makeshift snorkle

[alexcd]

has anyone thought or made a part time snorkle. I figure i will only need one on rare occassions and was thinking of rigging up some fixable rubber pipe to either run as high as possible in engine bay or from the air intake drop a pipe straight down and up around the bullbar, then attach whatever length pipe i need. What do you think? Any better ideas? I know a proper snorkle would be better but at $700 fitted im trying to find a very cheep way off protecting my engine on rare occassions.

[MT]

You know the old saying - you get what you pay for. Personally, I would not like to be worrying at the point of having water of the bonnet whether or not my 'cheap' part time snorkel was going to fail. The consequences coudl ruin your day / trip / car ( and possibly compromise physical safety as well).

The other thing to consider is the benefits of having the snorkel full time anyway (cleaner air etc).

Cheers

mark

[DaveS3]

Go to your local exhaust shop that can custom make 3' exhausts.

They shouldn't charge anything over $150 to bend the snorkle.
Then go buy some flexipipe $20, and a ram $30.

Your done withe a new metal snorkle which will be stronger that your plastic ones.

My last metal one owed me $26 for metal pipe which i then cut and welded.

Im now thinking about changing the design so you dont need a ram and having twins as the engine still needs more air.

Dave

[loanrangie]

Some one told me that Range Rov in Mitcham sell a f/glass snorkel for rangies for $200 complete.

[alexcd]

i rang Range Rov. There snorkle is metal. Its $200 and they charge $185 for fitting. So $385 fully fitted is sounding good. Might ditch the homemade idea and get a proper on fitted, since im to scared to start cutting into my body.

[Outlaw]

Can you please post contact details for Range Rov as i can't see them in the recommended suppliers section?

[alexcd]

details now in recomended suppliers list for Victoria

[HSVRangie]

RANGE ROVE RECOVERY USED TO HAVE THEM FOR $180.00

came with hole cutting template.

Michael.

[RR5L]

Originally posted by HSVRangie
RANGE ROVE RECOVERY USED TO HAVE THEM FOR $180.00

came with hole cutting template.

Michael.

I brought one from them at that price too, last year. Bloody solid bit of steel pipe nicely powdercoated black. Comes with template for cutting the decker panel on top and also where it enters the engine bay.

[JohnE]

Each person has different ideas on aftermarket products.
For my 5c worth. Is a snorkel really worth it, I have read lots of posts in varying offroad sites over the years, there are numerous ideas on the value of snorkels, from getting cleaner air, to the ram air principle for non turbo vehicles to being able to ford rivers you can't walk through.
It all came to a head for me about 14 years ago when I did an offroad drivers course, we were taught all the basic stuff, sand recovery winching, snatch straps, reverse and forward keystarts, river crossings, and so on. The bloke that instructed us is still in the business and is very good.
For water crossings some people put a snorkel on their vehicle so they don't have to get out and walk the route. I don't know if I am preaching to the converted or not. If not remember before you drive into water, you should, get out and check the current, walk your intended route, in case there is a big hole underwater. boulders to hang you up, very soft sand and other hazards.( this means summer and winter)
Once you get into the water, don't change gear, for me it was low range 2rd, move slowly, creating that bow wave that pushes forward, otherwise tarp up the front of your vehicle,(just as good as a snorkel,if you do it right)
I have some footage in my pajero going through a river crossing and the water is lapping the bottom of the windscreen, no snorkel just a good bow wave.

Having said all that I wouldn't rush back into driving through rivers or creeks, the key point I remember was if you don't feel comfortable don't do in.

I have been talking about snorkels for diesels I think your talking about a Range Rover , petrol. You won't damage the motor if it ingests water, but the electrics, how do you know everything is sealed enough to not be affected.
Even though mine is diesel after the first water crossing every warning light the car had came on, the sensors were wet. but the motor kept going.
Thats enough rambling, I hope I haven;t bored you too much.


john

[Hellspawn]

I'll say you were very very lucky with the Paj. 8O

My boss prior to commiting treason and buying a 62 series sahara had a V8 109 which quite happily trundled around Oz for 2 yrs with no snorkel. Did a similar feat with it however laughs about the story and admits he was just lucky.

This one crossing he did up around the Gulf, he walked and knew the water was going to be up to the windows in places and mostly up to the top of the guards. Tarped the front up and hoped for the best.

He got to the other side and JUST gets the top of the wheels out of the water, motor stumbles and dies. Untarped the motor and to his surprise nothing was really wet, it had just run out of air.

It was just luck he made it across and stupidity that made him do it. Often thinks back and says even a length of flexi plastic tube clamped to the air cleaner would have made it a little safer.

No way I'd do it. 8O

[matbor]

Funny thing happened on the weekend up in the Yarra State Forest with the AULRO Vic boys, two of the boys went though a decent puddle, one died in the middle and the other died just as he came out of the hole.... both due to the electrics getting wet or it might of been condensation, in both case's we needed a bit of WD40 on the disty caps to get them going again. Both had snorkel too !!!!

Have a look at the videos.....


http://www.bordignons.net/disco/trips/aulr...erience_LOW.wmv (http://www.bordignons.net/disco/trips/aulro/YarraForest280505/River)

http://www.bordignons.net/disco/trips/aulr...erience_LOW.wmv (http://www.bordignons.net/disco/trips/aulro/YarraForest280505/Mick)

http://www.bordignons.net/disco/trips/aulr...erience_LOW.wmv (http://www.bordignons.net/disco/trips/aulro/YarraForest280505/Hiline)

Matt.

[DaveS3]

For <$200 why bother risking an engine rebuild?

Any precaution is better than being stranded witha siezed engine.
There are also a few electrical tricks you can do to help the petrol engines from dieing.

Dave.

[JohnE]

Good to see we got a bit of a banter going on this one. My experiences have been only with diesel, I shudder to think of what could go wrong in a petrol engine car when all the electrics get wet. At least my diesel kept on going.
The funny part about going through water is that it is an unknown, you think you are doing everything right then out of the blue something goes wrong.
I wish I could find the link in the Vict pajero site , someone put a post on a few years ago regarding the benefits of having a snorkel and the relative flow rates of the air and so on, it was a good read, convinced me to leave the system as it was, as I too was thinking of going the way of the elephant.
But at the end of the day, providing nothing goes wrong , its all good fun.

john

[PhilipA]

I decided to fit one to my 3.9 Rangie after a friend drowned the engine with water in cylinders by driving through a big puddle on an outback road at 80KMH. looked shallow was deep.
The 3.5 and 3.9 injection air intake is a sitter for water ingestion. I have also seen 2 cars stall and fill ,out of a group of 12 through a deep water crossing. (Good old Yalwal creek). Both were 3.9 Rangies.

After buying the snorkel, I tested the airflow restriction by tapping the aircleaner before the filter, and measuring with a 0-30 inches of Water Minihelic pressure gauge. The MAXIMUM restriction is 8 inches of water at max revs in first up a steep hill. Under any other circumstances there is NO restriction. There may be a ram effect at speed but I have not tried to measure it. 8 inches is not much, and said by experts to be worth 1% power.
I reckon its cheap insurance, and if you are worried about restriction you can always have an alternate intake, and only connect the snorkel for off road.
I also have now bought a Donaldson centrifugal pre cleaner , which I will only fit on dusty trips.
Regards Philip A

[rangerovin]

Originally posted by DaveS3
For <$200 why bother risking an engine rebuild?

Any precaution is better than being stranded witha siezed engine.
There are also a few electrical tricks you can do to help the petrol engines from dieing.

Dave.

hey dave

just wondering what other elec tricks you can do. have heard of spraying wd 40 over the electrics as a temporary thing. dont really like water but like a bit of mud.

[Hellspawn]

Originally posted by rangerovin

just wondering what other elec tricks you can do. have heard of spraying wd 40 over the electrics as a temporary thing. dont really like water but like a bit of mud.

On HS I sealed the dizzy shut (points activated) and insulated the coil connections with silecone.

Moved vunerable relays high as possible.

Made sure all the engine gaskets are good and there's no method "gunk" can enter the crankcase or fuel system like down a breather tube.

These simple mods have worked in the few paddles it's been for so far.

[DaveS3]

Spot in the money.

Another thing i did was to put the coil in a tupperware container on the firewall.

Dave

[p38arover]

This is the one I made for my '86 Rangie.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/thebecketts...mod.htm#snorkel (http://members.optusnet.com.au/thebecketts/rover/rovermod.htm#snorkel)

Ron

[rangerovin]

cheers dave and jay

good tips will have to get the missus to invite the tuppaware girls over for a party style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif

will get on to it this weekend going to rover park for a little fun they got a little event on down there

dan

[Larns]

Walkin the crossing may be peachy down there, but up here in the N.T it's not really a viable option, with all the snappen handbags at the crossings.
I crossed a river the other month an there was a 5m+ sitten 10m away 8O
I'm definatly running one on mine.

Cheers Larns