One of the first articles I ever published on Off-Road.com was titled ãWhat to do When Your Headlights go Under.äÊ It explained how to react when your engine dies from water ingestion and the actions required to save the motor.Ê Take it from a guy who has drowned three different motors; it is best not to get in that situation by keeping the water out.ÊÊ You might be one of the lucky ones I have heard say, ãI had my Cherokee in hood deep water and it never drowned outä or ãIâve got a K&N air filter and that will keep water outä.Ê Let me tell ya, I drowned the Avocadoâs engine in less than 30 inches of water and itâs lifted four inches running 31 inch tires. Having fuel injection and a factory air intake below the headlights, turns your Cherokee into a wet vac.Ê Even if you were lucky in the past, donât risk it in the future.

Now, I donât intend to drive in water over my hood, so why do I want a snorkel?Ê Simple, most water related incidents are due to approach angle into a water obstacle.Ê A vehicle crawls down a bank and into the 30 inch deep creek at such an angle that the headlights and leading edge of the hood are momentarily submerged.Ê This is enough time for the intake to fill with water and possibly damage the engine depending on engine RPM and a host of other factors.Ê Altering the intake to the level of the Safari Snorkel will eliminate this problem.Ê Concerns I had before the installation were added noise, impact on fuel economy, and impact on performance.Ê After the installation, I have noticed more pep at highway speeds and have recorded a one mile per gallon increase in fuel economy over the past 2000 miles of mostly highway driving.Ê I believe the Safari Snorkel is providing some amount of ram air effect.Ê Although the company does not make this claim, I spoke to a Wrangler owner who fitted his rig with the Safari Snorkel and he reports the same impression and mileage increase.ÊÊ The snorkel does not obstruct vision or create any additional noise I can detect.Ê Follow along as I detail the installation of this long awaited accessory.

The three main components of the Safari Snorkel are the snorkel body, air cleaner adapter, and three inch flexible hose.Ê The instructions are easy to follow and the entire installation took me about three hours using less than optimal tools.Ê The first step is to remove the left front wheel, fender flair, and inner fender lining.Ê Two things here.Ê First, you will probably snap off several of the small 10 mm bolts attached to the fender flair retaining plates.Ê No big deal.Ê If the plate has at least two good studs remaining I reuse it.Ê Otherwise, I trash it and replace the plate with bolts and fender washers on each side.Ê Second, you need to buy yourself an upholstery removal tool.Ê It is kind of an angled fork with two short prongs.Ê This tool easily removes the one way plugs that hold the inner fender lining in place.Ê It is also great for removing door and rear hatch panels.Ê Once this was complete, I removed the air cleaner box and began modifying it.ÊÊ The Safari Snorkel uses an adapter which redirects the air box pick-up downward.Ê I used a hack saw to cut off the factory inlet duct and a utility knife to enlarge the rectangular opening to approximately 2.5 X 4 inches.ÊÊ The adapter is then riveted and silicone sealed to the air box.Ê Although not called for in the instructions, I sealed all holes in the air box and put sealant around the mounting holes. This begs the question of why would engineers put drain holes in an air box that is never suppose to have water in it?Ê I donât know and I prefer to have them sealed.Ê The accompanying photo shows a stock air box (left) and a modified air box (right).

While the silicone dried, I began the vehicle modifications.Ê First, I taped the provided template to the side of the XJ lining it up with the door seam and the fender.Ê I marked the hole centers and drilled the required holes.Ê Come on, you can do it.Ê Hey, it is just a fender.Ê People replace fenders every day if you ever want to revert back to your previous less capable mode of operation.Ê The big hole should be cut with a 89mm hole saw.Ê Since I did not have one handy, I measured the snorkel tube and came up with an American 3.5 inches.Ê I sketched a rough circle using some white out (great stuff), drilled a pilot hole, and cut the big one out with trusty olâ Saber saw.Ê Well, I was kinda committed to this thing now . . er . . no doubts mind you after all this is for a hard core trail rig, right?Ê Next, I positioned the snorkel with the upper support bracket attached and marked the location of the upper mounting bracket holes on the windshield frame.Ê Here you drill four holes and insert plastic expansion nuts.Ê Next, you have to cut another 89mm hole on the inside of the fender near the lower radiator hose for the modified air intake.Ê This is difficult without the proper hole saw.Ê As you can see by the photo, my cut was not very pretty.Ê I drilled a pilot hole and tried to use the Saber saw; but it was too large to maneuver in the confined area.Ê I used a Dremmel tool and a cutting wheel to finish the cut.Ê After all holes and cuts were made, I applied liberal amounts of rust preventative primer to the raw metal.

ÊÊFit the snorkel into the large hole and secure it to the fender with four studs, and to the windshield frame with the supplied bracket.Ê Reinstall the air box using sealant on all the mounting bolts.Ê Finally connect the flexible hose to the air box inlet and the snorkel.Ê Reinstall the fender lining, flair, and wheel and you are ready to cross water obstacles with confidence.

As of this writing, I have not found a water obstacle to test the snorkel. I will update this article with a few action shots as soon as I find a water crossing that meets Tread Lightly criteria.Ê I can say, I am happy with the on-road performance.Ê Of course, I could comment on the quality of dental work across the Nation because everyone who passes the Avocado seems to stare and let their mouth drop open.Ê Why is that?Ê It looks like something that should have always been there to me.Ê Suggested retail price for the Safari Snorkel is $350.00; however, many suppliers of ARB components may be able to do better than this price.Ê For more information about ARB products including the Safari Snorkel, you can email ARB at: arbusa@halcyon.com.