Oil leak question

@Stan Galat you are correct, thousands of dollars. The pump was $700 and the tank was over $300. Then add all the AN10 and AN8 hoses, breathers, fittings, welding gas, steel, etc., then keep going. I think I'm close to 2k in the "remove oil leaks and make the oil system better" department.

The fact that my engine will always have an immediate supply of oil to the bearings was the whole point, the leak reduction is just a bonus. Hooning makes that a necessity.

But it's cool to not have a dipstick. You merely remove the cap from the tank and look inside. Yup, plenty in there, time to go for a ride.

@DannyP @Stan Galat how many quarts of oil are you running?

The Saldana tank is an 8 quart tank, usually holding 5.5 or 6 quarts. I mounted it low so that the AN10 feed to the pressure side doesn't have too much "head". The bottom of the tank is even with the center of the pump.

VW Beetle guys sometimes have a problem with drain back(and hydraulically locking motors) because they mount the tank high inside in the rear seat area.

The Saldana tank has a 1.5" diameter neck that goes down into the tank about 4 inches. I keep the oil level about 1/2" to 1" below that, the tank is 16" high.

I use a Wix 1515 filter, lines, thermostat and a 96 plate cooler, both of which will not drain back much if any, which accounts for another 1.5 quarts. The only spot where my lines turn downward is right at the pump end of the engine. Otherwise they angle to keep the oil in the lines.

So 7 to 7.5 quarts in the whole system. My friend Jimmy(who owns a 78 911SC) joked that I'm slowly building a 911. Not really, but, yeah.

I took a page out of the " @MusbJim's Authoritative Book of Chillaxin' Speedster Maintenance" with this direction:

6' of 5/8" heater hose    $6.49

CB Performance oil filler breather box Kit    $115.00

Four 5/8" 90º ABS hose fittings    $8 bucks

A 2' X 3' plastic tray for under the engine in the garage  $7.00

An hour installing everything.     $00.00  (I'm retired and need the work)

Total:   $136.49

And I get a very little oil weeping past the crank pulley if I run hard on the freeways, so I know it's not letting any dust in.  Added peace of mind!

Also, my Hooning days are almost over, anyway.......

OK, back to Chillaxin'.........    

@LI-Rick - my tank is a custom affair that fits in the RR passenger wheelwell, like a 911 tank. I put baffles and a dipstick tube in it. I've got pictures I'll put up later, but total oil capacity is 10 -12 quarts depending on the level in the tank.

@Gordon Nichols posted:

I took a page out of the " @MusbJim's Authoritative Book of Chillaxin' Speedster Maintenance" with this direction:

6' of 5/8" heater hose    $6.49

CB Performance oil filler breather box Kit    $115.00

Four 5/8" 90º ABS hose fittings    $8 bucks

A 2' X 3' plastic tray for under the engine in the garage  $7.00

An hour installing everything.     $00.00  (I'm retired and need the work)

Total:   $136.49

And I get a very little oil weeping past the crank pulley if I run hard on the freeways, so I know it's not letting any dust in.  Added peace of mind!

Also, my Hooning days are almost over, anyway.......

OK, back to Chillaxin'.........    

Nice. I pretty much had everything I put in my breather/catch can set up. Except the filler neck and the can itself, which I  think was ~$30 on eBay and phenomenally fit perfectly between my roll bar on 4 rubber-covered wire clamps.

Rather than run a vacuum line to one of my carbs, I simply ran a hose from the tank out the bottom, like the OEM VW filler.

Like Danny, I filled my can with stainless Chore Girls.  In the 3 years since I installed it, oil has never registered on the site glass, but oil misting in my engine compartment (and my DS carb) have been completely eliminated.

Ahhh....   I see from your picture that you have one of those "Open Concept" cooling fans, too!    

And the rag stuffed into the oil filler is an homage to "El Cheapo Racing".....  

@Gordon Nichols posted:

Ahhh....   I see from your picture that you have one of those "Open Concept" cooling fans, too!    

And the rag stuffed into the oil filler is an homage to "El Cheapo Racing".....  

LOL, that’s an “in process” pic of when I was lining up my new shroud and figuring out my manual thermostat flap cable. It’s the best pic I had. Now that it’s all assembled, you can’t see the tank very well.

At the time, the filler cap was at a local engravers, ostensibly to have them engrave “Oel” on it. But after going through all the trouble of finding a file with a very close font that was compatible with their engraver, no one that worked there could figure out how to secure the round cap in their engraving machine. (The old guy that started the business who could engrave by hand is long gone. Another lost art)

Ok, Greg sent me a breather box set up. Here’s my latest question for you guys: What do you recommend I use to “cap off” the drivers side carb where I remove where there is currently a hose that runs to the oil filler tube? Is there something specific I need to use?

When I did mine I just bought new tops for my air cleaners. The ones that were on my car were original tin Dellorto lids and I replaced them with the usual cast aluminum ones everybody sells.

You can also just leave it, if the breather box has a flange for it. One way or another, the breather box has to vent to the atmosphere. Otherwise, it can’t breath.  (Or are those breathers open? I’ve never seen one)

@NeenahSpeedster posted:

Ok, Greg sent me a breather box set up. Here’s my latest question for you guys: What do you recommend I use to “cap off” the drivers side carb where I remove where there is currently a hose that runs to the oil filler tube? Is there something specific I need to use?

If you just want to plug the hole and it's threaded use a brass plug with an allen key head. They make them in all sizes I think. Most likely it's 3/8" pipe thread.

If it's just a hole get a couple fender washers and a small bolt and nyloc nut. Then make a sandwich, using the fender washers as the "bread" and the air cleaner top as the "meat".