Custom stainless VS Plasric Snorkel

[hak]

Hey all, Im looking to fit a snorkel to my NH SWB. The safari snorkel for my model is over $700 fitted, so i am thinking of knocking up a custom stainless job for less than half that price.

I want to know how the stainless one will stack up against the plastic ones. The only con i have heard of is that it retains heat from the sun so you end up sucking in hot air... I figure it cant be any worse than the air in the engine bay but any advice you can give me would be awesome.

Cheers!

Simon

[dolphin]

i think you may get problems with Sensors like [ air control ] plus the engine wouldn,t be happy with warm air intake, this does upset mixture settings.
have you thought of making up a snorkel from some plastic box section such as house down pipes [ 100 x 60mm ] cut all angles and have them plastic welded and finish in black paint ? material costs would be $30 which includes paint plus whatever the plastic welding costs.

[Greg]

Wouldn't a black painted or black plastic snorkel heat up as well giving the same issue?

The other thing is that assuming your driving and not just sitting there, the air wouldn't have much time to heat up as it's being sucked through by the engine and so won't be in contact with the metal for very long.

If you made the snorkel a decent diameter (3"-4" seems common on patrols) then the air wouldn't be touching the sides much anyway and so won't heta up too much. As you mentioned its probably going to be way cooler than the engine bay air anyway so you'll get some form of benefit even on really hot days plus you have got protection from water when doing river crossings or playing in mud.

[OnPatrol]

Here are samples from Ontrack 4x4

http://www.ontrack4x4.net.au/SteelSnorkel.htm

I have one of these for my GU Patrol; running a turbo charged 4.5 petrol engine. We found that my old plastic snorkel restricted air flow for the new turbo.

[m1s3ry]

Whoever is trying to charge you $700 is ripping you off "no lube" style!

A snorkel shouldn't cost you more than $400 fitted.. i have an Airflow one on my NH but i wouldn't buy another one i would make my own one.

We made one for my next door neighbours Patrol a few weeks ago out of 4" poly pipe and rubber bends and it worked out less than $80 looked pretty good painted black. Just be fearless about cutting a big hole in your panelwork

IMHO i would go the stainless for the bling action, plus if you hit anything the metal will just bend as opposed the the plastic smashing into little bits.

[Greg]

Ive seen a few made and they look awesome, hopefully planning a 2.5" or 3" one for my paj over christmas break. They end up costing about $200-$250 depending on how much metal you need and what kind of bends you use.

[martin7]

mate on ebay cars r us are selling snorkles for the nh pajero for $165.00 and they are a fiber glass copy of the safari snorkle. all you need to fit is a 85mm hole saw and 16mm drill bit. buy a template from safari and away you go