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Custom Deep-Water Air Intake |
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Posted: October 21, 2002 Last Revision: |
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| I have always tried to stay away from water and mud because of stalling problems in my older vehicles due to water in the points/distributor and getting the air filter wet. I sealed the distributor on the XJ but the air filter is still vulnerable. | |
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Early last spring I went four-wheeling with a friend and decided to go through a
pretty deep mud puddle. Usually I don't do this... but this time I went in,
almost drowning the front half of the hood, and made it out. The rejoicing
stopped about 15 seconds after that. Out on dry ground the Jeep stopped! The engine was covered with mud and would only turn over but not run. I cleaned the distributor cap but it didn't have enough power to do anything but idle. I opened the air filter box- it was a quarter filled with mud and the filter was shot. Something had to be done. After seeing the deep-water snorkels on the market I knew that something like that was needed. The only thing is that I don't need a snorkel that would allow the Jeep to cross streams up to its roofline on my daily driver and the price was a turn off on top of that. So I came up with my own system for about $11.00. The intake area is about 1 sq. inch bigger than stock. It draws air from the grill under the drivers side windshield now and the engine sounds a little better. That mud hole is not a problem anymore. |
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Firewall opening and mount. Start by holding intake mount over firewall and marking intake and screw holes. Remove the grill under the wiper arms for ease. Check if there is anything that will interfere or be interfered with. The hole on mine gave about a 1" lip above the wiper arm area. After you cut the hole, clean out shavings, prep bare metal, make a gasket and screw it down.[Large image] |
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Air box opening and mount. On the air box do the same. Leave some vertical clearance for your air filter . One screw does interfere with the first pleat of the filter. You might try rivets to alleviate this. It is a tight fit and I had to trim off some of the flange to match the airbox.[Large image] |
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Inside the air box opening. While the airbox is out- cut a piece of plastic for the original opening and gasket it together, inside and out.[Large image] |
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Air intake hose 24" + length.
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Front view: Hose mounted.
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Side view: Hose mounted.
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Air flow diagram.
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| What I would do differently? Nothing. The system works remarkably well. As long as the windshield wipers aren't underwater- you're OK. | |
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All Rights reserved. Photos: James Jezak www.madxj.com |
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