Breathe Easy

Let’s face it… the factory Toyota snorkel on the 79 series LandCrusier is not the prettiest bit of kit on the shelf, nor is it the most functional. When you pay big coin for a truck you definitely want it looking and performing its best. The first part of our latest 79 Series build up involves replacing the standard Toyota snorkel, airbox and intake piping with some sexy looking stainless items.

There’s always been mixed reviews around performance with stainless steel vs plastic air-intake components but there’s no disputing the fact that stainless is more durable than plastic and it looks a hell of a lot better than plastic too.

Anyone that’s been doing some research on stainless air intake gear would have come across the name Thorburns at some stage. These guys are absolute pros at what they do and they specialise in fabricating gear for the 70 Series. When the owner of our latest 79 Series build up specified that he wanted only the best gear on his truck when we were planning the build, there was no dispute we’d be making a call to the guys at Thorburns to fab us some gear for this job.

For this job we went with the 4” black powder coated stainless steel snorkel opening up airflow by half an inch over the standard unit. It’s plumbed in through the guard into the stainless steel air box and carries right through the intake piping at 3.5” before dropping to 3” just before the turbo. The whole system is designed to give better airflow, be bucket loads stronger and of course look far better than the OE items. This is where we get the performance gains.

This 79 Series will be spending a lot of time touring and towing heavy loads on the heavily corrugated, dusty and often flooded tracks of the Pilbara and Northern Territory so questionable durability and functionality is not an option. The gear has got to be fit for the job and here is where premium quality materials, workmanship and fitting is paramount – so this is where the Thorburn’s products really shine, so to speak. The 316 grade stainless is used from the snorkel right through the intake tract to the turbo and that sexy finish on the Thorburns products is just a testament to the workmanship that goes into their stuff.