Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: SC or PA
Posts: 709

This doesn't help with the already ruined engine, but might help prevent it from happening again. I was paranoid about this exact sort of thing when I got my car. I made a ~3" hole in the side of the airbox, parallel to the direction of the normal airflow. This keeps it from pulling air from the engine bay normally. Now if something (ie water) blocks the main intake off it creates a large amount of resistance with the air coming through that way. Fortunately air, much like electricity and any other fluid, is lazy. When the main intake is blocked the air takes the path of least resistance and comes in through that new hole rather than pulling air and water from the lower part of the intake. So as long as you're not flooring it through the puddle, this should be more than enough air to keep water from getting pulled into the motor.