Jump to content

Making a snorkel.


Pete Attryde

Recommended Posts

Looking into making a snorkel for the Discovery. I am intending to use plastic gutter downpipe from somewhere like B&Q as it's cheap, however my local B&Q only has downpipe that is 68mm OD which makes the ID somewhere around 65mm because of the wall thickness. I only intend to use a bit long enough to go up the windscreen pillar so about about 700mm long.

My concern is that the diameter of the tube is to small and will prove to be restrictive and as it's a standard 300 TDi Auto the last thing I want to do is strangle the thing.

So basically do you think that the tube diameter is to small and secondly is it possible to get larger diameter gutter downpipe?

Cheers in advance,

Pete.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used the same black plastic drainpipe on my 3.9 rangey before converting it into a hybrid.

It worked fine, it was copied from a fellow club members, also on here, V8bertha.

I am going to do the same with the hybrid but i have now got hold of some aluminium downpipe, about 30foot of it in total, was left over from one of my building sites.

This is also about 64mm internal diameter.

Just make sure that all the joints where the pipes connect are properly sealed, i used guttering mastic, on the basis that it was designed to keep water in a gutter so it will also keep it out of a gutter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I made mine on the Disco I used 70mm dia pipe, a combination of marley underground pipe (bought in Germany!), some old aluminium downpipe off the house and a 70mm gates hose with a 90 degree bend and a couple of long striaghts. All came together well. I made the top out of tin sheet welded up a la mantec stylee.. I tried a mates Safari top on the pipe I have and it fitted perfectly so they seem, at the top at least, to be a similar diameter to mine. No drop in performance was noted!

I have pics if you're intertested.

Incidently, the hardest bit of the whoile job is cutting the complex hole in the wing...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dad used 2.5" drainpipe on the V8 with no ill effects (the flapper is more of a restriction than the snorkel anyway), the 109 (3.9) used 2.5" SS exhaust no problems. Dad got some flexible drainpipe sealant stuff from B&Q that never fully sets, means you can move it about a bit / remove to change air filter etc. without having to re-seal everything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the interests of science I did some of my rolling-road runs with and without a drainpipe snorkel on my 300Tdi. If there was a difference I couldn't tell - I had to check back to the file names to see which numbers came from which run.

(Small print: figures based on three repeat runs on the same piece of road on the same day. No correspondence will be entered into, the judge's decision is final. This was a real scientific experiment using science. No animals were harmed in the production of this feature.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

so on the following, picture if i bore out a hole in the air filter housing i will then be able to route it and diy job it. or again am i wrong in thinking this

If you look at the end of the air filter ,the bit stuck in the back of the rad, there might be the remains of a trumpet.

When I snorkled mine, I cut the flared bit of the trumpet off which left a lovely section of pipe for the snorkel flexi to connect to.

The rest, as they say, was as easy as falling off a log into a deep river with alligators bightinbg your a$%e.....

If I remember, I'll take post a photo tomorrow night.

Bob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
When I made mine on the Disco I used 70mm dia pipe, a combination of marley underground pipe (bought in Germany!), some old aluminium downpipe off the house and a 70mm gates hose with a 90 degree bend and a couple of long striaghts. All came together well. I made the top out of tin sheet welded up a la mantec stylee.. I tried a mates Safari top on the pipe I have and it fitted perfectly so they seem, at the top at least, to be a similar diameter to mine. No drop in performance was noted!

I have pics if you're intertested.

Incidently, the hardest bit of the whoile job is cutting the complex hole in the wing...

Where abouts did you get the 70mm Gates hose from? I'm having trouble finding a distributor in the UK with this size.

Plenty of 70mm silicone hose about but pretty expensive stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Where abouts did you get the 70mm Gates hose from? I'm having trouble finding a distributor in the UK with this size.

I just went to my local motor factors and asked for a 70mm dia gates hose with a 90 degree bend. they had one there by the next day. The pipe came with 30 cm straights on each side of the 90 degree bend so plenty to play with. Cost was 12£ + vat IIRC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Just to bring this full circle I have now made and fitted a snorkel although I did not use drainpipe in the end. Having recently changed jobs I discovered some 80mm OD thin wall ally tube laying around. I asked around at work and found that it was part of the exhaust flue for the Micro-CHp units we are testing at the moment. A bit of further digging uncovered a 90 degree and a couple of 45 degree bends and slightly oddly some totally un-used samco hoses of the correct size that were about to be binned. All were liberated and then over the easter weekend I applied them all to the truck with the following results.

Snorkel001.jpg

Snorkel003.jpg

Snorkel002.jpg

Having driven the truck for a week I found that the original top was some what noisey with the windows or sunroof open so I made a second one.

Snorkel015.jpg

Snorkel014.jpg

The good thing about this pipe being a flue for boilers is that the pipe and bends have a gas tight seal built in.

the seal.

Seal.jpg

I am reasonably happy that the system is water tight as I put a peice of card over the end of the pipe and the engine very rapidly stalled and I could not hear any air being drawn into the system.

The Original airbox got replaced as at some point in the past someone had drilled a load of 1" holes in the front of it so sealing it up was going to be a pain in the arse, plus I now have easily got enough space for a second battery for when I get a winch.

Pete

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm building one for the 100" at the moment.

Got a 12 foot length of SS same dia as Southdown use - got it free - so I may have some spare

I have to go from one side of the engine bay to the other to exit throught the top of the wing a'la Mantec V8 stylee so I have aquired some flexi hose to do that

Got some SD clamps for the windscreen pillar

Got a SH safari stylee intake

Made a reducer to the air box 72m down to 64mm from B&Q for 98p

Got some fleximastic that was left un attended on site

Four SS Jubilee clips from the same scource

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience. By using our website you agree to our Cookie Policy