CLOSED: Fabulous Fabrications Snorkel Group Buy (1 Viewer)

[prharper]

How many labor hours did they charge you for the install?

We agreed upfront on 4 hours. I had some other work done but estimate it was probably 5 hours. I'm sure a large part of it was reading the instructions several times and making sure the template and landmarks were spot on before cutting.

Do you think moving the o-ring up closer to the opening would help any?

Yes, I do think it will help and will try that as my next test.

 

[kcjaz]

It looks like there are 2 differences with the Aussie lower air boxes:
1) they have the round inlet vs oval
2) they have a built-in one way duck bill drain valve. We'll need to add one

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like this one - duck bill valve Drain for air box intake snorkel black 1 1/2 45 mm ball OZ STOCK | eBay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/143324726233

another option is to install one of these like @linuxgod did.
Amazon product ASIN B07NTY936C

Anyone install a "duckbill" or other valve yet? There is a small (~1/4') hole now in the air box and this dickbill looks like its 1 1/2". I'm trying to envision if it really fits under the airbox.

 

[kcjaz]

$3 easily spent for not having to deal with bending hose clamp, and homemade rivnut tool.
3/8” hole is the size you need for the rivnuts (9.5mm).
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Hey @radman, do you recall the riv nut bolt size and thread pitch? I failed to check this before I left our lake cabin where I keep the 200. I need to make a rivnut too so I can complete the install next weekend.

 

[kcjaz]

Finished my snorkel install and wanted to add a note of my experience here for potential use by future DYI installers.

1. Fender hole template. I had the correct template for my 2013 LC so no drama there like others reported in this thread. The only problem I had was convincing myself I had the location of the upper reference point correct (yellow highlight below):

The part I got hung up on was where to measure the 80 mm ( 3 1/8") dimension from, as you could pick any location in the hood to fender seam. The 80 mm is not straight down (vertical) from the hood seam. It took me a while to convince myself that if you fixed the lower reference point at 25 3/16" and 6 11/16" down (vertical) from the hood, the upper point can only be at one location and satisfy the 80 and 200 mm reference dimensions. I did this by measuring out a bunch of arcs until I saw there was really only one way to locate the template and satisfy the reference dimensions provided..

I am pretty sure that I'm the only on on Mudd who could get so vapor locked on a geometry problem and not be able to even mark the hole until I figured it out. I'm not going to say how long I scratched my head on this.

2. Rivnuts. I had self inflicted issues installing the rivet nuts. I messed up both rivet nuts by over compressing them. I did this by not using my rivnut tool correctly. The tool I had was from my slider install:

rather than turn the bolt I turned the nut on the tool which does compress the rivnut but allowed me to apply gorilla force. My tip here is if you have never installed a rivnut or you've done it once but its been two years, do a couple practice ones in the cutout from the fender template. You need to get some more rivnuts as the snorkel kit only comes with two. I did buy a better rivnut tool (shown in thread below). It allows me to limit the compression and I figured out how much by doing a couple test rivnuts.

RTH. FF snorkel rivnut fail - how do I fix this?

rivnuts did not go in very well but I thought they would still work. They don’t they both spin when I try to screw in the screw and are now a little mangled. I know I have to drill them out but they just spin with the drill. I have not tried pushing hard with the drill. I’m afraid of getting...

forum.ih8mud.com

3. Cutting the hole in the fender is not hard but it is scary as you have one shot at it. I took the advice and made the first cut well inside the line. Ultimately I had to go to the line and then use a dremil to fine tune it. It was just slow. If I did it again, I'd cut at the line from the beginning because if you are an 1/8" inside the line, you can't test fit the snorkel so you end up at the line, The fine tuning is really only after you can get the snorkel into position and then can judge the gap abound it for consistency.

4. I initially didn't think the silicon elbow would really fit but it does. Lube is your friend.

RTH - Fabulous Fabrications Snorkel install

Hey @radman, @grinchy and @1world1love or anyone else who has installed this snorkel. Do I ditch the OEM slanted air flow thing that goes into the fender and the air box attaches to and connect the FF silicon elbow directly to the air box? Seems like that is the idea but I’m not seeing...

forum.ih8mud.com

5. Added a check valve to the air box drain and tested it. This was easy.

Air box check valve drain test

As part of my snorkel install, I added a small check valve to my air box (copied @linuxgod ) and made a video of me testing it. Check valve is this: BBTUS 1/4" 6mm PVDF Ozone resistance one-way check valve, plastic water stops check valve, plastic micro diaphragm check valve

forum.ih8mud.com

Overall the install is not that bad if you are not an overly analytical engineer....

 

[Artie]

Is anyone with this snorkel running an awning on the snorkel side of their LC? I’m looking hard at the quickpitch weather shade and the passenger side makes the most sense for me because I have a 12v pump we use for showers on the drivers side (I want to put a small en-suite thing on drivers side). My main question is would the awning bag cause any airflow or water dripping issues if it were to be mounted close to the opening of the snorkel. If all else fails I can install it on the drivers side if I can’t make the passenger side work.

Just to complicate things I want all this to fit in my garage, I guess I like a challenge.

 

[outlaw4shrt]

Got my snorkel installed in the driveway today. Thanks to @radman for organizing the group buy and to everyone who provided tips on the install. I forgot to take a picture of it before I finished installing it, but @CharlieS, this one had your name on it before it was scratched out and assigned to me.

 

[ikarus]

So - almost a year later, how's everyone liking their stainless snorkels? How is it in rain or snow?

 

[lostonaroad]

So - almost a year later, how's everyone liking their stainless snorkels? How is it in rain or snow?

Would love to know this as well!

 

[Wafflroo]

Nothing negative to say. Looks great! Makes cool noises! Happy I went with bare stainless! I sealed the drain holes in my air box when I installed mine so I‘ve made it a habit to open the air box anytime I spray my LX off to check for any water. I find pine needles in the air box more often than water. Rain and snow doesn’t seem to get in while driving. I’d buy it again!

 

[ikarus]

Nothing negative to say. Looks great! Makes cool noises! Happy I went with bare stainless! I sealed the drain holes in my air box when I installed mine so I‘ve made it a habit to open the air box anytime I spray my LX off to check for any water. I find pine needles in the air box more often than water. Rain and snow doesn’t seem to get in while driving. I’d buy it again!

Nice! Glad to hear. I want to add one to my diesel 80 but there aren't too many people running them in snow since it's primarily Australians.