Like I said, since my Gobi rack was installed, might as well work on installing my snorkel too. Honestly, this was MUCH more stressful thinking about the process than actually doing the work.
I started out by taping the entire fender and much of the A-pillar with painters tape. Then carefully got the template positioned and marked out the various holes…with a bit of twisted humor added. The next step was removing the air box, which I had already done once when I relocated the air pump. Then came the fender liner. I had a heck of a time with the black plastic clips, but had already purchased replacements, so I had no problem destroying them during the removal process.
At this point, I took a short break to relax a bit and also get my wife – she wanted to see any real “carnage.” Out came the drill and my dremel tool. I used several bits to gradually increase the size of the holes for the studs until I got to 3/8”. I had adequate clearance around the studs, so I stopped there. I used 3 of the reinforced 1 ¼” grinding wheels to cut the dreaded hole, being careful to hold the tool with both hands and go SLOWLY. A quick test fit, and it was apparent I needed a little more play in the holes (kept binding up on stud threads), so holes were enlarged to ½”. This is still 1/8” smaller than what the instructions call for, but I figured smaller was better when it came to holes in my truck.
Next was the A-pillar bracket. This was MUCH easier than I was expecting. I mounted the bracket to the snorkel and mounted the snorkel in position. Then I marked the edge and top/bottom of the bracket on the tape I had on the A-pillar. Once marked, I took the snorkel off, removed the bracket and then used the marks to align the bracket on the A-pillar, so I could mark out the locations for the self-tapping screws. 3 more holes drilled, and it was time to remove the masking tape.
I switched the dremel to a cylindrical grinding stone to debur the edges of all of the holes, and then used some touch-up paint from Toyota to paint all of the exposed metal along the edges of the holes. For a bit of added protection, I applied some RTV clear to the holes before pushing the plastic inserts into position. Then the 3 self-tapping screws were added to hold the A-pillar bracket in place.
After the paint dried, the air intake hose goes in followed by re-installing the air box (remove the stock intake tube and about an inch of the rib on the box itself). Then the snorkel body goes on. I added some soapy water to the inside of the intake tube to help facilitate sliding onto the snorkel body. Nearing the end, I installed 6 nylock nuts and the body washers for the snorkel body and the 2 bolts that hold the snorkel to the A-pillar bracket. Last was the snorkel air ram and the 3 hose clamps to hold everything in place. REMINDER: don’t forget to retighten the hose clamp from the air box to the engine air intake.
Wrapped it up by reinstalling the fender liner and popping a beer. Another mod done ;-)
Back to adding stuff to the Gobi and working on lighting.
arty:
