Offroad Trailblazers and Envoys

Snorkel - How To on a Tahoe as FYI

Dumping ground for offroad Trailblazer or Envoy general discussion.

by 02TahoeMD » Mon Nov 23, 2009 12:38 am

Hi folks
Thought I would share with you all my conversion of a Toyota Land Cruiser snorkel for my Tahoe, just give you all ideas of what may be done to make one for your platform. First, I searched far and wide on the internet looking at photos of Safari Snorkels on various LCs until I found one that appeared to fit the lines on my Tahoe as closely as possible. I also decided to use a Volant air intake system since it was based on a box design and thus able to be sealed. After compiling all the parts I mounted the Volant box first, then tied it into the Safari Snorkel and ran the rig for about a half hour to see if there would be any issues causing the engine to gag and die or overheat. There was no change in the performance of the engine at idle and being revved so I figured I would go for it.
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Next up is a pic showing the side of the inner fender showing the area I had to work around. Similar layout to the Trailblazer but with more room - the airbox is off in this pic
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I laid out some painters masking tape and then used the ole Mark 1 A1 Eyeball to figure where to mount the snorkel, figuring on allowing me to work around the support framework for the hood hinge. It was a close fit.
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Word of advice - spend the money and buy the proper sized hole saw if you do this. Or, make sure you have a plasma torch handy. Cutting a perfect circle otherwise is a royal P.I.T.A. To my surprise, I found that the GM inner fender did not consist of just one layer of steel but actually THREE. Here an air chisel came into play as I chewed away steel after dismounting the radiator reservoir. After cutting away the steel, I test fitted the snorkel. It needed a subtle reshaping of the inner surface to get it closer to the body on one section, so I used a heat gun to soften the plastic and then smashed the snorkel up against the body to get it to fit. After doing that I mounted the intake tubing and 90 degree joint from the kit, and slid the assembly in place.
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Next up (to shorten up a bit of time and experimentation) I sealed up the Volant box entirely, building a floor into the bottom of the intake to cover the accessory breather access ( they have a ram-air attachment you can put put on the bottom) and then built a wall for the side of the box. After sealing up the box I cut a hole to allow the intake tube access to the box.
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After routing the tube into the hole I then sealed up the mounting point, using black silicone, and building up multiple layers over the period of a couple of days, to insure it is airtight. I remounted the radiator overflow tank and have also (recently) added some engine insulation between the radiator tank and the intake tubing.
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I also fabbed up a bracket to hold the upper portion of the snorkel to be supported by the A pillar. The kit supplied bracket was about an inch too short and the wrong angle, so making my own bracket was the only option.
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Next up was to test it thoroughly!
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So, hopefully this will give you all food for thought on doing a snorkel for your own rig.
Happy wheelin!
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by Trail X » Mon Nov 23, 2009 12:57 am

Thanks for the writeup John!

I'm hoping someone :poke: finishes theirs soon. This should be a great resource for them!

Maybe in a few months we can do mine at your house. :thumleft:
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by HARDTRAILZ » Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:29 am

Good Write-up and gives us some ideas. Thanks
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by Gordinho80 » Mon Nov 23, 2009 11:02 am

Good write up indeed. Thanks for posting this!
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by mrkaake16 » Tue Dec 24, 2013 10:26 am

02TahoeMD,
I just wanna say thank you this was really helpful and was wandering if any way you can tell me what kit would be able to give me more then enough air intake for the Chevy Tahoe 05 LT with the 350 Vortex in it. I want most possible air intake any help will be greatly appreciated.

-Matthew
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by jonbo2002 » Tue Dec 24, 2013 10:42 am

:slap: WTF just happened there???? :wallbash:
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by dvanbramer88 » Tue Dec 24, 2013 12:16 pm

mrkaake16 wrote:02TahoeMD,
I just wanna say thank you this was really helpful and was wandering if any way you can tell me what kit would be able to give me more then enough air intake for the Chevy Tahoe 05 LT with the 350 Vortex in it. I want most possible air intake any help will be greatly appreciated.

-Matthew


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