[Amanzie82]

​

Would I purchase a professional snorkel unit if available?

Yes	1	33.33%
No	2	66.67%

 

[Amanzie82]

Hi guys,

My name is Christo and I am from the lovely cold and rainy north of Germany. I am the GM of a Natural stone company and my hobby is my Touareg. I had the vehicle for nearly 10 years now, and now I wand to start with serious modifications. About 2 months ago I wanted to buy an overland prepeared HDJ80, but I decided not to; why spend that much money on a vehicle when you can modify yours for less than half of that vehicle's asking price.

I am currently working on a snorkel solution for the Touareg - of course this happens in cooperation with VW where I live and a racing parts manufacturer, for everything has to fulfill the strict TÜV regulations as well as warranties in Germany.
Currently my vehicle is at my VW workshop and they are taking the measurements from the car for snorkel as well as drilling holes in the car and testing pilot designs.

My vehicle has following specs.:
- R5 TDI
- Seikel lift kit
- VW Expedition undercarriage protection
- VW Expedition roof rack
- Scandinavian air intake (Luftansaugungsbox für kältere Länder) which adds approx. 15 cm wading depth
- Drawer system
- Rooftent
- (currently being done) snorkel system
- (still to be done) VW Expedition rear wheel carrier (consists of carrier, bumper, door and a lot of electrics)
- (still to be done) Winch system

I know that the Touareg is not a classic overland vehicle, but it is defenitely one of the most underestimated ones. I love the look on the peoples faces when you are doing exactly the same tracks than the Mercedes G-Wagons, the Prado's and Defenders in the western Alps or even better, when recovering one of them from an obstacle which you just crossed before the one that got stuck in his typical 4x4.

So, enough about that...

Concerning the snorkel, I did quite a bit of convincing in Germany, and I told VW that there is a lot of potential for a snorkel system. In Germany I am an active member of the Touareg-Freunde which is a Touareg Forum just like this one.
The German market is very small, probably a potential of around 100 - 200 snorkel units, but as a South-African-German I know that there is a lot more than Germany out there.

The South-African and Australian offroad market is the biggest in the world, so I would like to expand this product to those markets.
Please note that I am not from VW, but this snorkel is being developed together with VW, a racing parts manufacturer working for VW rally and myself.

The price rangel be at around 1.000 - 1.400€ incl. tax. --> Please note that this is a very rough estamite. It may become a lot cheaper after the unit is in "mass" production.
- incl. snorkel "pipe"
- Air intake - we are not sure if it will be a standard or cyclone intake system
- Templates for assembly to the vehicle
- Templates for modifying the air intake and closing the existing air intake below the headlight
- Installation manual
- TÜV certificate

At first we are focusing on are the R5 and V6 models (7LA and 7L6) - for they only need 1 snorkel. By the end of the year we will have a snorkel which anyone can fit, made from aluminum and an airfilter housing which is developed for the snorkel - or maybe using the current filter housing and slightly modifying it.
Hopefully by the end of the year, we will also have a solution for the V8 - W12 engines.

If anyone is interested in the snorkel system, then please send me a PM with your data. Please note that you will not receive any spam from me, nor will your data be sent to any 3rd party without your consent. Due to the positive feedback from our Touareg-Freunde Forum in Germany, I am contacting other international Touareg communities.
I will upload a couple of pictures as soon as my snorkel is finished. I am sure that it will be a very interesting item.

Kind regards,
Christo

 

[Loz]

I thought long and hard about a snorkel and just couldn't bring myself to modifying the wing like I had to do on my Discovery or Land cruiser.

My idea was to simply have a solution that allowed me to close the existing inlet and bring the air in right at the top of the airbox under the bonnet without the need to holes as I wouldn't want to go in water deeper than top of the bonnet as the Touareg is quite watertight and the risk of floating is too great.

 

[Amanzie82]

I thought long and hard about a snorkel and just couldn't bring myself to modifying the wing like I had to do on my Discovery or Land cruiser.

My idea was to simply have a solution that allowed me to close the existing inlet and bring the air in right at the top of the airbox under the bonnet without the need to holes as I wouldn't want to go in water deeper than top of the bonnet as the Touareg is quite watertight and the risk of floating is too great.

That what we are doing is based on the same idea you had, but it will be a permanent unit, so this means that a hole needs to be drilled approx. above the air box.
There is a metal fender carrier slightly blocking the way to the filter box, so this has to be "adapted" so the aluminum hose can go around it.
After that the current intake will be blocked with a permanent plug directly at the bottom of the filter-box.

 

[NoobyT]

It's very good that someone is trying to produce a snorkel for the Touareg, so well done for your efforts.

Whether you will find many customers at the indicated price is, in my opinion, doubtful especially when you see the cost of a snorkel for something like a Land Rover Discovery.

http://www.lrparts.net/vehicle/discovery-1/snorkels-raised-air-intakes-and-wading-kits.html

Good luck.

 

[Amanzie82]

It's very good that someone is trying to produce a snorkel for the Touareg, so well done for your efforts.

Whether you will find many customers at the indicated price is, in my opinion, doubtful especially when you see the cost of a snorkel for something like a Land Rover Discovery.

http://www.lrparts.net/vehicle/discovery-1/snorkels-raised-air-intakes-and-wading-kits.html

Good luck.

Thanks Nooby!
You are right, it is a high price, but please note that it is only a rough estimate. After the pilot unit is finished we can calculate the exact amount of material, hours and workmanship needed for the series production and then I am sure that we will have a very competitive price/quality ratio.

The reason why I thought about doing it in cooperation with VW is because I received an offer from a German offroad specialist. This company quoted 4.500€

for an aluminum snorkel incl. fitting...that is a rip-off, and then the idea was born.

Concerning the snorkel and why it is such a good investment
a. We do not have to worry about each puddle that it slightly deeper than 30 cm (exaggerated a bit)
b. Clean cool air from above - when driving in a dusty environment
c. We can suck some cyclists from the side walk

d. It will look darn good
e. It is something practical worth spending your money on, for nobody gets any more money at the bank, when you look at interest rates near to 0,03% for low risk investments.

Please note that it is not a backyard project. You will receive an invoice from a German company incl. the statutory VAT. as well as a 2 year warranty.

Looking forward to hearing from you guys.

 

[NoobyT]

On the basis of item C alone, it's worth 10,000 Euros!!

 

[Mike597]

Good luck with the project, it's a brave but worthy effort.

 

[Cass]

Please feel free to post any development pics and ideas and members can give their opinion and feedback

I'd wager that the market for these would be biased at the older models - T1 and T2, which are cheaper to buy and would most likely have more chance at being off-roaded than the T3 and current T4

 

[Amanzie82]

Thanks guys! I will surely keep you posted.

@Cass: Correct, they are currenlty based on the older models.

 

[Amanzie82]

Hi guys, I am so sorry, I kinda forgot about you here.
I just wanted to show you the current status.

Enclosed you will find a couple of teasers

Looking forward to driving through deeper water soon

Somehow the last 2 pics are the wrong way around, but on my PC it is the right way around

Have a good weekend y'all.

 

[KNB]

Hi Christo,

I would do quite a bit of off roading in my Touareg and would be interested if you would have any photo's of your expedition under carriage protection. I'm either going to have a custom guard made up for me locally or save up and get the Antec guard. It will depend on which works out cheaper.

Also, how are you planning to fit your winch? Behind the bumper? I like the idea of a winch too but this would be a while down the line for me.

Here's a gratuitous shot of my Toerag in action

 

[Amanzie82]

Hi Christo,

I would do quite a bit of off roading in my Touareg and would be interested if you would have any photo's of your expedition under carriage protection. I'm either going to have a custom guard made up for me locally or save up and get the Antec guard. It will depend on which works out cheaper.

Also, how are you planning to fit your winch? Behind the bumper? I like the idea of a winch too but this would be a while down the line for me.

Here's a gratuitous shot of my Toerag in action

View attachment 30073

Nice pic - a lovely TREG in action.
I am going to be honest with you, I bought a HDJ 80 Land cruiser by the beginning of this week, so currently I am putting a bit of effort in that vehicle

Concerning the winch: Yes, it will go behind the bumper.
Surely, will send you a couple of pics of the undercarraige protection plates. First I would like to add a couple of pics of the finished snorkel unit.

BR,
Christo

 

[Amanzie82]

Hi Christo,

I would do quite a bit of off roading in my Touareg and would be interested if you would have any photo's of your expedition under carriage protection. I'm either going to have a custom guard made up for me locally or save up and get the Antec guard. It will depend on which works out cheaper.

Also, how are you planning to fit your winch? Behind the bumper? I like the idea of a winch too but this would be a while down the line for me.

Here's a gratuitous shot of my Toerag in action

View attachment 30073

Nice pic - a lovely TREG in action.
I am going to be honest with you, I bought a HDJ 80 Land cruiser by the beginning of this week, so currently I am putting a bit of effort in that vehicle

Concerning the winch: Yes, it will go behind the bumper.
Surely, will send you a couple of pics of the undercarraige protection plates. First I would like to add a couple of pics of the finished snorkel unit.

BR,
Christo

 

[Amanzie82]

Snorkel is finished for the 7LA and 7L6 vehicles. R5 and V6 engines.
The unit is ready for mass production. Installations manual is finished, the templates are finished and the unit looks good

Enjoy the pics. This unit will be available straight away.
Production time is around 2 weeks per unit.

Looking forward to hearing from you guys.

 

[Calcifur]

I am guessing this never took off?
Shame, as it's a great-looking piece of kit.