I already have about 3,700 miles worth of trips for the Land Cruiser planned for the summer, so I will follow up with a "long term" review at another time. Enjoy!
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