Well, I've been working on designing and building a custom snorkel for quite a while now, so I thought it was finally time to post my snorkel build. I am too cheap to purchase a Safari Snorkel, plus I really enjoy designing things from scratch in CAD, and building them.

The first thing I needed to do was create a model of the truck. This was no easy task, as the sheetmetal has many complex curvatures. So what I did was to cover the A-pillar and fender with blue painters tape. Then I marked and labelled about 200 points on the tape with a marker. Then I painstakingly measured each point in 3 dimensions (X, Y & Z).


Then I was able to create each point in CAD. I joined the points with curves, and then created surfaces from the curves. This is what I ended up with.


Now I could finally start designing the snorkel. I started by going to Lowes to find some parts to use. In the plumbing section I found several parts. A 3" elbow mates to the opening of the airbox perfectly. Then a piece of 3" PVC pipe mated to the elbow and travels above the wheel well to the fender opening. I also found some 3" rubber clamps to connect everything and be air tight. I also ordered a piece of 3" aluminum tube with 1/16" wall for the tube going up along the A-pillar.

Then I modeled all these parts in CAD. Next, I created the path for the airflow. I tried to keep it nice and tight up against the truck, so it wouldn't stick out too far. These pics show the purchased parts and the airflow path.


The basic concept is similar to the Safari Snorkels. Next, I modeled the component that mounts to the inside of the fender, and connects to the PVC pipe. Then I modeled the component that mounts to the outside of the fender, and connects to the aluminum tube. This pic shows them without the fender. The green is the inside part, and the orange is the outside part. Pink is the PVC pipe.



To put my own spin on the design, I wanted the head of the snorkel to look similar to the truck's hood scoop. This is what I came up with.

Looking from the side of the truck:

Looking from the front of the truck:

From underneath:


More to come.

Sub'd!

That's gonna be sweet!

Awesome Bandit!! Some seriously sick ingenuity right there... things like these make me appreciate this forum. Sub'd and also wondering when your taking orders?

Sub'd!

I love the hood scoop idea!

Sweet! You should keep us updated on total cost. I'll bet its a quarter of what safari is asking

Nice project Bandit. Those are some serious CAD skills you've got.

I like what you've shown us so far. How far along are you and what's left? Can't wait to see more.

How did you measure the Z axis on the body panels...?

I'm impressed.

You know you should always make two of something when building something from scratch. I'll take the other one.

actually i think 3rd is the best number so that other one i would happily take it and add it to mine


but to Bandit Runner, sweet job, i love playing with cad and designing all this stuff too

I wounded if you could have parts 3D printed, make plugs and have some molds made and pop out a few parts.

That's awesome! You need to start selling these.

Genius! Can't wait to see the final product.

i'm gonna jump on board here and say if you can produce this for about 150 EVERYBODY is going to buy them. a while back, CJ80cruiser tried to put together a group buy and it died a horrible death. main arguments were the over all cost of the snorkel + shipping. that being said, if there's anyone on here that could have produced their own, it's definitely you! go get em bandit.