Solving the Open Intake Problem
In the Ozarks, there’s a lot of water crossings, especially in the spring. Some come up to the bottom of your frame rails, so can go up over your hood. There’s a reason the majority of trail rigs in the area run snorkels, although sometimes it’s only for looks haha.
With fiberglass fenders like both Rushingman and I had, there is no more plastic fender liner and the intake is open to the elements. We wanted to solve this issue since we are constantly doing water crossings.
The snorkels on the market are formed to fit the shape of your factory fender. Fiberglass fenders are much wider and don’t retain the same shape at all, so the normal snorkels don’t work with them.
Rushingman found a guy in Omaha, Nebraska (7 hours away) that had a good portfolio of diverse fabrication projects. He bought 4” thin wall stainless pipe with various bends and we drove to Omaha for the weekend to have it created. We were both nervous how it would turn out since fiberglass is somewhat easily damaged and is expensive. When it was done, we were glad that he had made the decision to get the stainless snorkel added. The biggest thing I remember was when we first got on the interstate, you could really hear the sound of the intake through the stainless pipe. It was sexy af.
I chose to go a cheaper and simpler route. I was still in college so I made my own rubber fender liners. These are not watertight, but do protect from splashback. I used 1/4 rubber stall mat which I cut to shape, then mounted it using L brackets to the subframe of the engine bay. Not perfect, but better than nothing. They spanned the entire width of the fenders from the door hinges to the headlight. For $100, I’ll take it.
