water friendly?

[floridadiscoI]

i have a almost stock disco 1, and want to make it as water friendly as possible.

because i live in florida, and originally from new orleans. i have seen first hand the effects of hurricanes, and poor city maintenance.

i need to know everything form exactly what to seal, and where it is located, to what kind of snorkel is the best

i dont plan on leaving for any hurricanes, because im a first responder, and would stay to help

[dent]

since you've got a gas engine, you'll prolly be able to take it as high as the engine for any long period of time to do all the electrics, plugs etc.
there is breather tubes you can extend but i *think* that's about it. least for long waddings

[rmuller]

ok..

A) Get a snorkel, raise the air intake (As for choices, ARB safari snorkel which is my favorite due to the fact that its hard plastic and form fits very well and has a way to expel water through the top, but very noticeable... mantec, very nice as well, comes up just on the A-piller, but has a mushroom top which im not very fond of (high sand/dust, it works great), scorpion racing, southdown, and I know at least on the d2, safety devices makes one, which is a cross between the mantec tube and the safari snorkel top.. very nice... they'll all protect you from deep water, choice is mostly appearance and dust intake)
B) extend your axle/transmission/transfer case breather lines as high as you think you'll go (put them up by the snorkel for ultimate protection)
C) dielectric grease is your friend, find all your connections, spark plugs, MAF, etc.. and cover them, and keep up on it
D) ECU's .. depending on what year D1 you have, I believe the main ECU is either under the hood or by the kickpanel.. get a rubbermaid bin that'll fit around it, and enclose it
E) Pull your carpets.. if you soak the interior, the top carpet may dry up, but the foam under it will stay soaked and cause rust.

LR infers that you can go 20" with a stock truck.. take care of everything above, and you should be able to go over the hood... but be careful, water is a risk always.

[cartm58]

l bought a fitted skirt from Michelle Sac in Perth, it fits underneath your front bumper bar, covers the radiator grill and is attached and held in place by adjustable straps that loop over your rear vision side mirrors on the doors.

sure you can get something similar made up in USA good for deep and prolonged wading activity

[01001010]

Being a fellow Floridian and also using my truck to aid with Hurricane recovery ops, here are my notes...

WaterProofing

Snorkel
Mantec
I do like how discrete it is compared to the Safari snorkels. The tip on the Mantec faces to the rear for even less dust ingestion and water ingestion during big splashes (not that you should be doing big splashes anyway, but we all know how irresistable it is sometimes). Because the Mantec was a Land Rover accessory, there is a plug on the inner fender designed specifically for the snorkel flex-tube. Its its an easier install and requires less cutting than a Safari. Another plus is that our fellow member and Florida Land Rover Club president - Stephen Peters | SafariRover - sells them less than anyone that I'm aware of here in the states and always has quite a few in stock. The hardest part of the install for me was removing the trumpet tube from the airbox...some good'ole hammer grease took care of that.

ARB Safari Snorkel
The main advantage of the ARB is what Ryan mentioned...because its plastic there is no worrying about flaking powdercoat and and rust (which will eventually happen with Mantecs unless properly cared for - I plan to have mine Rhino-lined). These will normally be in the mid $400s (i may be wrong since I havent seen prices in a while)

Air Box

Our air boxes have small drain holes in them. Those can easily be plugged with adhesive sylicone. Must be adhesive so that the plugs arent eventually sucked out of place during hi-reving. Its good to remove the box and seal the drain holes from both sides for added strength...not requried, but I have peace of mind.

Note: you will rarely ever benefit from plugging the drain holes. You've gotta be crossing a LONG distance of deep water to take advantage of their function. Many dont plug, but if you get stuck in deep water you'll be glad you didnt have an airbox full of water during engine restart.

If you have the urge to spend money and not do the DIY plugs, Equipe sells a waterproof airbox..yet another fellow member - FIVESPDDISCO - just so happens to be a US Equipe dealer...they are pricey though, but you get what you pay for.

Breathers

As already mentioned, you should extend your breather lines on your Diffs, Transfer and Trans. Atlantic British & Rovers North sell the Diff kit for like $30 or something like that. Mentec sells an entire kit for all your breathers but I havent seen anyone in the US that carries that kit so I would give Stephen a shout for that as well if you place an order for your snorkel with him.

Others simply make their own kits at home. I've seen some people even use small diameter copper tubing for this.

Electronics

The main thing that should be taken care of before any other component is your ECU. Its located on the passenger of the engine bay just ahead of your firewall. It has a plastic cover on it that does absolutely nothing. Remove the plugs then remove your ECU which is only held down by two bolts. The ECU is held together by 8 screws...1 on each corner on both sides. remove all 8 and the housing panels come off. Using some silycone again, put some all around the edges including around the plugs. While its open, take a few finger dabbs of Dielectric grease ( Brand CRC - sold at any major auto parts store) and rubb it all over the panel on both sides. This will be the last bit of defense the ECU will have should you have a leak somewhere in your seal. Before plugging it in again, using a any clean, thin bristle brush, smear some die.-grease within the male side of the plg and on its otherside where the cables go in. To top it off, I sprayed mine with sylicone spray.

If you dont like that idea, you can always relocate the ECU to inside the cab, which most people do.

Now that you've got your dielectric grease, you want to smear some on the plugs of your MAF and you can even smear some onthe joints of your MAF where the plastic housing of the MAF joins to the rubber intake hoses on each side. Another option - with the MAF in place, wrap gaffers tape (a bit stronger than ordinary duct tape - sold at Home Depot) and wrap the joints at either end. This will make a strong seal (tested by yours truly)

Take your dielectric grease again and put a finger-dabb's worth on the plugs of your coil pack and any other connections on it as well. If you have a D1 with a Distributor, there is an FLRC member that has made latex covers for this spcific reason...you would have to jump on their board and researc more over there as I cant remember th guys name.

Its also a good idea to do this on your headlight plugs.

Smear some more of the die.grease on the connections on the backside of the alternator.

Thankfully the only time I've had water inside the cab was one time I got stuck with the driver's side in the hole. Would this have been my pass. side, my CH changer would have been toast. Its up to you if you want to remove it or relocate it.

You have to be DAMN deep to get the components behind the golve compartment wet, but so you know, there are other computers back there that may become wet.

Other Tid Bits

Later D1 and all DIIs have a rubber weatherstrip that are on the top edges of the fender panels, where the hood makes contact with them while closed. These are good to have to give water a harder time of making it under the hood should you be in water that deep. They help keep an airbubble under there slightly longer and is usually enough to keep the upper part of the engine somewhat dry. Those strips, coupled with some hood pins makes for a tight seal.

If I remember anything else, I'll make sure to post up. I'll try to get as many pics of everything mentioned as I get settled into the new house this weekend.

[300bhp/ton]

Another vote for the Safari Snorkel.

As for breathers check out Cheviot 4x4, I'm sure they will ship to the US. http://www.cheviot4x4.com/shop/Vehic...reather%20kit/


They have modified the attachments and make them much more reliable and water tight.

[96owner]

i pulled this from landyonline and i know its nothing that wasent said but i like the codom over the coil

"This piece was supplied by a reader:

New plug/coil wires. NOT champion red ones they are useless.
Genuine black ones are pretty damn good in the wet, yellow Silicone Bougicords are also great.(Ed)

High power coil.

Plugs gapped right.

Transistor assisted ignition.(Electronic Ignition)

Large piece of plastic over the radiator grille to keep the water out of the radiator when bow-waving.

Tie up the viscous unit so the fan doesn't rotate, or disconnect if electric. You won't overheat too quickly. This makes a hell of a lot of difference.

Condom over the coil, tie wrapped to the leads.

Rubber glove over the distributor, 2 wires per finger with the exception of the coil lead. Zip tied around base of distributor and leads.

Copious quantities of WD40/Q20/DWF/Silicone spray inside everything.

Oh and raised axle breathers. And wading plugs in. LT95 leaks water in slowly to the bellhousing whatever you do so make sure you take the wading plug out ASAP.

Most important... Keep that (sensible) bow wave going.
No splashes. Gently gently. Extra Q20. Make sure a companion is there to pull you out when you drown it.

Oh and practice makes perfect. Particularly when you are draining the oil for the umpteenth time!

- Andy Grafton"

[p76rangie]

Be careful of things supposedly to keep water out of components. Water will always get in somehow, even if it is only a small amount. Then things that are intended to keep water out start actually keeping water in. The water then starts corroding electronics, stops high voltage systems, etc.