Homemade bits and pieces

[dhula]

Thought it'd be a good topic to cover.

Be nice to see how those in other countries do it.

I'll start I guess.

This is on my TD

This is a vew from the engine bay with the aux battery removed and the Toyota inlet ducting removed. The large hole towards the front of the inner guard (right hand side of photo) is where the ducting used to enter the engine bay

This is a view from under the guard with the hose from the snorkel and the Toyota inlet ducting removed (the round black pipe lookin bit is the outlet for the snorkel, I'm using a Safari snorkel)

This is the standard Toyota inlet ducting that I removed. The join half way round the 180 bend is where it entered the engine bay. The clean bit is from inside the engine bay, the dirty bit is under the guard.

This is the new hole I cut. I put heavy duty fuel hose around the hole as a gromet after fileing the hole out so when the fitting went thru (with gromet in place) it is a tightish fit. Hopefully this will reduce wear.

This is the fitting I made. I made it from 65mm PVC down pipe (stormwater/plumbers pipe) using a 90 (well 88 really) degree bend and some strait pipe. The clamp is a clamp for down pipe on a house. The metal braket on the clamp is scrap metal from the hole I cut. On final fittment, I glued and siliconed all joins

This is what it looks like fitted up from under the guard. No fuel hose yet cause this is trial fitting.

And from inside the engine bay.

This is what it looks like from inside the engine bay with the hose between my fitting and the air cleaner in place. (I've also fitted the aux battery)

This is how I modded the air cleaner. I placed a peice of the PVC pipe inside the inlet pipe. I had to turn it down by 1mm to get a good fit (bitch of a job and a few goes on a lathe). I glued and fibreglassed (as opposed to just silicone) it in hopeing for durability. The fibreglassing hasn't been done in this foto.

This is the whole shebang fitted (before final painting and detailing)

The reason for my making this is to get a better, watertight path to the air filter from the snorkel. I was also trying for a straiter path for air hopeing for better performance and economy.

It's water tight alright, cause when I capped the top of the snorkel, the engine stalled.

Economy improved from 13.5 l/ 100km to 12.5l/ 100km the very next fill with no further changes and the same driving style and locations. I'm keeping an eye on this to how it goes.

Performance. This one is a bit unclear as I compared it to a TD prado like mine, but with no snokel at all.

0 - 60 times went down slightly by less than 1/2 a second, but roll on 80 - 100 times are nearly 1 second quicker

Even if there is no real performance gain, the fact it is now water tight (like a fishes bum), I'm happy

 

[tundra]

Hello dhula

Thank you for this very informative Instruction!

I will try it soon!

Greetings from Central-Switzerland

Tundra

 

[dhula]

Latest update for economy (fuel usage) for my mod above is

11.6l/100km (about 24 MPG)

Not bad seeing as 1/2 was in city/town driving mode

 

[dhula]

Something else I've done that others may find usefull is to relocate the winch controller socket (where you plug the handpiece into) from the solinoid pack to under the bonnet.
I have an ARB bar and because of where the socket is it can be in for a hard time if in the wrong situation. The following pic shows where it hangs out. The socket is usually in the middle of the red W (for warn) to the left of the numberplate (please forgive the fact I haven't painted my fill in yet)

This is where I've move it to

and from another angle

I made the braket in such a way that I can close the bonnet with the plug fitted (I only do this when acually using the winch or crossing a river with the winch ready for action if needed). The cord runs out without being squashed by the bonnet.
Just a note, this is in my TD, so that's why the battery is on the right hand side.

I am looking into fitting a in cabin switch using the areal up/down switch, but that's for after new years

Just for fun, here is my air compressor. The switch next to it turns it on and off (I don't have diff locks so it's only for tyre inflation so far - here's hoping tho)

 

[cody c]

for the remote in out switch i used a window up/down button in series with a lighted swith, to arm the winch. there is no electrical lockout to the relays themselves so i obviously cant use both controls at the same time. this is in a 83 bj60 so its not quite as pretty as it would need to be if i installed it in a prado, but just an idea for your build.cheers.

 

[Dingo Chaser]

Those are cool mods dhula. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Deep Thought]

Hey Dhula,
That 11.6 l/100 km your quoting, what sort of tyres are you running. Also roof rack, bullbar, winch etc. That is to say what other accessories have you got on or not got on that may affect the economy.

Regards
D.T.

 

[dhula]

Hey Dhula,
That 11.6 l/100 km your quoting, what sort of tyres are you running. Also roof rack, bullbar, winch etc. That is to say what other accessories have you got on or not got on that may affect the economy.

Regards
D.T.

Hi DT, have a look here for how my car is set up

http://4x4onlines.iforumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=95&mforum=4x4onlines

Loads vary according to what I'm doing so I can't really give an insite to that bit, but usually (weekdays) it's pretty empty apart from mum, kids and shopping. Weekends it's got day trip stuff in (fridge, recovery gear, food, chairs, table, change of cloths, footy, 30 lt of water - it carries 20 lt every day - tools and some spares) plus mum and the kids and maybe weekend stuff if I get the time (add more cloths and food, plus the tent and sleeping bags on a rola style roof basket)

Economy has settled down to about 12 l per 100 km as an average since that post but the car's coming up on 100k now so injectors are due to be checked and redone and the valves are getting ticky, so clearances are more than likely out of wack.

I'm now using Woolies deso, but the 11.6 was when I used BP so fuel choice can make a differance (not much IMO tho)

edit: the economy has been corrected using 4% differance due to the larger tyres. Before the new (bigger) tyres my speedo must have been spot on as after I fitted the new tyres I had a copper mate clock me with a gun, speedo said I was doing 100 kph but I was really doing 104. I also had a camera mate check it with his equipment one day with the same result

If you need more info or help, drop me a line. I'll only be able to respond on weekends as I'm going on a promotion course starting Sunday (4 March)

Cheers

Damo

 

[Deep Thought]

Dhula,
I think the injectors are only required to be serviced at 150000km so your not quite there yet. I'm running MTR's at the moment and not getting as good milage as you are. But considering the performance I'm now getting I'm not really surprised. I think my Prado is a Maserati.

Regards
D.T.

 

[Deep Thought]

Hey Dhula,
I've started doing your snorkel mod and guess what. A 2.5" steel exhaust pipe fits nice and snug into the air cleaner box with the original plastic sleeve still in place. So I've got the great guys at Maroochy Exhaust Centre getting some bits together for me i.e. quarter donut, some straights and a silicon flex piece. I'll mig together all the steel bits and it should all fit nice and snug. I'll have to paint it inside and out as well I guess that will probably be the hard part.
I've cut the hole in the inner guard, what a mission that was, my bend will not be as tight as yours so it's a little eliptical to accomodate the greater radius. I'll post some photos when I get a little further along with it.
Once done off to get the dyno test done. That should sort out a few other issues too I think.

Regards
D.T.

 

[dhula]

Sounds the goods D.T.

Do you think the extra weight will effect the mounting and perhaps any viration.

Not sure on painting the inside of the tube. Understand your thinking (ie to stop rust xetra) but will it cause more probs like paint flaking off over time. I can't really comment on whether it will or not as I have never done it, but something to consider and be carefull of.

Looking forward to the pics.

Cheers

 

[Deep Thought]

Dhula,
I take your point on flaking of the paint hadn't thought of that. I used the tried method of the trusty fish oil anyway in the end. There is bugger all weight in it and I don't think it will make any difference. Like yours the pipe fit through the guard is as tight as a fish's bum. Have a look at the posts I made on the 4X4Monthly site under DIY. I paid homage to your idea and also used 1 of your photo's to illustrate the existing plastic. Hope you don't mind.

When I stated to remove the existing snorkel connection it fell apart the whole shebang was only held in place by a bit of silastic. I was not impressed to say the least. All good now though, thanks for the idea.

Regards
D.T.

 

[dhula]

I don't mind at all D.T.

I'm glad that ppl are able to get ideas from things that I do, cause I certainly get ideas form other ppl.

Had a look at the A4WDM site and it looks real good.



One extra thing I have done since is to seal up every rivit and hole in the air cleaner box. Especially the ones underneath that are for dust and water to drain out of (rush into IMO)

I have only used silicon ATM, but I am thinking of cleaning it all up and using Fibreglass to ensure a really good seal.

 

[-MaTTi-]

I took off this part off pipe too. Can´t understand why it so complicated shape, it certainly make noticeable extra-friction to air-flow. There´s no much noise now.

I just wonder shoud I do same kind of hole to fender like you to get fresher air to it. I don´t need snorkel while driving on asphalt. [] My off-road driving is so minimal.

 

[-MaTTi-]

dhula: where are your pictures gone? Could we get them back?

 

[dhula]

Matti

I don't know. I went to photobucket to check and my account is no longer there so I'm really unsure of what has happened.

I still have all the pics on my PC (I only put them on PB so that I could post them) so if you want the pics and story for doing the mod yourself, I can put them in a word doc and e-mail them to you if you like.

Let me know

dhula