Seems like the only fenders I see in good condition have limited flares.

Is the snorkel for your 96? I thought it was for the 99.

 

Two snorkels. They both had problems with the Utah desert dust on that trip a couple of years ago.

I was a little less shy about chopping into my green fender .They're not as hard to find.



Even though I knew the hole saw was going to jump when it finally broke through, and (I thought) was ready for it, it jumped a lot more than I was expecting, hopped out of the hole, and put a couple of nice scratches in the fender. I dabbed some primer on them while painting the edges of the holes, just to stop it from rusting. I'll rub that off and get some Imperial jade Green (tm) touchup paint later on.

 

What he said ^
We've gotten in the habit of getting two of some of the things where it makes sense-ish.

I should be chopping my fender after work today.

 

96 4Runner

SNORKEL INSTALL- Wotefusi snorkel off amazon.


A couple of posts ago the elbow went on the air box and the box was reinstalled so I could drive it to work today. The elbow does end up being angled more upwards but I was able to do it while in the fender.

Time to put the snorkel on. For starters I loosely bolted the bracket for the a-pillar onto the snorkel for fitment purposes.
Tape an area where you'll be cutting the 3 5/8" hole in the fender. I use painter's tape and make it large and thick enough to cover any jumpy hole saw action.


If you compare the template to the bolt holes on the snorkel you'll quickly see the template is of very limited use. It's been reported and seems to be true that the pilot hole spot for the large hole is in a pretty good spot.
After looking at it, the spot for the antenna and the fender I taped it thusly:






When all is said and done the snorkel will fit about an inch deep into the elbow and the antenna bezel sits exactly where it should.

First I dimpled the spot for the pilot hole, then drilled the pilot hole.


Once done with that I removed the template and used the hole saw to carefully cut out the 3 5/8" hole. It will want to kick out and cause trouble, use caution.


With any luck you'll have this:

 

My hole saw did a pretty nice hole. The snorkel doesn't fit in there super well and I wanted to move it a tiny bit forward to better center the antenna bezel. Used my Dremel and cutting wheel I cut an extra fingernail moon piece out of the front side of the hole...maybe 3/8" at its widest spot...and now the snorkel fits right in and the antenna is centered. I filed and sanded the rough edges and painted the exposed metal.


While waiting for it to dry I pulled off the wheel well trim and moved the liner enough that I could easily reach up into the fender.

Time to test fit, mark, fit, fit and fit again!


Add more tape because making 5 more holes between the snorkel hole and the antenna mast

 

Okay, this is my weird little way of marking the places to drill the holes. It worked for me, you do what works for you...

1) grab 5 q-tips.
2) cut the cottony tips off, so they are approx 3/4" long. Doesn't have to be perfect, but each pair should be pretty even.
3) stuff a pair of cotton tips fluffy side up into each of the 5 holes in the snorkel that we are trying to mark. Make sure each set is facing the same way to make it easier to judge the mark it will be making.
4) once you're all set use a dab of color (I used fingernail polish for its control-ability) on each of the q-tip sets so that it's juicy enough to leave a mark, but not a sloppy mark.


5) carefully install snorkel to where you want it and press to mark the fender with the paint. Try not to smear the paint to make clear marks.

 

The husbandio suggested starting with the rear bolts so I did. Dimple, drill, install the corresponding stud in the snorkel, test, drill more if needed.

Here I have drilled 3 of the 5 holes and am about to re-check my marks (which were still spot-on)


and the holes I am checking


Done and checked and painted


Ready to install the snorkel. My smaller spider-fingered hands were useful here, especially for the upper rear bolt


I used lock-tite on the studs and a hex wrench to gently tighten


ta-da!

 

I used my blow gun from inside the air box to blow any metal shavings that ended up in the elbow. Stuffing a rag in there would work, or vacuuming it out.

When installing the snorkel put the other silver hose clamp on the elbow first, then make sure to fit the snorkel into the elbow. I tightened the snorkel bolts then used an 8mm ratchet to tighten the hose clamp.


At this point it's getting too dark for pics but the rest is gravy. Ish.
Re-install fender liner and trim

FOR THE A-PILLAR BRACKET:
I'm not putting holes into my a-pillar. Instead like many other people I'm using 3M double sided tape. Install the tape for the a-pillar and tighten the 3 bolts for the snorkel.

Put black hose clamp on the snorkel head, then install head and tighten clamp. I will be using a couple of set screws after I drill a couple of holes tomorrow, so the head doesn't fly off.

Pics when it's light out. Did I miss anything?

 

Q-tip marker. Pretty genius.
Wonder how that 3M tape will hold long term? Or is it easily renewed?

 

Thanks coopster.

We moved a dash cam that had been stuck with the same tape. Not easy to get it started getting it off, and pretty tenacious, but it came off nicely with no residue. Hoping for same here though it's out in the weather. Three bolts hold the bracket to the snorkel so renewing when/if it fails should be pretty easy- remove bolts, use bracket to leverage any remaining stuckedness off, new tape, rebolt bracket.

If the tape does fail I don't anticipate any problem with the snorkel failing too, the way it is mounted and still being supported at the a-pillar by the bracket.

 

The rest of the story:
Found two small black-ish screws in my parts bin and installed them so the snorkel head can't fly off (apparently some people have had that happen).

I was worried about how much of my view I would lose- way less than the clinometer- nothing at the hood, some at the a-pillar:


I'll just have to be extra careful when in the woods when fender-eating trees on very side-tilty hills like this one comes along (I've planted the right wheel on the root ball and am straddling the ditch):


And just a few views as promised:






It worked great for getting the groceries today. I'd hit the mall tomorrow except I really really dislike malls.

 

Looks good Hab!

 

The snorkel really completes the look of your 4Runner Hab!

Although, just leaving the large holes in the fender would have also looked good.....


I take it that we won't see any mall crawling pictures.

Wait, you mean this is NOT a mall crawler!?!?

Who knew?

 

Thanks dropzone! I had my doubts about this mod and mostly wonder how long it'll take to scrape it on a tree.
Thanks and I guess I can't change my mind now!

ICK! and NO THANK YOU!!
To each their own but for me too many people, too many things I don't need and mostly don't care for or about and too much hustle and bustle and did I already mention people?

I'm not a soccer mom either.

Grocery getter though, that one's true. I'm way to fond of eating to stop now.

 

Nice job

 

Thanks chuckles.

 

Snorkel looks amazing. Your build thread is what keeps me coming back to check on YT

 

Aww and thanks Mr. RustBucket!
You all keep me motivated to write all this junk out, I really appreciate all the comments, encouragement, thoughts, information and ideas.


So today I was at Lowes when a old dude in a tiny little convertible pulled into the spot next to mine. I was getting ready to leave but let him get out of his car first and cross in front of mine because it's just as easy to wait half a minute as not. No worries, no hurries.
Anywho, as he goes by my window he commented that I was a
real gentleman!



Danged snorkel....

 

Well I'll be derned. A real gentleman that also shaves her/his legs.

 

I still don't know why somebody asked me that over on T4R.

I may be 50, might be I don't generally wear make-up, or color the greys on my (currently) waist-length hairs (head hairs, not leg hairs!) and maybe I'm a bit grungy with grease or dirt about my person at times
-but-
I like to think I sorta kinda a little bit still resemble a girl-like object.