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LCOOL ACT - Snorkel Installation Day - Mar 04

Snorkel day has been and gone with two very happy 80 series cruisers now sporting new Safari snorkels. The job was pretty easy and very straight forward with those clever people at Safari supplying a very good, very simple template. Having removed the air cleaner assembly we set about removing the old air intake assembly from inside the guard. Ian had gone out and purchased a step drill which made cutting the hole so easy.

We decided to start with Ian’s diesel beast and any mistakes we made with his we could avoid on mine. The bigger hole was the most difficult and cutting Ian’s with a 62mm (I think) hole saw started out very well. The problem came at the end as the hole saw had become blunt. A bit of hard yakka and perseverance and the hole saw punched through. A few trial fits of the main snorkel body and the opening up of some of the mounting holes and Ian was happy to continue. The A pillar holes needed to be marked and drilled and instead of drilling to the hole size recommended in the instructions, yes we did look at them on occasions, we drilled slightly smaller holes and filed them out to squares. This better accommodates in square plastic plugs supplied in the kit.

Schooner, KP, Juergan, and Johnno (sorry if I missed anyone) had turned up buy now and started helping out. Ian is now on the homeward stretch so I started on mine. With Schooners help we had a couple of goes at cutting the big hole with the now blunt hole saw. All this did was blue the metal so we marked exactly the outline of the hole and used a jig saw. The ease with which the jigsaw cut the skin made the hole saw look like hard work, which it was in the end. It took only a minute to cut out the hole in comparison to 3-4 mins with the hole saw and a stack of CRC for lubricant. Of course we cleaned up all of the holes with a set of needle files I had and painted all of the exposed metal to help prevent rusting.

Well that was it, bolt the lot together and shove the air cleaner back in, jobs done, not quite. We tested the system for leaks and both cars were tight as could be expected. Interestingly the diesel kept going when a hand was placed over the intake where as the petrol/LPG stalled almost immediately. Yes, the day was a screaming success, I got to meet members of the list I’d not met before and Ian and I now have the added protection of the snorkel on our cruisers. Thank you Ian and family for hosting Snorkel installation day. Sorry about using up all of your bottled gas cooking the BBQ (thanks Johnno), it’ll be a cold shower for you tomorrow.

12 Months on

Ian has had faultless service from his snorkel, they are long time tried and tested on the diesel Land Cruiser. The snorkel also works exceptionally well on the petrol. It doesn’t work so well with LPG. Over the last 12 months I’ve tried many ways to get the ram air of the snorkel and the LPG to work together. I’ve come to one simple conclusion, they don’t, and I’ve since spoken to several others who have the same problem.

The ‘cruiser started and idled well on LPG when I drove away from Ian’s after fitting the snorkel, but as soon as I went to change gear with more than 40km forward momentum, she’d stall. I drove home on petrol. After lots of tinkering, web searching and discussions with my LPG mechanic I removed the rubber hose linking the snorkel and the air cleaner can. Problem solved, but not to my satisfaction. I started calling up any LPG powered 80 series with a snorkel and most gave me the same solution as my LPG mechanic. I stopped by another LPG mechanics shop on the way home one day and asked about a solution. I was told to run a heater water hose between the air cleaner and the LPG mixer, called a balance tube. In addition I needed to drill a 4mm hole in the plastic elbow where the water hose attaches to the LPG mixer. If I still experience problem I should slowly open up this hole.

I did all of this and ended up opening the hole to about 7.5mm. The engine no longer stalled when changing gear. YES!!!!!! I thought. No, another problem now had developed which the LPG mechanic called fuel hammer. When I put my foot on the accelerator there would be a 2-3 second delay in the application of power and then it was a strong shudder, smooth after that.
When the butterflies in the fuel system are open the air flow is metered and monitored by the LPG computer and up stream of the butterflies injects the required amount of LPG for the correct air fuel ratio. When the butterflies close (changing gear) the metered air flow doesn’t change instantly and the LPG computer injects more LPG than required and in effect floods the engine. Installing the balance tube and drilling the hole rectified this problem by allowing the LPG mixer to be aware of the pressure in the air cleaner can. Now, when the butterflies are opened again (after changing gear) the LPG computer doesn’t instantly register the change in air flow and thus doesn’t introduce the correct amount of LPG into the air flow, engine is starved, and then suddenly gets the LPG/air ratio correct and the engine gets and instantaneous surge of LPG, fuel hammer.

I continued to tinker for a few weeks, on and off, and one day saw a picture of an 80 series in a very dusty environment with the snorkel head turned backwards. This got me thinking. The primary reason for the snorkel for me was not water crossings, though it will help, it was to get cleaner air when following in convoy on dusty tracks. The ram air effect and any potential economy improvements that the ram air might bring were not the prime objective of the snorkel either. I turned the snorkel head around.
If you see a red 92 GXL on LPG with a snorkel and the head turned backwards, it’s me. Problem solved, and to my satisfaction. The engine is getting clean air and proper engine operation when running on LPG and petrol.

Pete. R.
92GXL Sniffing Gas through a straw
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