I finished the last (I know, no such thing) detail of Whitecloud's new engine this afternoon. I made up the last hose from the 356 oil filter/breather box and connected it to the air cleaner on passenger side.
The breather box is full of white nylon scrub pads cut round and stuffed into the oil filter to the top. It's been working great but spitting a mist of fine "stuff" all over the engine so I decided it's time to finish what I begun...
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Pretty Slick Will !!! I installed Total Seal rings (another one of those engine pulls !) and eliminated all crankcase pressure. I have a breather box with a hose from the filler neck but my manometer won't give me any reading what-so-ever so i think (hopefully so far) i don't have any crankcase pressure. Why you might ask ?....less hoses and clutter in the engine compartment !
I started up Rhonda this after noon. It started immediately and went to idle exactly then at 400RPM. A little touchy but it didn't die. So I let it warm up and enjoyed the deep throaty sound of the A-1 Muffler....soon, it creeped up to 750 RPM so I rapped it a couple times to get the generator light to go off, then continued to let it warm up. What I was impressed with is how it instantly started and idled, right off the dyno test bench....Just HEALTHY !! Needlessl to say...I'm very happy. I'm going to a car show in La Crescenta this Saturday and I will be proud to slowly cruise into my assigned stall with a wonderfully sounding engine and "Annie Anorexic" (wearing her super blond wig and head-band) as my companion .............Life is Good !!!...........Bruce
Will - Curious on the use of white scrub pads (like scotch brite pads?) over say stainless steel or brass/copper pot scrubbers? Sure like those hoses - Like Bruce said 1/2' black rubber hose are ugly but yours dress it up.
Looks great!
Wofgang, I started thinking about something going down the drain/vent hole on the oil filter/breather and thought nylon bristles would cause less engine damage than stainless steel or brass...it's a phobia I've picked up over the last 2 years...I honestly don't think anything will go down the drain/vent, I blew-off each "pineapple slice" of nylon filter material carefully before installing.
Bruce, my last engine had so much pressure that oil was being forced up into the distributor. I don't think there's much in the way of blow-by in this one, but there is a fine dusting from the exposed outlet on the filter so I figured I'd vent it back into the carb to keep things tidy.
Have fun at the car show!
Wolfgang....I have used the scotchbrite pads but thought it best to remove sponge inside them first. They worked well too........Bruce
With some nervousness, I used a stainless scrubber in my CB breather. I figured any broken off piece might damage the oil pump but would get caught by the oil filter before doing damage to the engine.
Will, that looks great!
Outstanding idea!!
Looks great!
Is this way any better/worse than venting from the valve covers?
I wonder what Pat uses or suggests?
This was good thread. I think more the merrier but it can look like a bucket of snakes. Diagram below with maybe even a small vented filter.
https://www.speedsterowners.com...oil-breather-blow-by
WILL HESCH- really nice clean jointed braided lines. No more worries of fuel spraying
Michael, it's not fuel, just crankcase pressure with a fine mist of oil sometimes.
I have a 356 oil filler that's got a 3/4" vent to atmosphere and I also have the fuel pump block-off plate tapped for 8AN fittings (roughly 1/2" ID) which should be enough without involving the valve covers.
My fuel manifold is a piece I'm really proud of, I made it out of aluminum 6AN hardline.
sorry about the movies, they're actually iPhone Live photos...duh...me and technology, bad combination!
It always seemed to me that any pressure in the valve covers would be relieved through the pushrod tubes. I have the crankcase vented through the oil filler and the fuel pump block off plate. I have AN-10 hoses going to each air cleaner from my CB tower breather box.
Venting to the carbs just sounds dirty to me...
Michael McKelvey posted:It always seemed to me that any pressure in the valve covers would be relieved through the pushrod tubes. I have the crankcase vented through the oil filler and the fuel pump block off plate. I have AN-10 hoses going to each air cleaner from my CB tower breather box.
You are right, Michael, the best place to relieve the crankcase pressure is from the crankcase, but there aren't a lot of places you can vent from (oil filler, fuel pump cover plate, as you already know) and it works best when you increase the diameter of the venting hose, which provides enough volume to slow down the air movement enough that oil starts dropping out of suspension before it gets to the breather box. I have read about guys drilling the top of the case (the right side, opposite the cooler) for a vent hose fitting. I think venting the valve covers is popular because it keeps the extra hoses out of the engine compartment, and it does work (as long as the hoses are big enough). Al
PS- @Will Hesch- what diameter is the hose from the fuel pump block off to the oil container?
I think the CB Tower breather comes with 1/4" pipe thread openings. Originally I had a tee in one of these on the back with AN-6 hoses going to the air cleaners. So, all venting went through one 1/4" pipe opening. I drilled and tapped the openings for 1/2" pipe threads and I am now using an elbow on the back and an elbow on the top. So, now I have the venting going through two 1/2" pipe openings with AN-10 hoses.
Unfortunately, the elbow on the top hit the underside of the engine compartment lid. So, with some suffering, I made a hole in that for clearance.
Al, the feed/drain line from the case to the oil filter/breather-box is -8 as is the line from the oil filter/breather-box to the passenger air cleaner.
Will, I am a bit concerned about the long unsupported length of your fuel hard lines. Aluminum will fracture after a while if allowed movement/vibration. The lines look great, but I wouldn't trust it. No matter how well tuned, these motors do have some vibration especially if/when a jet plugs.
On my Spyder, I ran a T off the center of the firewall and ran steel hard lines over and up near each carb. Each line is clamped to the firewall to eliminate movement. A short length of hose to each carb, clamped with the little steel spring clamps. These clamps hold the hoses tightly but won't damage them like worm-drive hose clamps.
RE: the breather setup. The 547 4 cam engine revved to nearly 8K. It had a central large bore breather that went into the top of the case. Very similar to what is described by Al above. I believe it was around an inch in diameter.
About an inch and a half, inch and three-quarters OD, I'd estimate.
