ZJ Snorkel

Ok… so I didn’t want a snorkel… or so I thought after seeing my first one in a Cherokee several years ago. I mean, it look kind of odd to me. Besides, although it rains a lot here in Puerto Rico I didn’t envision me in a situation were an engine snorkel would do me any good. My ZJ had a 4 inch lift, large tires and the KN FIPK was high enough as for me not having to think on taking water through it during normal driving. Besides, everybody knows there is no snorkel for Grands so why fuzz about it…

Now wait, what about four wheeling?… well, my days of river crossing were a thing of the past. I remember crossing “Rio Guanajibo” (southwestern part of the island) in the early eighties in my 1980 Suzuki through some rather deep parts by taking a run and “floating” using the tires as paddles traversing several feet until the tires grabbed bottom dirt again. Those original Suzukis floated as well as the venerable Volkswagen bugs of years past.

Twenty years later (and older) and a $30k plus vehicle do make you reevaluate these minor risk taking behaviors. Going from point A to B was now enough for me. Big puddle?… skip it… to much mud?… skip it… shit… I started realizing I was getting old and boring… time to put some fun back into my four wheeling. That is when I decided to add Rusty’s lift, Kolak cat back, Kolak ignition system upgrade, 4.56 gears, etc. What I was about to know that one item in those etceteras was going to be a Safari Snorkel.

It all started with Kerr and his snorkel. After seeing how well his one looked, I reconsidered. Researching the benefits of it I found one that is quite important for me aside from the obvious water slurping protection: “cold” air intake. Over 95% of my daily driving is in metropolitan traffic. During summertime temperatures hover around the upper 90’s or low 100’s at street level and it is not much more different during the rest of the year. This is a tropical island with ambient temperature around the coast of 80’s and 90’s yearlong.

Making a long story short, I contacted Automotive Customizers through their web site www.4x4parts.com and initiated the process of purchasing one. This was early December. I was notified that the particular model I was looking for (Nissan Xterra long as they call it) was out of stock and should become available by late February early March. It did arrive the first week of March via USPS to my post office box. It is a SS720HF made by ARB (www.safari4x4.com.au/docs/snorkel/ss720.htm). I have to say that it is quite a nice piece of work. It is a complete kit that even has the plastic screws to use for the reinstallation of the fender lining. Of course, some parts I didn’t use but makes you wonder if ARB did decide to build one for the Grand Cherokees.

Now, installing the Snorkel was on thing and making it functional another. But this side of the equation was also considered. I also contacted www.intenseperformance.com and purchased their Chrysler 5.2L Stage III 7” Big Mouth air system kit. As you will see this kit has a sealed ceramic canister that makes this whole project quite simple to assemble.

Figure 2 is a close up of the 4” flex hose attached to a Sanitary PVC 4”to 3” coupler which connects to the actual snorkel external assembly. The PVC coupler can’t be seen because it sits inside the wheel well.

Fig 2. Don’t criticize the horrible looking bent metal around the flex hose. I was darn tired and having stored the reciprocating saw didn’t feel like unpacking it to remove this last bit of metal. A few cuts with the metal cutting scissors (which I finished bending with the pliers) was good enough for me.

Now, figure 3 shows the canister end (Big Mouth Filter) that attaches to the original ZJ intake air hose. The Big Mouth filter diameter is around 3/8 inch smaller than the intake. So after some thought I found the solution to mating them. The Stage III kit comes with two short pieces of coupling hoses; I cut one in half now having two short 1 inch pieces of hose. I slid one of the pieces over the filter and voila! That took over the space between the air filter hose and the filter (Figure 4).

Fig 3. Filter and air intake hose

Fig 4. Filter to air intake hose close up

Fig 5. View from different angle

Now, I had to fab a bracket for holding the canister in place. I used s a few pieces of aluminum metal for the base and from the KN FIPK kit I used the filter holder that holds the KN to the heat shield, fig 6, 7 and 8.


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