Custom intake and airbox

Hi all

Well as the name suggests Im making a new intake system and custom air box for the nav in an effort to improve turbo spool. The plan is to have a 4" S/steel snorkel going into some sort of air box and then into the turbo using 3" piping.The idea is to have the least amount of restrictions as possible and have a larger air box than stock to allow maximum airflow to the turbo.

So far I have pulled the stock snorkel off and taken some of the other crap out of the way such as the front diff breather, moved wiring and removed any redundant brackets.

What I'm looking for is ideas on air boxes, round or rectangular. I can weld stainless but not ally so anything that needs to be fabbed will be out of either 304 or 316

Ill be doing the same thing soon.i was thinking of still using a pod filter but a cheap common one (im thinking skyline) and rolling up a cylinder type airbox...2.5-3" in and out.i figured straight thru is the way to go.

Next few pics are of the air box and snorkel piping, as you can see its very restrictive with a few too many bends. The snorkel runs into the wheel arch then down to the front of the nav. Into the engine bay at the passengers side headlight then back to the air box which is roughly inline with the snorkel entering the guard so it sort of doubles back on itself. I plan to cut through the inner guard, into the engine bay and strain into an air box of some sorts.

Yeah you do raise a fair point. I can use 5" S/steel piping and just run a pod filter or cylinder filter of some sorts. Its pretty easy to fab. The only issue is the stock filter is 23cm long, 14cm OD and 6cm ID. Ideally I want something a little bigger. As it is this air filter will just fit inside of a 5" pipe. I want to go to something bigger but its hard finding 6" or larger S/Steel piping

That original one is tiny isnt it!!!
Dont worry about the pipe.Just need to roll one up..cut a suitable size square and drop off to a engineering shop.give them a few beers and watch....just thought of a problem tho how to make a removable end cap...neatly and watertight...

Will you be in extreme conditions...ie dust?

This is what i have now...fine for general use but not great when it gets a bit dusty...

Hmmm try again

A quick question before you go and make something completely custom, how much better does it go without the restrictive piping off it ie have you tried it with just a pod filter on and taking it for a drive?

I had a thought about doing something minor to achieve more flow out of the standard air box which was to weld a piece of 3" pipe to a plate of steel cut out to the size of the air box lid which would then be cut out to suit a three inch hole and be sikaflexed and riveted to it and then you could have a pod filter mounted inside the air box which should be a smaller diameter to the standard filter allowing more flow through the air box. On the other side mmaking up the three inch adapter to go to the front of the turbo from the new air box lid? Thoughts or are you pretty keen to have a 4" snorkel ? And would the 4" be a bit of overkill on such a small motor ? Most guys with UFI turbos on there 4.2 patrols run 4" and the nav runs a motor that is a whole lot smaller?

Just some thoughts I had. Keen to hear back and love the way the Ute is coming along you have done a pretty killer job.

Im basing a lot of my work off the TD42 guys. I do know that the engine is nearly 1/2 the size but in the future I plan to either run a different turbo which will require a lot more air or a twin turbo setup.

My nav is now a comp rig so it needs to be able to be submerged in deep water and be dust proof. My air box is most like going to be either 6" or 8" in diameter, very similar to the stock one just a lot bigger. Im going to look at filters and materials today so I can get started over christmas.

Hey thats some nice work.i assume it has a lid also?

$980 all up. Was pretty good. Stoke with it. 4" snorkel n bigger air box 9" k&n filter sucks bulk air n loud!!

I like it a lot mate..dilmah i suppose if its a box like Oilad's it makes it a lot easier to just put a access lid on it.

Pretty much. Looks like a baymary container haha. Na all custom made. None of that allon key bolts. Clips all water tight.

I was thinking it looked like somthing i knew...not a bad idea tho...

That's a nice looking airbox. I bought some 6" S/Steel pipe today so im looking at running a 4" inlet from the snorkel, 3" outlet to the turbo and a 6" x 11" custom made Uni Filter. It will be a bigger version of the stock navara setup

Patrol docta in pakenham vic make this for patrols, the bloke told me he fitted one to his old mans d22 navara. It's always been on my wish list

Oilad said:

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this is a prime example of a setup to avoid.
simple problem here is lack of space between filter and box.

if you have been looking a UFI turbo setups then you might have seen the thread where someone fitted a SMALLER air filter and got decent gains. the reason for it is the filter is rarely the restrictions, its often the housing thats at fault. the smaller filter increased the distance between filter and housing which allows the air a smoother turn into the filter.
have a look at the landcruiser air box setups. the housing is quite big compared to the filter.

ideal setup is flat panel with air going directly at it, ie air doesn't have to turn to go through the paper.
you could take the above air box and fit a flat panel filter in it at an angle and it will flow a huge amount more than the cylinder filter does.

Another example.