Build advice for water crossings

[skrit]

Not that I'm anywhere close in my build to even drive it but while I'm building... might as well make sure water stays out. Not looking for a snorkel or anything so extreme. Just don't want to spend all this time and money just to be stranded the first time I encounter manageably deep water on a trail or a rare flooded area.

Explorer EFI swap with original intake plenum and modified airbox. 4r70w trans, dana 20. No lift, 33's.

Thought of routing axle breather hoses high, evap cannister high and probably adding an alternate air intake path to my airbox which brings in air from below where the original battery was located on the pass side. There is a trans breather somewhere but if water is up to the tunnel then I'm screwed anyway. My PCM is on top of the pass wheel well in a WP custom box. All electrical splices were done with WP heat shrink connectors.

What else could get damaged from water engine/trans wise?

 

[gnsteam]

I will leave those question up to the experts. But following along to learn something as well.

 

[.94 OR]

Electric fan or belt driven? Thought I remember reading about popping the belt off so the fan isn't forced into the radiator creating a bad day.

 

[skrit]

Belt fan. . Explorer sepentine setup with AC delete. Lots of space between fan and radiator with my build.

 

[Jdgephar]

I would make sure that the oil dipstick entry into the block is sealed. In this case, you may want an electric fan so that it can be turned off. You don't want the fan spinning and then hit the water and pull the fan blades into the radiator.

 

[Broncobowsher]

I look at it as 2 levels of water damage. The primary, engine sucking in water and locking up or something that stops you now. Fan digging into the water and flexing into the core, this can happen with electric fans as well as mechanical.

Then there is the long term. Water getting into stuff but still going to drive away just fine. Only later will you find you had water in a bearing that turned it to rust and let it grind itself to death 1,000 miles later. Or water in an axle. even eletrical stuff that survived the initial plunge, but the seals work both ways and end up trapping some water inside. This secondary long term damage is a lot harder to control. You think you got it right, but you won't know right away.