I have a 2008 fj cruiser and don't know what to put on it. I m debating a snorkel or cold air intake. Which one do you guys think is better?
Snorkel Or Cold air Intake
- Thread starter Colton
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Snorkel for sure. It gives you cold, clean air, and provides some additional safety if you find yourself going in a little deeper than you'd planned. We bought our snorkel before we'd even bought our FJ. http://amzn.to/2uW8jp6 looks identical to what we got. Don't waste your money on the ARB stuff. It's a plastic tube, there's no magic that comes from paying $200 more.
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I don't have an FJ, but snorkel for sure. Or, depending on your cold air kit, you could do what I'm going to do. I'm going to be building an air box to fit around my K&N cold air intake that seals with 2 or 4 latches depending on what I can do and still keep it 100% sealed. No one makes a kit for my truck so I will also be playing with some fiberglass and building a safari type snorkel and just buy the snorkel top for forced air induction. You can get the best of both worlds, just gotta put in the work. It's going to be my winter project for my truck since I live in Alaska.
The air box will only house my air filter and will connect to the original intake tube of the K&N. haven't decided if I can get away with a MAF delete and run the set up out of a mustang or if I will have to directly mount the custom air box to the MAF. Time will tell.
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The air box will only house my air filter and will connect to the original intake tube of the K&N. haven't decided if I can get away with a MAF delete and run the set up out of a mustang or if I will have to directly mount the custom air box to the MAF. Time will tell.
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I'll preface this by saying that I love the look of a snorkel on an FJ (or any truck really), but...
1. If you're travelling in very dirty/dusty areas a lot then a snorkel might be right for you. I prefer to just carry an extra air filter.
2. If you're planning on crossing a lot of water go ahead and do the snorkel, but do the appropriate mods that go along with it like the diff breather as that's just as important (if not more) as your air filter. The filter is already above wasit height on an FJ and the intake vent is at the top of the inner passenger side wheel well. If you go deeper than that, do a snorkel too. Or, do the diff breather mod and just pick up a good intake…maybe a little bit more agressive sound and possibly a slight performance boost too (AirAid > TRD / K&N *IMO*).
Look at it this way…do you need to cut a hole in your FJ? (yes there are other methods but they look dumb :)
If I was going to do it, I'd go all out with something like this JMax just because it looks kick ass…lol.
1. If you're travelling in very dirty/dusty areas a lot then a snorkel might be right for you. I prefer to just carry an extra air filter.
2. If you're planning on crossing a lot of water go ahead and do the snorkel, but do the appropriate mods that go along with it like the diff breather as that's just as important (if not more) as your air filter. The filter is already above wasit height on an FJ and the intake vent is at the top of the inner passenger side wheel well. If you go deeper than that, do a snorkel too. Or, do the diff breather mod and just pick up a good intake…maybe a little bit more agressive sound and possibly a slight performance boost too (AirAid > TRD / K&N *IMO*).
Look at it this way…do you need to cut a hole in your FJ? (yes there are other methods but they look dumb :)
If I was going to do it, I'd go all out with something like this JMax just because it looks kick ass…lol.
On my first FJ I ran both a cold air and then switched to a snorkel.
The K&N cold air I ran gave a little better fuel mileage but turned the check engine light on pretty regularly from contamination on the MAF sensor.
The snorkel actually gave the truck some true cold air verified by data logging with tech stream. My butt dyno could feel some more power. It also gave me better fuel mileage when combined with a dry element reusable filter. The snorkel was a far better investment over all to me.
The manual transmission FJ I had was horrible on fuel mileage so I did several things to let it breathe better. Including building a 2.25" to 2.75" mandrel bent exhaust system for it.
The K&N cold air I ran gave a little better fuel mileage but turned the check engine light on pretty regularly from contamination on the MAF sensor.
The snorkel actually gave the truck some true cold air verified by data logging with tech stream. My butt dyno could feel some more power. It also gave me better fuel mileage when combined with a dry element reusable filter. The snorkel was a far better investment over all to me.
The manual transmission FJ I had was horrible on fuel mileage so I did several things to let it breathe better. Including building a 2.25" to 2.75" mandrel bent exhaust system for it.
I would go with a snorkel as well, especially on an overland vehicle. It has enabled my vehicle to get out of situations where if I had a c.a.i. I would have been in trouble.
Benefactor
In my opinion a cold air intake is for vehicles that do not go off road. It's a reasonable upgrade for driving to the mall, but provide no benefit for Overlanding. Go for the snorkel. extend your breather tubes, if you ever do a water crossing.
Or combine the two. I am currently running a K&N cold air intake on my 94 F150 and am in the process of building a custom snorkel for it that should have a nice clean look. Going to replace everything after my MAF and install a spectre inline air box and fab up some piping. Got a build thread going on my truck for anyone interested. 
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Influencer I
I like the k&n stuff but all of that oiled air filter stuff I have found gets dirty way to quick. When most of my time is on a dirt road it chokes up way to fast. I want to find a snorkel for my 17 ram to get the breather out of the wheel well. Want to find some sliders too but ill have to have those built I think. Cold air is good if you have a street truck other wise you have to clean it every week.
Pathfinder I
I prefer to leave both off of my FJ for gross reliability. If I were in a hot, dry, and dusty environment I'd likely go snorkel but it takes a lot more than a snorkel and some diff breathers to get a reliable fording depth of more than 31" out of an FJ.
I use both, I'm sure it's just a preference but I like the setup.
Pathfinder III
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This is kinda like it a Toyota vs Jeep conversation. Lots of merit to the snorkel but after talking to a Toyota power train engineer about the possibility some snorkels restrict air flow I am still on the fence. I should and probably will install one just not yet. Ill let 3" of lift and 35's get me through for now.
I guess ill just need to keep my mall crawler away from water for awhile. ;-)
I guess ill just need to keep my mall crawler away from water for awhile. ;-)
Benefactor
I’m confused. In the photo, I see an air box fed by a snorkel, not an open cold air intake.
Benefactor
I have this problem with my K&N, when I don’t use the AEV self-cleaning pre-filter. The Ram looks great with the AEV Snorkel, and the pre-filter does a great job.
Influencer I
Those AEV parts are cool! Thats where ive been looking for mine. Yeah anymore I normally travel with a couple of cheap filters. When i ran my 5500s in the oilfield hotshotting. Id get so burned out cleaning them every week cus of the dust collection. If not more. So I just use the paper ones Ill keep that in mind about the pre filter.
