I fianlly got around to installing my ARB snorkel. Yes, it is partly for the look but living in Houston, where high water is not abnormal and driving though rice fields during waterfowl season gives me a little more piece of mind!

I used the paper suppied template and marked the holes. The instructions call for the bolt attaching holes to be 22mm which is 5/8 of an inch. This seemed like a pretty big hole for bolts that are not much larger then 1/4 inch; I think the reasoning is that once you get the large oblong hole cut in to the fender where the snorkel meets the factory outlet there is a certain amount of a fudge factor. ARB supplies large fender washers and neoprene lock nuts but I didn't want to buy a 5/8 twist drill if I may only use it once. So I started with a 1/4 bit and worked my way up to a 1/2 bit.

Then I used the 60mm hole saw that I already had and drilled 2 holes where the template indicated. I then used some making tape to make a straight line between the 2 large holes in my fender and used my Bosch jig saw to cut out the metal in between the holes.

I then installed the inner fender outlent adpater that ARB ships and used the recommended sensor safe RTV sealant to make a good gasket between all parts. I did a trial fitting and found that indeed a few of the bolt holes needed to be drilled a little more; the fender metal is pretty thin so I was able to use the 1/2 inch bit and just woggle the holes bigger in the direction I needed to obtain. I cleaned up the holes with a round file and touched up the raw edges with some black Rustoleum.

The snorkel went right in place after applying more RTV sealant and I sinched up all of the nuts and washers and reassembled the plastic fender liner. I then drilled the necessary holes for the upper mount plate. My car has one of those tinted rain visors on the front windows so I used a hammer and my vice to offset the mounting plate so that the bolts that attach to the snorkel would not rub on the visor when opening the door.

All in all, it took about 1 1/2 hours and I was done.

 

So a question, and a word of advice...

The question, does this snorkle hook up to your intake in a sealed manner so that you don't suck up swampwater? Any chance of photos of that setup?

The word of advice: with a snorkle, you're only part way done. You may not be getting water in the intake, but there are a ton of places left to seal up lest disaster befall you. You need to find all the vents for your diffs, your transfer case, your tranny, your gas tank, your fuel evaporation recovery system, pretty much anything that's supposed to be sealed and might be under water, and "relocate" them to higher ground. On my Defender, we used threaded fasteners and teflon tubing and ran everything up to a plenum box I had made up from aluminum plate mounted about the level of the top of the rear "box" area.

That way, when you take the plunge, you don't fill your vital parts with water. If you're planning on getting wet, this is a big, big, BIG deal.

As nice as your ride is, you don't want to screw it up by thinking you're done, when you're not.

I don't have any current recommendations in Houston (lived there '78-95), but any of the shops that build "mud bog" Jeeps and Four Runners (and there are a lot of them) ought to be able to help you out, if the Rover guys can't.

 

Also use Dielectric grease on all the plugs.

 

Also, door and all body seals need to be checked and sealed.

 

yeah, just remember that you can't swamp a gas engine like a diesel. Can't even swamp a diesel anymore for that matter. I took my Duramax wading to help a car that had been washed out and my tranny ECU that was bagged and greased still fried.

 

I dont know about a DII but on my DI all my axle breathers and such, the tubing runs up high and has a nice "S" at the top, like your bath sink drain, to keep water from coming in.

There is no way I could cut a hole like that in my fender, that is what is holding me back from getting a snorkle.
I really like the looks of it, but man, dont know if I could do it.
Keep up the good work Chris.

 

Spike, get a fender from a salvage and then cut it....

 

It looks awesome. Good Job!

 

Thats exactly what I was thinking about doing, then I wouldnt care and if I ever wanted to go back to not having the snorkle I could.

 

That does look damn good. Can't wait to get mine in a thousand years or so when I can afford it :P