Hi Guyz
I finally decided to give my JK some cool clean air to breath so I jumped onto Ebay and bought the "direct4x4accessories" fed through the top of the bonnet edition - delivered for under $300 plus they gave me a free tactical police style led torch!

I was very nervous about cutting into my beautiful JK body to install this so I applied the old adage "measure twice & cut once" - even still I was $hitting myself when I began to drill.

The instructions that came were very good! so I will just add my 2cents and hopefully anybody who reads this will benefit a little bit from my stress LoL

I held the Snorkel in place against my Jeep just to see how it looked and to discover if my light bar would get in the way - and I soon realised not only it would get in the way but also my Mirror relocation brackets would also!

So the mirror relocation brackets are up for sale $50 and there yours - (just pm me).

I started early this morning and the bonnet was still a little wet - which was good because when I laid the supplied template on the bonnet it immediately stuck!

The instructions said to lay it (the template) 19mm from the indent made for the hood latch - but I (stupidly) did not trust this - so I went to great lengths to move the template around until I thought it was in the perfect position wasted about 30min doing this and after I had finally placed it where I thought it looked best - i measured it to see how far different I had it compared to the instructions and %uck me it was exactly 19mm from the latch LoL LoL.

I then got my pocket knife and traced out the template pushing just hard enough to scratch my Jeeps bonnet - see picture - I also centre punched the jeep for the hole saw!

Next I cut the holes - and yes people I know I used a wood hole saw D'oh! its all I had!

I went to bunnings and bought an angle grinder and very thin cutting disc - both on special cost less than $20 for both!

Tip 1 I removed the bonnet insulation so I could see what I was cutting into - it was quite easy - just carefully prise off the 3 stupid plastic christmas tree type fasteners.

TIP 2 when cutting with the angle grinder the steel of the bonnet will get very hot so I chose to cut with the garden hose running water onto the bonnet to keep it cool and prevent the paint from melting! - which I can assure you will if you don't keep it cool and then there will be tears LoL

I assembled the snorkel and attached all the mounting hardware - sealed it all with heaps of black silicon type stuff - also from bunnings

Lastly I riveted the supplied trim to the bonnet to finish off the job

Best of all - I have been driving around Sydney this morning for work and
I noticed on my scan gauge that the air temperature flowing into my engine was around 29 degrees C - the abient temp in Sydney at the time was 26C - which got me a barred up because I normally observe the air temp going into my engine any where from double the ambient to 86 - 90 degrees C !!!!!!!!!!!!

So if any of you have any smarts when it comes to the fuel efficiency of colder more dense air - I would certainly like to know if I can expect better performance and or better economy? now my engine is sucking down air thats at least 50C cooler

Lastly as you can see from the pix I need to make up 2 little black spacers for the windscreen pillar mount to keep the snorkel of my light bar - I just used 2 packets of washers this morning - so technically its still a work in progress!

Cheers Hunty

 

nice clean install.

 

cheap AEV knock off.. how could you

 

Good look for ur jeep, nice job

 

I bought it off Ebay - D'oh wasn't aware that it was a knock off, - I always like to support companies who take the time and invest the resources of design and engineering into new products. - I am surprised they (Ebay) are allowed to sell an exact copy of the AEV !

 

Thanks for the write-up. Kind of pushed me over the edge to install mine last weekend......

 

I have to ask about performance. Did you notice any differences with the forced cold air?

 

Hi BLNDSPT
I havent really noticed any significant difference around town - seems to be better in 100degfree heat towing and hill climbing
I also added

a bonnet scoop to try and reduce under bonnet temps - havent had the electric fan cut in since (its summer down here in OZ 100+degree days traffic etc)
I am heading right now into the dessert (Uluru Ayers rock - the worlds largest Rock) and will be better placed to answer when I get back - cheers Hunty

 

knock off or noT it does sure look very nicely finish ..










.

 

Does it really matter if its a knock off? After all isn't it really all just a piece of plastic that acts as a tube?