Damn rain!!
Its been pouring on and off for two weeks now, too wet to paint when I get a chance!!
So, will post an update on the snorkel install instead.
As some of you might remember, I purchased a snorkel kit off eBay which was intended for the Series III. I knew that there were to be some alterations to the snorkel itself to make a S3 snorkel fit the S2 or S2A vehicle . Undeterred, we went ahead with it anyway as Plugger really liked the look of the snorkel and I must admit they give the Landies that tough, die-hard look!
First order of business was to cut-out the template from the A4 sheet and locate the template on the drivers side guard to cut the penetration for the snorkel outlet and mounting bolts. While the template gives a perfect location of holes, horizontal alignment and cut-out it gives you no indication of vertical alignment whatsoever! So I guessed, and got it terribly wrong!!!! I aligned a line on the template with the seam on the top of the guard thinking (wrongly) that this is what the line is meant for, but it wasn't. Here you can see the orientation of it - it is in fact around 30mm to high!!
Attachment 132834
I cut the holes and test fit - twice more in fact - to get it to sit at the right position. OnceI had it bolted to the guard I found that the snorkel body was tilted to far forward (to the front) and too far away from the body to allow it to mount as per intended to the windscreen frame. I am not sure whether this is a S2A versus S3 thing or just that the snorkel was rubbish - I voted on the latter and got out the heat gun!
With repeated applications of the heat gun I gradually softened the injected-molded plastic enough the manipulate it into the the correct position. This is a shot of the slight bulge on the backside of the snorkel after the heating and bending process. Luckily you don't see this unless you really look hard for it. It is hidden by the S3 mirrors to a certain extent.
Attachment 132835
And here is a shot of it from the front. Looks OK in my book. At the moment of taking the shot it was just held on with clamps, but the position and fitment was pretty damn good.
Attachment 132836
The bracket that came supplied to tie the snorkel to the windscreen was in the least - pathetic! It was too short to reach the windscreen for a start (S3 versus S2A thing again or just rubbish - I voted rubbish!!) so I made my own. The mounting kit came with self-tapping screws to affix the bracket to the windscreen frame and some brass inserts molded into the plastic on the snorkel side. Loathing self-tapping anything I decided to use some M6 nutserts into the frame to give a more permanent and sturdy solution. The windscreen channel was deep enough to do this so drill and squeeze it was....
Attachment 132837
Next stop was to make up the mounting bracket! Luckily no bends or kinks just a straight bracket with a corner cut off to miss the windscreen pivot bracket. Cut and drill some holes...
Attachment 132838
And test fit - lovely! Take it off again and paint it gloss black along with every other bracket!
Attachment 132839
And here is a pic of the cock-up - notice the oversized outlet hole and elongated mounting-bolt holes in the drivers side guard! I was kicking myself for doing this as I hate making mistakes. :censored: Luckily for us the body of the snorkel covers it all up - just!! With the use of some black sika-flex at the time of mounting it will all be sealed and no-one will really notice the error - unless they look up under the guard - and even then it won't be that apparent. Phew - lucky!!
Attachment 132841
Anyway, that's about it for this week. More soon. Go away rain!
Cheers and thanks,
Tricky and Plugger
