How to make your own 4" stainless steel snorkel

[AB]

This is an easy DIY job to make your own 4" stainless steel snorkel and all up should only cost about $200.

What you need...

1. 2m of 4" stainless steel tube. (Steel companies, etc. I purchased mine from Austral Wright Metals in Epping, Victoria for $26 per lineal metre...Bargain!)
2. 1.5m of 4" flexi wire wound pipe. Purple Pig stores
3. 1 x 90 and 2 x 45 degree 4" rubber elbows.....Any truck parts shop.
4. 7 hose clamps to suit 4" (101mm diameter)
5. 30cm's of Rubber "U" extrusion to wrap around the cut....Clark Rubber stores.
6. Brackets to hold the 4" pipe to car and fixings....Your choice

This is based on a 4.2D GQ Patrol so instructions may differ depending on your Patrol...

After removing the pre filter, cut out a square on the inner guard enough for the 4" pipe to go through. Approx 110mm should do it. It does not have to be perfect and being a tight spot I decided to just angle grind it...

Don't forget to prime and paint any raw steel too...



We now need to locate the centre of the hole to be cut on the outside guard. Use a punch or just anything sharp to punch the centre location from inside the engine bay. You don't need to punch it all the way through, just enough to locate the mark from the outer guard. The picture below is hard to see but you can just see a small punch mark to work off from the outside.



Time to mark out the circumferance of the rubber elbow that will go into the guard which can be tricky and you want to make sure It's correct...If unsure, start small and work your way out.

I found a PVC pipe with the same diameter and cut it on a 45 degree angle to almost sit exactly where the pipe will on the guard. On a GQ you are cutting it right on the bend so this was the best idea I found to get it spot on. Trace around the pipe using a whiteboard marker.



See how the circle is almost perfect and if you tried to hold the elbow on that spot you wouldn't get a perfect circle due to the wheel arch.



The 90 degree elbow that will sit in here will need to have an elongation in the hole to allow the inner radius of the 90 degree bend to sit inside too otherwise the snorkel wont sit close to the panel.

You need to measure the distance of the bend up until it runs straight again, see below...



When you have that measurement use the PVC stencil again but move it that distance to the right for your elongation of the 90 degree elbow...It sounds rough but it worked 100% on mine.



Here is the stencil drawn, ready to cut...



The fun part...lol...Cut the shape out!

I used a nibbler for this, it didnt give a perfect result but a lot safer then a hole saw or jigsaw in my opinion and after you put the trim on you can't even tell any rough corners, etc. I did file and grind some touch ups afterwards but didn't worry too much about having it perfect...