Stainless steel snorkel

[zukium]

Evening everyone I'm curious if anyone here has done a stainless steel snorkel instead of the traditional safari snorkel? Unlucky for me Safari never made a snorkel for my OBS Chevy Suburban, I know that some people have adapted the 60 series landcruiser snorkel to the obs Chevy's.

My concern with the safari is that I'm running a 6.5l turbo diesel and it will not flow enough air so now I'm looking at building a 4" SS snorkel.

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

I think you are in same boat I am in. Most commercially available snorkels are 3 or 3.5 inch. My engine is 7.5L a 4 inch would be marginal . Dual 3.5 inch would be good but could easily get me labeled a poser. Then I am left with finding room under the hood for air box and plumbing. I have found a company that makes snorkel air boxes that sit over the intake like the old style carburetor air cleaner assembly. I don't know if something like this would be helpful to you or not.
https://www.ramairbox.com/index.html

 

[Ducky's Dad]

PVC is real heavy and bulky but easy to work with. Stainless looks cool but is difficult to work with, and would probably need to be TIG welded. Why not go with aluminum to save weight and simplify the build? Cheaper, lighter, and you could still polish it if that's your preference.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Do you mean white PVC plumbing? Seems like that could crack but of course all you need is a Home Depot for repairs.

The aluminum idea is interesting, add some fins and you could make a cold air intake that might actually do something.

 

[robert]

Stainless is going to be really expensive and moreso to get it welded up in the shape you need. I would think that you could get a muffler shop that does custom exhausts for brodozers or race cars to bend you some 4" exhaust pipe. Take it to a powder-coater or media blast it and spray paint it with some of the epoxy type paint yourself.

 

[mvrk10256]

Stainless exhaust pipe is great if your have the fab skills to make it happen. You only need a thin gauge and on a big block chevy the difference in weight is irrelevant.

 

[Bullseye240]

I think you're overestimating just how much air the 6.5 draws in. Take your turbo inlet pipe of and look at just how small the inlet to the turbo is. Of course there is nothing wrong with using a larger snorkel for it as that will have less effect on intake air volume, but from personal experience with my own 6.5 tells me that the 60 series modle should be fine for the 6.5.

 

[zukium]

I think you're overestimating just how much air the 6.5 draws in. Take your turbo inlet pipe of and look at just how small the inlet to the turbo is. Of course there is nothing wrong with using a larger snorkel for it as that will have less effect on intake air volume, but from personal experience with my own 6.5 tells me that the 60 series modle should be fine for the 6.5.

Thank you Bullseye, and I could very well be over estimating it. I've only recently got it up and running and the only driving has been around town. I'm also looking at upgrading the turbo to either an HX35-40 for best performance while towing our camp trailer.

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

The longer the runner the more air resistance. So you can't judge just by the turbo inlet. Every bend or turn add more to the restriction. There are flow charts online for determining max airflow a length of tubing can handle. 1 inch is different that 1 foot in length.

 

[Grump E-Vet]

PVC is real heavy and bulky but easy to work with. Stainless looks cool but is difficult to work with, and would probably need to be TIG welded. Why not go with aluminum to save weight and simplify the build? Cheaper, lighter, and you could still polish it if that's your preference.

I am going to second this and add it would be especially difficult to use stainless especially since you would have to use 304 stainless on exposed appplication, which is more difficult to work than 409 stainless. It is also easier to seal a plastic (PVC, etc) or even an aluminum system.

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

I have welded 304 schd 10 pipe with a Lincoln "buzz box" welder and just connected a tig rig to it. Yeah I had to manually control the argon and use scratch start but it got us by till we got a new welder. Don't forget that when you tig stainless you need to purge the inside while welding. If you don't purge you will end up with sugar on the inside of the weld.

 

[J!m]

I made my snorkel from black PVC for my series in africa. Use a rubber adapter on top to fit the (Donaldson) ARB pre-cleaner.

Looked like a tractor but worked great.

 

[doug720]

A turbo diesel engine requires a lot of air. Here is a good calculator to determine what you need.

https://www.widman.biz/English/Calculators/CFM.html

A quick test for adequate engine airflow is to make test runs with air filter, then remove the air filter top or filter, and see if your boost pressure goes up. My Safari Snorkel on my 3.9l turbo diesel LandCruiser is barely big enough!

 

[Alloy]

Welded stainless needed to be passivated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passivation_(chemistry)

After time bare aluminum will oxidize inside which you don't want in the engine so the aluminum needs to be anodized.

https://www.donaldson.com/en-us/engine/filters/products/air-intake/accessories/general/

I've seen composite (carbon $$) tubing and silicone elbow used in marine.

http://carbonscopetubes.com/Medium_Dia_Tubes.html

In another application, I've used Sch10 PVC drain pipe. Don't know if static caused by the airflow would be an issue in this application?

ABS plastic is another option.

 

[luthj]

Aluminum would not need anodized, assuming you don't use some corrosion prone alloy. Plenty of factory cast aluminum intakes and heads without anodizing. AL forms a protective Aluminum oxide layer within seconds of exposure to air.

PVC (unless its glass reinforced) would be fairly brittle. It welds quite well though. I see no reason it couldn't be used, as long as the operator understands it will crack if you bash it. Obviously it needs to be painted unless its been UV stabilized. Thick walled (SCH80) pipe is pretty tough. It would make for a fairly large OD though.

Wound fiberglass pipe is also a good option. Not sure if its available in the right size. Joints would be pretty simple using glass and resin to build them up. May not be the prettiest depending on surface finish. Paint would be required unless a UV resistant resin is used.

Any good exhaust shop with the right equipment can bend thin wall tubing to your needs. The aluminized exhaust tubing is quite durable. Paint as desired. The finish product could also be plated with stainless if desired. Surface finish would need to be very smooth. Consult with your plating shop before doing the work, as they will have input on material types and acceptable under coatings.