What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Custom K5 Snorkel Construction! Yay! Input needed!

N

nychopshop

Registered Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Posts
27
Reaction score
0
Location
New York
My 1989 K5 blazer loves to gulp air, water - not so much. This leads me to the logical conclusion that I need a snorkel. Here is what I've figured out so far:

I am going to need 3 main components other than tubing to complete my snorkel, the throttle body adapter (to replace the existing round air cleaner with an intake pipe), the air filter in a sealed housing, and the pre-cleaner at the tip of the pipe. I'll break down the 3 components that I have found and plan to use.

Pre-cleaner: I have found the ARB Safari snorkel air ram tip, but although it has provisions for extra water evacuation, I would fear driving through the thickest dust, rain and snow for long with a sealed air cleaner housing, so I have moved on to considering a tractor-style pre-cleaner such as the ones found here www.centriprecleaner.com Both of these types of pre-cleaners ideally use a 3" downpipe, so from there we'll continue on to the filter

Filter/housing: I need a waterproof filter housing that would allow me to use a 3" downpipe. I looked at the HMMWV air cleaner housing, and liked the military look, but I couldnt find one that wasnt beat to hell to begin with, making water-tight seem like a fantasy. I looked into the tractor market and found the FRAM CA-210-2PL and purchased one. Similar can be found on Ebay often - EXAMPLE - and with the inlet diameter at 3-7/8", I can easily find an adapter to mate with the 3" downpipe. It also comes with a mounting bracket, which is great for me. The main issue is the pipe that goes from the filter housing to the engine, as I will explain later.

Fuel Injector adapter: I saw many "cold air" kits on ebay at a good low price of under $50 shipped. These are all by and large 3-1/2" diameter intake pipes about a foot long with a large cone air filter that sucks air from inside the engine compartment. I looked at the airaid kits that cost $200 on average, and a representative directed me towards their stripped-down version, part number 200-700, which is just the adapter and filter (which I do not necessarily need). Here is a link to the airaid kit

All of the tubing I am going to be using is basically just one long trip to the exhaust shop to have mandrel bent pipe custom fitted to my needs affixed on the ends with reinforced silicone reducer couplings from Vibrant Silicone that is designed for turbocharged pressures, so for my normally aspirated application, they will be delightful overkill.

Here are the questions I have: The filter housing's mounting bracket doubles as the end of housing and adapter/reducer that goes to the engine. The diameter of the opening on the intake housing is 3-3/4", but when you bolt on the mounting bracket/reducer, the interior diameter of the pipe becomes about 2-1/2". I would suppose I would either have to fabricate a new mounting bracket and pipe to match the airaid part, cut the adapter portion out of the center of the mounting bracket and install a larger diameter pipe into the widened opening, or make due with the 2-1/2" diameter that the filter provides. I don't know what the ideal intake pipe diameter for our 350 c.i.d. gas V8s would be, but 2-1/2" seems a bit small to me. Anyone that's knowledgeable about such things, any input would be greatly appreciated. Also, although partially regurgitated from other posts in the message forum here, I am including a list of hyperlinks that I have found useful in the building options and parts I have been looking at:

ARB Safari Snorkel parts
ARB Safari Snorkel tractor-style precleaner. Pricey, but looks great.
A jeep snorkel build
A toy snorkel build
An excellent build with a great finish and detailed photos of the build (even if it is on a land cruiser
A military parts supplier that supposedly had NoS HMMWV intake boxes, but the customer service is bad and there is no way to instantly order anything.
Vibrant Silicone reducer couplings
Inexpensive cowl type intake
An entirely PVC snorkel, cheapo but looks effective.
In-fender intake ducting, could be great depending on your application.
Turn your round air cleaner into a cheap and surprisingly elegant setup for waterproofing.
An ARB complete snorkel kit installed on a suburban, not the cheapest way, but definately looks and works great.


Post any advice on snorkel building, any links to anything you have found useful, or any input on intake air velocity or piping diameter you may have. The water will fear us! Long live the K5! :bow:
 
i'm gonna subscribe to this cause i WILL build one this summer for my Blazer. It will be made to run the river.

I was thinkin a couple days ago. I'm going to look at every rail buggy i can find around here and get an idea what they used for relocating their breather. I remember being in my dad's and could run the thing under water til you had to raise off your seat to keep from going under.

Only thing is i can't quite remember the setup :doah: anyways you can see it in this pic vaguely on the yellow one. the blue one is my dad's before relocating it

 
Arb FJ80 snorkel fits nearly perfect, just needs some heat and a slight bend to contour to window frame. Heres the write-up I used mainly:
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174899&highlight=snorkel+install
snork008.jpg

snork007.jpg

snork006.jpg

Pretty straight forward, not complicated. You can weld and seal your air cleaner to save $$$ like I did.
 
I can tell you right now that the Airaid "cold air" adapter wont seal up well enough to keep out water. I have one similar to it on my TBI and although it seals enough to keep most the dirt out, it isnt water tight. If it stays centered on the top it's ok, but should it slide to one side (and they do) you will have a short lived water pump instead of an engine.
I've seen some guys use what looks like a small coffee can witha rubber gasket to seal up the throttle body, then fabricate the inlet on the side of the can for whatever size pipe thay were using.
 
There was a guy here a year or so ago, that made them for our trucks. He offered the TBI box seperately.
 
please tell me more about the airaid, is the unit to soft to clamp it down tight enough to seal it? I don't plan on using the big stupid looking round air cleaner, I already ordered the filter unit and really like the idea of having the filter so far from the engine, so if I do indeed ingest any water I have a lot more leeway than having the filter sitting right on top of the throttle body. Any water that makes its way past that is literally circling the drain on the way to the engine, as you say, turning it into a short lived water pump.

I'd basically be sealing the adapter, airaid or otherwise, to the top of the throttle body. This allows me to service the remote filter and any other necessary parts of the intake system without breaking the seal. I hope to mount the system in such a fashion that I don't put much strain on the TBI adapter.
 
If you have any information about the guy's name or where to find them, or even any members that have them installed with pictures... PLEASE post. Thanks!
 
I found the website www.ramairbox.com for the snorkel setup he used. He wrote something about a custom fiberglass box, but there is no pulse in the followup info. Many people seem to want his airbox for their own setups, but not only can I find no pictures of the under hood setup of the actual box he claims to custom build, but I havn't seen any replies on the web to any questions asked in some time. I have read that its easier to find them on the phone, but I didnt find a phone number. At any rate, if his airbox is like the one from ramairbox.com, then its not right for my application. I would be able to use the 10" diameter by 3" tall assembly without an air filter installed, but I don't see much of a point at $153 + shipping. Between this and the airaid one, I'd probably opt for the airaid to save the money unless I hear that its a flimsy unit that would distort and become non-waterproof if clamped down fairly firmly. I do hand it to them over at ramairbox, they do make a fine looking air cleaner. If I were doing one of those hidden semi-snorkels for a carb style application, I would take one of the double intake cases and run the two intakes through the firewall to the cowl. Otherwise I'll leave their stuff to the muscle car crowd looking for smart performance solution to the issue of gulping in hot engine bay air. These are designed for people that don't need a snorkel to keep water out, but rather for those that need cold air at speed. If you take a classic 67 GTO like the one they have one of their units installed in on their webpage headlight deep in water and manage to survive, you should be given a good firm buttkicking for putting that kind of car at risk! My K5, on the other hand, is begging for some deep water and cringes at the idea of running a quarter mile balls out.
 
The one I have is not an Airaid brand, but looks identical to Airaid's setup. It's plastic and while not flimsy, if cranked down tight enough causes the bottom to distort and could lose a seal. I've never used mine in water, but there have been plenty of times I've popped the hood for something and noticed it was crooked.
I dont want to discourage you from building a hybrid setup, but I dont want you to ruin an engine either. Is it possible to seal the bottom? Well sure. Can the unit be modified to provide a positve seal? The cool thing about fabricating is the limitless possibilities. Maybe I'll get off my lazy butt and try it myself. I just think something made of a firmer material would work better for what you are trying to do.:D
 
most of the pseudo cold air intake kits, essentially just a 'short ram' system, that are made out of metal look much crappier than the plastic airaid one. If you find any other options, please post them here. Post a pic or two of the one you have anyway. I'm planning on using a tube of loctite (weatherstrip adhesive or ready gasket, I have both) and sealing the unit up good when I get it, so I cant really picture having that setup leak on me. Please correct me if I'm wrong, and anyone that has a snorkel with a remotely mounted air filter please post pics of what you use. Thanks!
 
I think I have found the kit you use on ebay, or one quite like it. Any filter with JDM in the title or description should be avoided, I think. To be honest, if you hadn't said something about a cruddy plastic intake kit, I am 100% sure I would have pulled the trigger and picked up the kit for the parts. It seems to be deceptively good looking in photographs, but I feel I would be badly disappointed once I took the unit out on the road, let alone through a pond! HERE IS THE HILARIOUS INTAKE ON EBAY
 
here's how im routing mine. Yes this is hack, but it was a temporary solution i did in the parking lot before a wheeling excursion. It is going to be re-done.
2186902_116_full.jpg

I got this K&N filter that will be mounted inside the cab under the glovebox
2186902_360_full.jpg

It has a 4" opening so I will use 4" exhaust tubing with silicone connectors (like you see for turbos) As for the TBI housing, I'm thinking of cutting the bottom out on the original aircleaner housing. Then screwing it to the bottom of a custom made housing and caulk the seams. I don't like the outside the fender snorkels because i know it will just get ripped off by a tree
 
Cutting through the fender

The step we all dread to some degree, the only unreversable part of the process, the cutting of the hole through the fender. This raises several issues like how do you treat the jagged raw metal? I was thinking about putting touch-up or rustoleum an the bare metal I had to cut and putting some sort of auto-trim around the hole. I saw a really well made snorkel out of exhaust tubing like I'm planning to use, and here is how he dealt with the hole problems.
 
WOW! That's tight! I think I just found a new project (the wife is going to kill me!). I'm not as worried about making mine look so pretty, but the transition is smooth and less likely to snag on stuff.
 
nychopshop said:
I think I have found the kit you use on ebay, or one quite like it. Any filter with JDM in the title or description should be avoided, I think. To be honest, if you hadn't said something about a cruddy plastic intake kit, I am 100% sure I would have pulled the trigger and picked up the kit for the parts. It seems to be deceptively good looking in photographs, but I feel I would be badly disappointed once I took the unit out on the road, let alone through a pond! HERE IS THE HILARIOUS INTAKE ON EBAY
Click to expand...


[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]CHROME AIR FILTER WILL BE USING IF BLACK FILTER IS OUT
[/FONT]
Click to expand...

That, right there, should tell us a lot. What does their control over the English language say about their control over quality? :haha:

-- A
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom