I have an 84 4Runner and after my last wheeling trip to Rausch Creek a couple weeks ago, I'm left looking for ways to minimize the ability for water to get into my carb. As you may have guessed, after the initial surge from hitting a mudhole a little too fast and them my fan throwing additional water, I sucked a little in, stalled, and had to get pulled out. I let it sit a bit, dried out the air cleaner, sprayed some throttle body/carb cleaner, and limped around a bit until it fully dried out and was running smooth again. Fortunately this occurred at the end of what was otherwise an awesome day, so it wasn't a big deal, but all the water levels were lower than I've ever seen before, so I anticipate them higher the next time I go back. Hitting too hard was my fault, but there isn't much I can do about the wheels and the fan kicking water into the bay. So that brings me to my question...

What's the most efficient way to minimize this from happening again?

I found a plennum hat for weber carbs on LCE's site that I could use to move the filter, but I think anywhere in the engine bay is going to be a similar situation considering how open it is with our tiny motors. I could also use this to build a custom snorkel setup but I'm not sure I really want one if I can find a better alternative. (I say custom because I'd want it on the passenger side, so safari isn't an option) I'm not trying to cross lakes, so I think that's a bit of overkill.

Anyone have any ideas for minimizing this without a snorkel? I've been looking around for different filter elements that would reduce water passthrough without restricting airflow or maybe adding some type of splash guard but haven't come up with much success. As always, any and all suggestions and advice are welcome.

 

I have seen guys that mud bog run there filter/ piping right into the cab, in behind the dash or where ever you have the room, Down side to this is you can hear the Air sucking in the tube all time, I plan on finding a snorkel for my 79 in the near future

 

I've seen rigs like that, but that's not really the route I'm trying to go. Thanks for the suggestion though. What I was thinking about was maybe using the plennum hat to relocate the airfilter towards the back of the engine bay and maybe try to fab up a cold air box that wouldn't be water proof from the rear but would protect the filter from splash and surge around the front and sides. Has anyone seen anything like this or perhaps tried it themselves?

Worst case scenario, I could use the hat to at least change to a cone filter further back and maybe run a prefilter over it that would be more water resistant... Any thoughts?

 

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