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Custom H1 hummer style cowl snorkle

Ok, lets get the important stuff out of the way first. I put “hummer” in the title of the article for search reasons, but I don’t want to taint my site too much with that brand, so I’ll refer to it from here on to a Cowl Snorkle. :) littletj on the EJC site was nice enough to let me use his cowl snorkle write-up for myjeeptj.com. So first of all, thank you very much littletj!

A cowl snorkle is just what it sounds like. It’s simply an air intake that comes up through your cowl (the spot just back from the hood) instead of sucking air from in the engine bay like a regular intake. This brings your air intake up higher allowing for deeper water crossings. There is definite advantages to this, but please remember that your air intake is not the only thing that can take on water. You also need to worry about your breather lines, etc.. but that is another write-up for another time. You also may want to consider that water splashing up the hood from entering a water hole may enter more readily with this setup, but that’s just an opinion of mine, not fact. Either way, having the air intake up higher can’t be a bad thing for sure.

Tools:

  • 2.5″ hole saw
  • 2″ hole saw
  • drill
  • screwdrivers
  • random hand tools
  • Parts:

  • 1 Mastercraft 2 1/2″ vacuum hose
  • 1 airbox from a 1991 Buick Century with the V6
  • 2 Rubber plumming adapters 2″-3″
  • 1 Universal shop vac adapter
  • 1 piece of 2″ ID ABS pipe
  • 1 4″ ABS plumming cap
  • 1 packet of 4 angle brackets
  • 1 tube of Automotive Goop (any heavy duty epoxy or adheisive will work)
  • 1 small tube of clear silicone
  • 4 stainless steel screws & acorn nuts
  • 1 can tremclad flat black rust paint
  • 1 6″x4″ piece of thin sheet metal
  • 1 ABS elbow 2″ ID
  • 1 18″ piece of aluminum flat bar
  • CIMG2829

    Since I didn’t feel like shelling out big bucks for an ARB snorkel, and I wanted something a bit unique I decided to make my own Hummer H1 style snorkel. So I hit up the plumbing and vacuum cleaner section at Canadian Tire.

    Here is a pic of the vac hose I used:

    CIMG2834

    And here is the universal shop vac adapter. I ended up lopping off the top 3 tiers as I just needed the bottom one.

    CIMG2835

    Note: I took a lot of these pics after the fact, so some stages may show stuff completed that I haven’t talked about yet.

    I cut off the air intake hose, used the 2″-3″ adapter piece to go to the buick air box, then the other 2″-3″ piece to go from the air box to the vac hose.

    CIMG2828

    I did have to cut a piece of the stock buick air horn to go between the air box outlet and the 3″ plumbing adapter as the plumbing piece was too large. You can see it here sandwiched between the stock air box and the rubber adapter piece if you look closely.

    CIMG2840

    Took off the front cowl, then got out the 2.5″ hole saw and cut the firewall just to the left of the grounding strap. I cleaned up the metal edges with a die grinder and hit it with some flat black tremclad.

    CIMG2827 CIMG2822

    Then I had to tackle the intake for the heater core, since it was in the way of my planned snorkel location. I chose to totally remove it and cover it with a piece of flat sheet metal. I then cut a hole in it closer to the firewall and clued the 90 deg elbow onto it. Now I had an intake for the heater that didn’t obstruct the planned routing of my snorkel hose.

    CIMG2821 CIMG2823

    I moved onto the cowl. I took the hole saw out again an cut a 2″ hole as far over to the edge as I could while still being able to bend the hose to fit. There is no real science to this just keep trying and see how much the hose will bend. The hose I got was a good one, not one of those cheapo plastic ones, this one was rubber with a metal wire support so it didn’t collapse when bent at sharp angles.

    I then drilled 4 smaller holes so I could bolt the shop vac adapter piece through the hole. I used a few washers to shim it so it stuck through the cowl a little more vertical than it otherwise would have. I capped off the screws with the acorn nuts and sealed everything up with silicone.

    CIMG2824

    Next up was to build the snorkel cap. I left approx 1″ between the top of the 2″ ABS and the 4″ cap. I screwed the brackets to the 2″ abs and glued them to the cap.

    CIMG2825

    I hit it with some rocker guard to give it a bit of texture. I angled the bottom so that the top of the cap would be level once it was mounted. I also test fit it and ground the bottom down so it was sitting low enough on the cowl so I could flip the hood back against the windshield with no problems.

    CIMG2826

    That’s it, I put a bead of silicone around where the shop vac adapter poked through the cowl and slipped the cap on top.

    CIMG2830

    Other stuff:

    I used a piece of aluminum flat bar to brace the buick air box. I attached one end to the stock bracket on the air box, and the other end to the passenger side motor mount. I had to twist the flat bar 90deg so it would fit both mounts properly.

    CIMG2837

    The vacuum tubing didn’t seal tight where it went through the firewall so I sprayed some expanding foam in there and it sealed everything up nice and tight.

    CIMG2839

    I think that’s it, a simple and cheap way to reduce the chances of sucking a bunch of mud and water into your engine and provide a source of true cold air for combustion.

    Total cost for this setup was approx $80 including a new air filter. The price doesn’t include stuff like tools and supplies I already owned (silicone, glue, hole saws, etc).

    -litletj

    Comments

    One Response to “Custom H1 hummer style cowl snorkle”

    1. dustin Says:

      heey thats prity cool im thinking about doing that to how dose it work for you now that you have had it for a wiol plaese email me back thatnks little git

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