Is this safe?

[AlexSport'00]

You know that gap between the hood and the rest of the body? Well, my recent exploits into large puddles, many of them muddy, is causing water/mud to get through the gaps. I'm worried that it'll damage stuff, and also it just looks bad when you open the hood. And my main concern is that my air intake (it's a cai) will get too much water/mud on it, which is a no-no. Could I safely use some weatherstripping to close that gap? At least the gap on the front. I'll leave the sides open since they don't cause as much of an issue and so the engine can breathe some, but I want to at least close the front gap.
Thanks for any and all replies!

EDIT: This question has been answered, but I asked a new one a few posts down...so if you want to answer that one then awesome!

 

[det107]

How wide is the offending gap ?? Could you post some pixs to give us an idea-

 

[AlexSport'00]

It's just the normal gap that every car has since the hood doesn't close perfectly flush. You know. Maybe a centimeter max. I just don't know how much air flows through this and if it'll make the engine overheat. Can't take a pic at the moment, but here is a pick off the internet. It's a bimmer, but you can see the gap between the hood and the grille/lights. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads6/49336742_1c83ea57221128625534.jpg

 

[windsors03cobra]

Sure you could close it with any weather stripping of your liking, it could be garage door strip for all anyone cares so long as it works I guess.
That isnt going to stop that 4.0 from giving up the ghost sooner than later if you keep driving it like that tho.

Good luck.

 

[AlexSport'00]

Haha this is true. Sorry for the really slow response, I missed that this ever got updated. Either way I just used some basic stripping and it worked fine. I did a little mudding (well, sorta...it's nothing like the big guys do, but to me it was mudding) and it worked good. Nothing got past it, which is a great improvement to the spray of dirty water than kept getting up in there. I'm holding off though on more fun until I figure out how to prevent any mud from getting up in there. I'm probably gonna just hit the junkyard and take all of the rubber wheel well guard things I can find and see if I can make something to help keep it a little cleaner. I'm not sure about what I'll do for directly under the engine. I guess maybe a skid plate of sorts would work well... any idea?

 

[shadowless127]

lift it.

 

[AlexSport'00]

Well, that's slowly happening, but that's all I really need to keep mud and stuff from getting up in there? I feel like it'd still spray up there a lot...but idk, thats why I asked

 

[Blee1099]

Just remember that the intake on the explorer is very low being right behind the headlight. Its never smart to fly into mud puddles honestly. You get enough water sucked up and you'll have a bent rod. Plus not to mention other stuff like your alternator is gonna hate life, many alternators have died as a result of me flying thru mud & water in my early years.

 

[AlexSport'00]

About the intake, I'm sealing that off before I do anything else in the mud.
And any way to protect the alternator? I'm planning on getting an upgraded one within 6-8 months, but I sure as hell don't want this one dying before I get the new one.
Any other dangers?