Do not disconnect the filter box, the square hole is there for a reason, when water closes it off it is supposed to starve the engine for air and cause it to stall out before it inhales any h2o, it mostly works unless the engine is around 2,000rpm, at that point inertia is your enemy. Rule of thumb, keep the water below your bumper, drive at a consistant speed and get a bow wave going, keep it constant and the bow wave will keep water out of the radiator. However the most important thing to remember is let someone else of the same height go first, if he sinks then don't go... I don't like water either and on two occasions, same paragon rockrawl, I had it up to the bottom of my fender flares and was about sucking the seat cover up my butt, all my door seals worked well as the XJ was only 4 months old and it stayed dry inside, one was a 100 yard stream crossing and the other was a 1 mile long abandoned railroad tunnel that did a good impersonation of a killer monsoon car wash which totally caught the open topped shorties by complete suprise. The tunnel was pitch black but I could put my hand out the window and the water was about 1/2 way up the door. Water and mud are bad for jeeps...
event to the "Lost Coast", I got lots of water in my tranny after getting stuck in the Eel river and water up to my windows and had to climb out the window with water to the bottom of my seats. I had no tools with me, it was a holiday weekend and my tranny fluid was Pepto Bismal pink, the tranny didn't last too long after that.
