Getting wet

[Pete5844]

Help please I'm a bit new to this.I'm wanting to make my Series 3 2.25d able to run in deep water.Now I know I need a snorkel and that's about it so any advice would be most welcome.
     Pete :oops:

[matthew]

Depends what you call deep :) As standard they will wade to approx 22" which is around top of the seat box height.

As it's diseasel you just need to fit raised axle and transmission breathers and snorkel if you want to.

No snorkel on this and it's petrol.

[graham2306]

If you intend to run in water like this regularly make sure you change all the diff, swivel and gearbox oils and grease the propshaft UJs regularly.

You will have noticed that old Landrovers sometimes leak a bit of oil :lol: if the oil can get out the water will get in.

[Pete5844]

I've seen lots of them running in water up to their windows,how do you sort the inlets,electrics and so forth

[datalas]

That's quite a tricky question.

A series motor will merrilly wade upto it's windows on the count that, providing it's still moving then there will be a "bow wave" caused by the front of the motor, this actually means that the water level in the engine bay, and the cab is lower than it is outside.

The added advantage of a series motor, especially a diesel is that they're not all that fussy about electrics anyway.  The diseasil (as you may be aware) will continue to run if you take the keys out.  Provided it's got air and fuel it'll keep chugging add infinitum (don't stall the smegger when the exhaust is under water though)

The remainder of the electrics will survive a casual wash more or less.

[Pete5844]

From oop north, thanks for that mate(not sure it goes fast enough to make a bow wave, but will give it a go).Pete(better smeg than dead) :lol:

[serIIa]

I have made a wading kit and 'am still fine tuning it atm. snorkel is the fiddly part but cheap if your not after looks cost about £12 for the pipe and angles (still modifying top to get better air intake). for air filters you can buy a oil bath air filter (ex military) which has a snorkel exit (about £20 max from auto jumble), or the route I have gone is by gluing in a mesh from an old full face mask and cutting the rough bug part of a spongy (just to stop any large parts getting in, and put back the oil bath when not going to be off roading.
 Axle breathers I just knocked the top off gently with a screw driver pulled off the protective ring, this part I realised that the pipe I had brought (about £6 done both axles and gearbox) was a little to big so unscrewed the breather drilled it out and with a bit of araldite has not come back out yet ( if you lead these upto top of snorkel. Its best to get a bit of copper tube and bend over in a loop so rain can’t just dribble back down the tube) for the clutch housing I just brought the right size bolt and drilled it out ( don’t have this one in all the time, sits in toolkit until needed)
 Oh it don’t look pretty, but then again I use old yellow marigolds for the coil and dissy cap :oops: , cut off tops of all finger/thumb and fits over nicely, tie wrap the top and bottom (if you want to do very deep wading and want to stop in water u can put a bit of silicone on b4 tie wrapping
 Right the thing is I have not found any water since finishing it to test in  :twisted:   (or water that isn’t thick mud type) but in theory it should have not many troubles.

Anyway this sort of stuff won’t help if your vehicle is not running right or not up to the job, once you get water up to the top of the wings the water pressure gets a 2.25 engine struggling  and water pouring in don’t make much fun in the cab (it’s surprising how cold it is). Just make sure you have good recovery service or a nice friend to tow you home
 :lol: