July 2005: One of the main problems I was having with the old engine was its ability to suck up the slightest splash into the air intake. The mechanical fan threw water perfectly up into it. I didn't bother to drain the cylinders then, I just cranked until the engine started. I am a little more protective of the new engine, so I decided to do it right, and build a snorkel.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/scat.php

The plan was to modify my truck old intake so that the ducting could be attached to it with a large hose clamp. I bent a ring of sheet metal and TIG welded it to the intake. The metal of the intake was about .020" thick, so welded it required a fine touch and alot of patients. The result worked VERY well, and looked pretty good if you ask me.

Notice the rubber on the inside of the hose clamp. I had to painstakingly epoxy a sliced rubber tube to the clamp so that it wouldn't bite into the relatively soft ducting, which doesn't have the best abrasion resistance.

Since the jeep has a one-piece front end that hinges up like a giant hood, the common snorkel design of an exit through the fender would not work here. After much thought, I decided that going though the firewall was the best choice. I TIG welded an aluminum adaptor that would bolt to the firewall and have round rings on each side that the ducting could mount to, very similar to the intake ring.

A picture of me torch cutting a round hole for the giant aluminum flange.

A slightly block photo of the flange in place. I then RTVed and screwed it to the firewall. You can see the semicircle I had to cut out of the battery tray to allow the ducting to come straight out.

A movie of fitting the flange in. (Hey I got it, why not use it....)

Working on the snorkel

The final product forward of the firewall.

For the rear, the hose was simply run along the bottom edge of the passenger compartment, next to the seat and up the roll bar. I had to hack a big chunk out of the passenger seat mount, but eventually got it to fit well. I use PVC for the straight parts: up the roll bar and along the floorboard. For temporary use, I added 2 90 degree turns to the top of the PVC so that water wouldn't simply run down it.

I found a major leak in the system the first time out though, and the engine took a big gulp of water here.

The air cleaner I use (K&N) was slightly taller than the stock one, so that when the top of the intake was bolted down, it left a slight gap around the rim. That problem was solve when I epoxied a thin piece of rubber all around the rim diameter.