I keep seeing cheap bonnets pop up on the bay and am thinking of buying a damaged one so that it can be cut to allow an RAI.

This would of course have to be something i made myself, no drainpipes mind!

Does anyone know how watertight the passenger compartment is at all? Living in Donny we seem to be flooding every year or other year now so for the sake of a £30 bonnet and the same amount on some proper piping and sealing kits and some offroad wading im wondering if its worth it??

Also how well sealed are the electrics in the engine bay as i see most stuff is in sealed box's but are the really watertight if they are surrounded by water?

The other thing is the viscous fan. i've asked before but had no response... has anyone replaced one with an electric fan, not for the fuel saving benefit rubbish but as wading you want the fan spinning when it hits water and losing some vanes...

myself, mzplcg , justinp and a bunch of disco3 blokes went through some fords down nr salisbury and these must have been about 2 1/2 to 3 foot deep , enough to get a decent bow wave and we had no problems at all..

The wading depth on the RR is either 50cm or 70cm depending on what year you have. Anything more than this and the outside water pressure on the door seals etc will be significant and may start to ingress.

You could fit a RAI but the diameter would have to be large - we're not talking a 200tdi here, I'm also not convinced the seal to the air box would be perfect.

Once you start getting water level with the front of the bonnet you will start getting waves coming over the top - these will be guided buy the shape of the bonnet down into the passenger compartment air intake. Driving with recirc on will assist to an extent, but by design the system is not watertight.

I have waded with water up to the door handles, through moving water where maintaining a bow wave was tricky. The car was being pushed sideways and although manageable, a few inches higher and the back end would have started to lift I think.

You would also need to extend the breathers (gearbox & diffs).

Your Viscous fan would be fine, they stopped making them of cheese in the 80's - btw there is already an electric fan fitted.

Your Xenons would go pop as they would quickly fill with water.

So basically, the factory limits are not just for the air intake. 

Was that to the top of the arches then or over the bonnet?

Im guessing that partly came up the door then?

Im thinking that if the water comes up to the level of the tailgate lower section, IE number plate level....

ah so the lights will go pop, i take it the ballasts are the bits that will go as i thought the lights would be well sealed??

Yip the air breathers for the diff's, gearbox and transfer box will need to be located and raised.

The passenger compartment bit shouldn't be too hard to seal up, better to recirc the air anyway so that it is drier inside(we all know they have internal damp issues lol!)

Ballast at the back, few concrete slabs should help get another 100kg or more there to keep it down.

It wouldn't be for more than a few minutes at a time wading sections of submerged road but if it can cope with water upto grille hieght i think my worries are sated

I have wondered about the fans but realised that the viscous one must be historic as the electrice one is for the AC when its on to ensure the air con rad, condensor(??) doesnt get too hot, but why the kept the viscous i dont know unless they think it is more likely to fail than the viscous one..

Thanks for the advice guys

The LR RAI is just that a raised intake - it is not a snorkel as it doesn't come with wing seals you would need to look at a Safari snorkel for deep wading 2018 Mini Countryman Cooper S E All4 PHEV in Melting Silver - it’s whisper quiet in EV and polluter modes

kingpleb wrote:

Was that to the top of the arches then or over the bonnet?

Im guessing that partly came up the door then?

Im thinking that if the water comes up to the level of the tailgate lower section, IE number plate level....

it got a little bit deeper further on..

kingpleb wrote:

ah so the lights will go pop, i take it the ballasts are the bits that will go as i thought the lights would be well sealed??

Yip the air breathers for the diff's, gearbox and transfer box will need to be located and raised.

The passenger compartment bit shouldn't be too hard to seal up, better to recirc the air anyway so that it is drier inside(we all know they have internal damp issues lol!)

Ballast at the back, few concrete slabs should help get another 100kg or more there to keep it down.

It wouldn't be for more than a few minutes at a time wading sections of submerged road but if it can cope with water upto grille hieght i think my worries are sated

I have wondered about the fans but realised that the viscous one must be historic as the electrice one is for the AC when its on to ensure the air con rad, condensor(??) doesnt get too hot, but why the kept the viscous i dont know unless they think it is more likely to fail than the viscous one..

Thanks for the advice guys

Don't forget spare underwear! 

scarey wrote:

kingpleb wrote:

Was that to the top of the arches then or over the bonnet?

Im guessing that partly came up the door then?

Im thinking that if the water comes up to the level of the tailgate lower section, IE number plate level....

it got a little bit deeper further on..

not sure mate , we were in convoy and i just followed the car in front..pretty sure it was near winterbourne dauntsey somewhere...

You're right - thanks! 'Ere tis......

http://www.wetroads.co.uk/dp.php?Winterbourne Dauntsey3&Winterbourne Dauntsey3mo

links dead ..

wiltshire wetroads link http://www.wetroads.co.uk/wiltshire.htm

the one we went through was the winterbourne earls ford...

dan_uk_1984 wrote:

The wading depth on the RR is either 50cm or 70cm depending on what year you have.

Any idea what they changed to increase the wading height by 20cm, and what year did the change occur? 
Gone - Range Rover Supercharged 2006

kingpleb wrote:

ah so the lights will go pop, i take it the ballasts are the bits that will go as i thought the lights would be well sealed??

Yip the air breathers for the diff's, gearbox and transfer box will need to be located and raised.

The passenger compartment bit shouldn't be too hard to seal up, better to recirc the air anyway so that it is drier inside(we all know they have internal damp issues lol!)

Ballast at the back, few concrete slabs should help get another 100kg or more there to keep it down.

It wouldn't be for more than a few minutes at a time wading sections of submerged road but if it can cope with water upto grille hieght i think my worries are sated

I have wondered about the fans but realised that the viscous one must be historic as the electrice one is for the AC when its on to ensure the air con rad, condensor(??) doesnt get too hot, but why the kept the viscous i dont know unless they think it is more likely to fail than the viscous one..

Thanks for the advice guys

Very true, thats why i was thinking of doing the home based method, some nice big soft rubber gaskets and some silicone where needed after some pressure testing...

Still grille hieght on the picture looks deep enough i reckon!

You don't need a new bonnet. The TD6 draws air through the RH side vents. The easiest would be making a blanking plate fort the side vent and running a snorkel fitted to the side (poss RRSport?). Then you'd need a tube of some sort (as Dan says, must be big enough) through the wing to the air filter intake. And you'd have to make sure all is water tight.

 
RRC 2Dr, RRC 4Dr,
P38, and 2 L322s
(wife thinks I'm nuts - prob right, too)