"BIG FOOT 31"

or 

2006_02

or

"New Snorkel"

 

After having concentrated the last months more on refurbishment of the house, I now started with some improvements of Big Foot.

So the first thing is the air snorkel issue! Because of a friendly hint from a person from a web forum (thanks to Klaus) - who has as well a Mercedes and in his Avatar I recognized the air snorkel – I got the address of a dealer of used trucks and truck parts (LKW-Stietzel, pls. look  as well Big Foot links) where I bought the unit for Big Foot. Prior to be spammed with request: I got the last one they had! My search hint: Look for companies close to you dealing with used trucks or parts of them and visit them. To call them in advance does not make sense from my point of view. 1. Some may not want to sell to end-customers because of the European warranty clauses 2. Due to my expe rience they don’t know, what they have in stock! (Same applied for me: I arrived there and explained what I am looking for which caused a sceptical look. Thanks to Klaus I had a full description in which of their halls and where to look. Unfortunately there weren’t any left. Finally we went outside to the cabin wrecks and on one of them there was one final air snorkel!)

 

“Why?” may be your question:

1. A lift of the air intake from 1,5 m to 2,5 m minimizes the amount of dust by 50%.
2. The snorkel contains a cyclone. As a result the air starts to spin and the heavier dust parts are falling into a reservoir (it’s a kind rubber bag and by squeezing, it opens on the bottom and the dirt or dust can fall out) instead of jamming the normal filter.
3. And the main reason: It looks extremely IMPOTANT!

 

Here you can see the 3 parts.

 

 

This picture shows the necessary modifications. Primarily I had to move the radio antenna which I had unfortunately mounted on the right side. But this is exactly the place for the air snorkel!

So I had to remove all the inner coverings, remove antenna and cable and fix it on the left side, then squeeze the antenna cable into the left window pillar and finally using hot gluing (MIG /MAG welding is more likely hot gluing if I do it - rather than real welding!) to fill the previous holes and then grind the welding joints. Because my plan for this year is a full painting of the body I sprayed it without too much care, just to keep rust off, fine-tuning will follow later! The previous drills are marked with the small arrows from left. For the new clamping devices I drilled holes and fixed nuts, then grinding and spraying the welding joints as above (big arrows from the right).

 

 

This picture shows a hole for a captive nut. It was used for the original air intake as well and I moved it to here. Here a silent block is still missing. The silent block on the right side was part of the air snorkel. 

 

 

Here I have mounted everything just for test purposes.

 

 

Of course I had to shorten the radiator grill. After cutting it off I ground the edges and sprayed it.

 

 

Another silent blockis on top of the cabin for the air-intake-housing (here I have welded in a nut) in addition to the two clamps fixing it to the edge of the roof. In addition you see the 4 welded in screws for the air horn. 

Note: The air-horn was not working because a paper-seal had shrunk. So I replaced it and than connected it to the compressor. First: It now workes again. Second: With approximately 5 or more bar the noise is THAT loud – unbelievable. So the pressure pump being part of the air horn will be history and I will connect the horn now to the pressure system of the truck by using a electric air-valve directly!!

 

 

Finally everything was taken off again, primed and finally sprayed in dull-black. Of course all screws were exchanged against those of stainless steel.

 

 

Because my wife said: “ We are not going to drive with a car painted in red from the primary colour???” So I filled the scratches with body-filler, sanded it and than primed & painted it in dull-black as well.