I went with a $200 knockoff 80-series snorkel as well, couldn't afford to spend the ARB money on something I didn't even know I could fit properly. Wish I knew about the sand/ratchet trick, seems like a great way to do it. I heated and bent mine by hand, but it was too cold outside and/or I was too impatient, so the actual shape change was minimal.
Instead of using a modified metal bracket for the A-pillar I scavenged some... metal bands that I'm quite sure have an actual name.. that seems to hold up perfectly fine after 2 years. Yes, it was blue back when.
Initially I mounted the snorkel nearly flush with the top fender line, but then re-decided and moved it down a good inch or so to fit against the contour line. It's a work/play truck, so the visible part of the first hole got covered by a piece of tape and painted over.. the fenders are only a couple of years away from replacement due to rust anyway, so it's not a big deal. Now the top of the snorkel sits flush with the roofline/cap. Because I didn't bend it properly it's not following the A-frame perfecly, but the gap isn't big enough to bother me. It's most visible from this angle, really;
I connected the snorkel to the big round whateveritis using an aluminium kitchen vent pipe that fit perfectly on both ends. It's too fragile for proper off road use, but so far (2 years) it has held up nicely without flattening or tearing. If I wasn't planning on doing a P400/Banks build I would probably have spent more energy on finding a proper rubber pipe and done a more robust setup, but well, as it works... Only had to move the coolant tank backwards ever so slightly.
I haven't had any problems with rain or snow, although I tend to turn the intake backwards when it gets really heavy. I did have certain worries when we got 3-4 feet of snow last winter and the truck was forced to stay outside, but nothing actually made it to the engine the month or so it sat there. I'll definitely throw a bag over it this year..
And no, I haven't actually jumped any rivers yet. Not sure how waterproof the whole air intake system is yet, and there's still the matter of extending the breather lines. The whole snorkel thing is mostly the result of an easily impressionable tweenager watching a red squarebody snorkling its way across a river on the big screen nearly 20 years ago. I certainly hope to have everything built well enough to do the same thing myself some day, though.
it's alot of fun. Sorry to hijack
Oivay; I hope your all wives or GFs don't blame me!
