River Crossing

Hey chrispy ole mate ole chum....
Speaking of snorkels.....
You have any idea who sells the flex hose that sits between the round filter assembly and the air cleaner body? Think mine is about ready to be replaced. Hope all is well over your way.

Damn bro...u got enough 4b's to play with?

See ya
Ange

Hey there Ange :)

Do you still have the aircleaner with the square inlet on your turbo conversion?

I'm still out to lunch on this one, as even though I installed my snorkel over the weekend, I still haven't finished the inside bits. I'm still contemplating removing the round cyclone unit altogether and plumbing the aircleaner direct to the front guard flange (which I stole from my RB30 Patrol). This gives a totally sealed unit - as long as there is nothing untoward about removing the cyclone unit. I hardly see the need because the turbo negates the cyclonic effect anyway.

The original tubing which you have is also stuffed on mine - it's been worn though on the apex of the bellows section by rubbing on some airconditioner piping. I'm looking at totally replacing it with either a new one from Nissan (you'll see the Nissan logo stamp on the square section of that tube) or going with some more robust ducting from somewhere as yet undetermined.

Too many 4by's? Never !! :)

I'll put up a few more photos as I work it out over the next couple of days.

Cheers mate
Chris

Crispy,
What about doing away with the big oval filter and using only the "pre-filter" behind the headlight? In the GU 4.2TD, they only have one filter and that's where it is.
When I owned my GQ diesel, I used to run around 90% of the time with only one filter; putting the 2nd one in only when going on really dusty roads etc.
Just a thought for making the engine bay a bit less congested.
Cheers
Roachie

Roachie - more room? Wouldn't that be nice! :)

Mine is probably a little different to most TD42's in that the Dynamic turbo kit uses it's own specially-cast airfilter box (even has a map of Australia cast into the aitfilter lid). It maintains the original cyclone (round pre-filter) behind the headlight and THAT unit has no real seal at all onto the LHS guard. It just sort of pokes through to the other side.

I really want to use the Dynamic airfilter as it has good rubber seals under the four spring clamps that hold the lid down.... so I think I'll permanently remove the first cyclone instead (in my case) and plumb directly from the guard flange to the aircleaner box. Removing that cyclone immediately gives me some more room behing the LHS headlight which will make my shower plumbing easier to route :)

Do you have a photo of your old GQ's engine bay at all?

Cheers
Chris

Hi Chrispy
Yes mate I have the oval air cleaner fitted but its a modified one from Denco, allows more air in than the std air cleaner box. As for the air cleaner behind N/S headlight, Yes that can be taken out. I will be removing mine soon too, (also need the room) thats why i asked if you knew where to buy the hose, once i remove the box my hose wil be too short. I had this setup on my 89 GQ (non Turbo) and i ran a donaldsons at top of my snorkel which worked a treat, increadable how much bleep it scooped up that would of normally ended up in my air filter. tripled the life of my air filter too.

Sorry Chris, no photos of the old GQ at all mate. (I'm not into photos all that much).
I certainly understand your reasons for wanting to get rid of the pre-filter now....that area behind the headlight would be nice to have freed-up for other uses.
Good luck with it mate.
As for the (approx) 3" diameter bendable hose, I would imagine that any truck supply place should be able to assist.
Cheers
Roachie

Chrispy,

I bought mine (3" flexi hose) at a Pirtek franchise.

I think it was manufactured by 3M so they may be able to help you locate some too.

My GQ also had the precleaner removed and it worked just fine. It also had the shower pump and battery isolater in the space it left behind the headlight.

Sorry I don't have photos. I had more than one mechanic shake his head while looking under that bonnet. That old GQ had more accessories than an ARB outlet. It even had a welder in the glovebox.

Duncs

Thanks for the input everyone :) (I feel like I've highjacked the original thread :( )

Denks - I will try Pirtek tomorrow. Good idea. I'll also seewhat WesternStar down the road has - thanks Roachie! :) I'll let you all know....

Ange - First thing I put on when I go on a trip - my Donaldson. The amount of junk that it traps is incredible.

Cheers guys

Chris

I've just ordered a 1 metre length of 3" wire-wrapped suction hose from Pirtek - should be in tomorrow morning. I'm interested to see how it's going to form around the square section on the aircleaner.........

I'll let you know!

Chrispy,
Should be like that movie about Appollo 13 when Tom Hanks and his crew had to cobble together 2 different bits of gear....including fitting a square thing into a round thing.... hahahaha

Good luck mate.

Roachie

LOL!! Yeah - the CO2 scrubbers.... hobbled together with duct tape, two plastic bags and a sock!

Too right Roachie - found the same on my Safari installation on the Jack - before I go north next, I'll be having a very good look at my whole set up from on end to the other - and use a tarp as well ! At present, my setup is serving me well on the issue of low dust ingress - that's all I'd put my money on till I look further.

Also - beware of the rubber "split nipple" drain device slung under your primary cyclone. It's designed to let water out more easily than in - but if you don't clean it regularly it clogs up with dust and twigs from the inside, etc and this leaves the slit at the end open because it is full of junk. When you are under water (with a vacuum in the snorkel and cyclone) you get water STREAMING in through it.....

I also found my snorkel's join from the rubber hose (to the airbox) where it joined to the base of the snorkel had the hose clamp SO loose that it was just flopping around and it was not sealed at all!! Dogdgy install!

If your viscous fan is working correctly and you rev the motor before going through the crossing until the fan unlocks, you should'nt have a problem with the fan. Once the water hits the viscous coupling it should cool it off enough to prevent it locking during the crossing. The only time you could get into trouble is that the fan will be locked when you start the car or let it idle for a long period (checking depth etc) so you need to make sure you unlock it (rev the motor till the fan noise stops) to prevent it from doing damage if you CHARGE at it. (which you shouldn't do anyway!).

Too right Roachie,
Had a look at my Factory fitted snorkel about 12 months ago, when a member on here, suggested that snorkels is not as waterproof as we think.
Bugger of a job, but I took the complete snorkel out and it was not waterproofed (silicon sealed) at all. The three joins within the snorkel are now waterproofed to my standard, which I'm afraid is higher than most people doing the work you pay them for!!
Cheers
Shawn

Indeed Chrispy - noted - I too saw that drain device as a potential source on disaster. I think the fan blades issue sounds a biggy too - come what may, they should be held still by one means or another - I can hardly see my alternator as well, and its down low - will have to take my chances on that factor.

Sorry for the typo Roachie.

A simple answer may be to block the inlet ... your hand??.

If the engine starts to stall OK, if it continues to idle happily it's obviously getting plenty of air from somewhere along the line.

Cheers

Ummm just in addition to Rosco's excellent tip on finding leaks.....
DONT put your hand there if you plan on revving the engine. Had an incident a couple of years ago with my son on my old GQ, He decided to put his hand over the hole while i was revving engine (not seeing him there) and he couldnt get it free until i dropped the revs back to idle after hearing screams ....lol
Just as well he didnt have a rag in his hands at time.
Ange

True enough Bob... but if you are maintaining forward movement you still do form a lower water level in the engine bay behind a blind. Whether or not that's entirely useful - as you've stated - is up for debate.

Obviously a job for the Myth Busters.

What..... the myth being "water blinds make 4WD's explode" ?

:) Yeah.... more M/Busters fireworks!!!

I really can't tell you Bob how deep the water under a tarped bonnat is other than to say with one I was rarely stopped but without I've seen about 50 people stalled with 3 resulting in blown motors.
Since fitting snorkells on each of my cars I haven't bothered tarping up although they can only help stop water getting into your headlights & electrics.
Many 4bys take the air from behind the headlight which without a blind acts as a funnel forcing the water straight into the motor. At least covering this area is most important.
Now just to burst your boat analogy speed it up to 6 kph (speed I cross a river) & pull the drain plug out of the back. Does the water run in or does it suck the water out of the boat?
Perhaps someone with one of those reversing cameras could install it under the bonnat & see for sure :-))
Cheers Craig.............

Crackles
You are observing the Venturi effect with your drain plugs. A valid observation but unhelpful in explaining the value or otherwise of tarping.
Surely the speed of river crossings varies with depth, track surface conditions etc
Your statistical analysis with the 50 people stalled etc has too many variables to be of any validity.
I like your idea of filming events under the bonnet - that would really help "bust the myth"

My point of driving faster is that the tarp will only limit the water in your engine bay if you carry sufficient speed. Too slow (2KPH) and it flows around & too fast (10KPH) & it can be forced in. Of course my "statistiical analysis" has no scientific basis but I believe experience in this case has shown me a growing trend that without without a tarp you have a far greater chance of swamping your motor.
Even you would have to question your theory that one only gets a few seconds of breathing space behind a tarp if you'd wittnessed the crossing of several cars on the Jardine River at over a metre deep. At nearly 100 metres wide the bow wave broke over the bonnats yet the top of the motors were almost dry.
Unfortunately back in the early 80's there was no option of fitting after market snorkells unless you were handy with an exhaust bender so had the plenty of first hand experience with tarping up.
Cheers Craig............