Dedman
Forum Member
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2012
- Messages
- 766
- Location
- Perth Western Australia
- Car Year
- 1999
- Car Model
- Forester
- Transmission
- 5MT
Here is how I did my snorkel. Didnt manage to take photos along the way though...
Step 1: Obtain snorkel from ebay NH-NK Pajero Snorkel (made an offer of $100 on a snorkel from outdoorsrusaustraila)
Step 2: Line up snorkel on body and work out location of main hole, build up confidence and cut that hole
…. If it’s not exactly right the snorkel is wide enough to cover up some mistakes (my hole ended up being closer to an oval that a circle)
Step 3: Close up one end of the snorkel with duct tape
Step 4: Fill Snorkel with water then add sand to water until all water has been displaced by sand. Now seal up other end with tape
Step 5: work out how the snorkel needs to be bent to make it a better fit (in my case it was three bends: bend backwards towards pillar, bend top section outwards away from car and also twist the top section clockwise when looking down the snorkel from the top)
Step 6: Clamp the lower section of the snorkel securely so you can bend it easily (it does take quite some force) Heat snorkel with blow torch to soften the plastic. If you want to retain the snorkels outer surface texture do not heat very much on these surfaces but apply more heat to the inner (will be hidden) surface. You don’t want the plastic to melt at all or catch fire, just go somewhat softer.
Step 7: Once plastic is soft (softer) bend snorkel to desired shape and whilst holding in bent shape apply a wet rag or similar to cool plastic so it does not bend back so easily
Step 8: Check bending results on car and repeat as required (took me around 10 tries until I was happy with the result)
Step 9: check to see how the snorkel is sitting against the body work and remove inside edges where required to get a better fit.
Step 10: Make a new bracket to mount to the pillar because unless you to a much better job at bending the snorkel the supplied one wont fit.
Step 11: Work out how to drill the rest of the required holes in the correct position (I put all the stub bolts in put it against the car and marked. Worked out perfectly for me)
Step 12: work out how to connect the snorkel output to the engine (Ill go through how I did this later)
Step 13: Put it all together and stand back and take in just how good your forester now looks
Here is the finished product :ebiggrin:;
And this is how I connected the snorkel to the engine;
As you can see I had to do some more body work adjustments to get the connecting pipe through.
Now to the connecting pipe material;
It is a hybrid material make of ducting material I found in the shed (originally purchased from whitworths I think) and an old motorcycle inner tube;
The wire in the ducting material was very strong but the connecting material was weak and already had some holes so I put it inside the tube (god that was a mission
). The end product was a very flexible, tough material with a large diameter which was perfect for the job.
Very very happy with how the snorkel turned out
much better than I was expecting.
Now I need a diff breather and fan cut-off. Any suggestions as to how to mod the wiring system for the fan cut-off would be appreciated.
Step 1: Obtain snorkel from ebay NH-NK Pajero Snorkel (made an offer of $100 on a snorkel from outdoorsrusaustraila)
Step 2: Line up snorkel on body and work out location of main hole, build up confidence and cut that hole
…. If it’s not exactly right the snorkel is wide enough to cover up some mistakes (my hole ended up being closer to an oval that a circle)Step 3: Close up one end of the snorkel with duct tape
Step 4: Fill Snorkel with water then add sand to water until all water has been displaced by sand. Now seal up other end with tape
Step 5: work out how the snorkel needs to be bent to make it a better fit (in my case it was three bends: bend backwards towards pillar, bend top section outwards away from car and also twist the top section clockwise when looking down the snorkel from the top)
Step 6: Clamp the lower section of the snorkel securely so you can bend it easily (it does take quite some force) Heat snorkel with blow torch to soften the plastic. If you want to retain the snorkels outer surface texture do not heat very much on these surfaces but apply more heat to the inner (will be hidden) surface. You don’t want the plastic to melt at all or catch fire, just go somewhat softer.
Step 7: Once plastic is soft (softer) bend snorkel to desired shape and whilst holding in bent shape apply a wet rag or similar to cool plastic so it does not bend back so easily
Step 8: Check bending results on car and repeat as required (took me around 10 tries until I was happy with the result)
Step 9: check to see how the snorkel is sitting against the body work and remove inside edges where required to get a better fit.
Step 10: Make a new bracket to mount to the pillar because unless you to a much better job at bending the snorkel the supplied one wont fit.
Step 11: Work out how to drill the rest of the required holes in the correct position (I put all the stub bolts in put it against the car and marked. Worked out perfectly for me)
Step 12: work out how to connect the snorkel output to the engine (Ill go through how I did this later)
Step 13: Put it all together and stand back and take in just how good your forester now looks
Here is the finished product :ebiggrin:;
And this is how I connected the snorkel to the engine;
As you can see I had to do some more body work adjustments to get the connecting pipe through.
Now to the connecting pipe material;
It is a hybrid material make of ducting material I found in the shed (originally purchased from whitworths I think) and an old motorcycle inner tube;
The wire in the ducting material was very strong but the connecting material was weak and already had some holes so I put it inside the tube (god that was a mission
). The end product was a very flexible, tough material with a large diameter which was perfect for the job.Very very happy with how the snorkel turned out
much better than I was expecting. Now I need a diff breather and fan cut-off. Any suggestions as to how to mod the wiring system for the fan cut-off would be appreciated.
Time to hit some puddles!
This happened twice in one offroad outting last year. I'd recommending soldering the connections over crimping or scotch locks as the water could cause corrosion. The last thing you want is for the fans not to work when they should. 
