engine breathing combustion blowby.

[bloodknock]

Remembering sooting of No4 back in the day, ive decided to install a condenser catch tank. Im not sure yet where i will run the pick up from yet (probably the old outlet point near the carb back box), but I have already picked up a pretty catch tank off the bay. See attached. Now looking at hose runs to minimise visibility of installation. I know that the racers have hose outlets on front of head, but does anyone have experience in locating the out let? My head is currently with Vulcan Engineering having the seats and guides checked for use with the weasle piss fuel we get nowadays, so I have options if i'm quick.
Cheers
Bob

[john.p.clegg]

Bob
If you have a tow bar fitted,this should do the job nicely....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IBC-WATER-CON ... 2c73f337bd

John

[billwill]

The rear quarter of the head is in fact an oil condensation chamber and most of the recovered oil flows down the conical rubber pipe back to the sump.

I'm not sure if the chamber will work as designed if it does not have a working vent there, so I think the one at the front of the cam cover on racing engines is an EXTRA vent.

[jono]

This is what I fitted (to the original outlet, rear of head):

http://www.cliveyboy.com/product/lotus- ... tee-piece/

Currently I have the outlet pipe hanging below the car but had also seen those catch tanks on Ebay and was going to get one (in black) and fit it to the inner wing below the carbs with the exit pipe run to the nose cone with a little filter on it positioned next to the air intake filter (I hate the smell of crankcase fumes).

Is the quality of the tank okay?

Jon

[pharriso]

I am watching this topic with interest...

I have a modified Weber head that has no breather box & therefore no oil drain between head & block or breather pipe to the air box. The hole in the block where the head oil drain rubber pipe would normally sit has a pre-crossflow oil seperator which then vents to the road...

Although non-OE it works fine; I've talked to Miles Wilkins & QED about adding a breather but the consensus is if it ain't broke don't fix it!

[stugilmour]

This is what I fitted (to the original outlet, rear of head):

http://www.cliveyboy.com/product/lotus- ... tee-piece/

Currently I have the outlet pipe hanging below the car but had also seen those catch tanks on Ebay and was going to get one (in black) and fit it to the inner wing below the carbs with the exit pipe run to the nose cone with a little filter on it positioned next to the air intake filter (I hate the smell of crankcase fumes).

Is the quality of the tank okay?

Jon

That Cliveyboy tee piece is cool; had not seen it before. As I have modified air filters without the airbox I didn't need that piece, but looks ideal for the stock setup.

Bob, what are the approx. dimensions of your catch can? That one might be easier to locate than the one I got. I assume it is used with a remote filter from one of the top nipples?

Jon, I located the catch can in the nose of the Plus 2 with a revised drain valve positioned to easily allow periodic draining thru the large drain hole at the centre rear of the nose cone (assume it is a stock hole about 1/2" diameter?). Just an option.

I find the tank needs draining fairly frequently, certainly more frequently than the oil change interval, so keep drain access in mind when positioning the tank. Hassle with my mounting position is the can is on an angle (mine is 11 1/2" high with the filter), which reduces its capacity quite a bit, and reduces the head available when draining it. The stuff that comes out is a first a bit of water followed by white emulsified oil that is slow to drain as it is so thick. The pressurized flow seems to keep the vent hose (from the stock location at rear carb to the bottle in nose cone) clear though, even though it is sort of dodgy plumbing to keep the hose at a good constant slope down the fender well lip to the nose cone.

I used a tank like this one, but there are several brands available

http://www.jegs.com/i/Moroso/710/85465/10002/-1

HTH

[bloodknock]

The tank was ?25 ish with postage. The quality is not bad but the inlet outlet fittings are a bit sloppy but PTFE tape should fix that. Im going to lead one outlet to a small filter unit so have to locate a right angle outlet to ensure that the inlet pipe has suitable clearance.
The tank is 17 cm tall x 8cm deep x 6.5cm wide
It has two threaded mounting holes on the back face on the vertically centre line. A right angled mounting bracket is provided.
The supplied hose is 15mm id and to flimsy and short to be of use.
Four outlet unions are provided, two 15mm and two 8mm
Cheers
Bob Skerritt

[billwill]

This message
lotus-elan-f19/getting-ogu-roadworthy-again-t26101-75.html#p176701
and those following, show my own experimental vent, which I made up from standard plumbing stuff, before I knew Cliveboy was doing his.

It feeds into an aluminium drinks bottle which is strapped onto the block where the mecanical fuel pump used to be.



Snag is no way of getting at it, so I aim to suck any oil out of it with a turkey baster with an extension tube on it.

Haven't tried to do that yet.

Can't recommend it at this stage as it is experimental.

{I still have my original original drip-on-the-road tube in my spares box, though that was replaced long ago with a pollute spark plug 4 option.}

[bloodknock]

This looks interesting, so the 15 mm copper is a good fit in the head grommet? Any problems with excessive movement due to engine vibrations? The soldering looks good, any chance you could pop round and fix my shower? Ive heard of people having this hole tapped and a plumbing union fitted to the head, has anyone any experience of this solution? Im always reluctant to mod from standard and your solution would save me having to get the head tapped.
Cheers
Bob

[bloodknock]

OK I admit it, im a prat, its early and I missed the link in your post! I now see the story and I like the idea, patented??? I may well borrow aspects of it if not!
Cheers
Bob

[billwill]

Actually the 15mm tube had to be hand rolled down to a slightly narrower diameter to fit the grommet; I've forgotten how I did that now, probably pipe in the vice, a rod inside and a pair of mole grips with wooden 'faces' rotated round & round & gradually tightened.

The blanked end of the t-piece is held to the air-box by the old rubber pipe arrangement to make it all stable, which simultaneously solves the problem of blocking the hole in the airbox.

[bloodknock]

Thanks Bill.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Bob

[bloodknock]

Hi Bill,
well I've decided on my solution....picture attached. Hope you approve.
Bob

[Deans Sprint]

Hi all i enjoyed reading this post and I would like to ask a question.

I have a Sprint with about 40k miles after a rebuild. I run a breather tube from the cam cover to a home made catch tank and run a rubber tube from in place of the tube to the air box which is now blanked off.

Over the weekend i removed the Airbox off as I was going to reduce the chokes from 33 to 30mm as I'm chasing a bit more bottom end.

In the Airbox and on the bottom of the ram tubes was a drop of engine oil on each of them and oil in the Weber body?

The car does not blow smoke on start-up and still goes like stink!

Any advice appreciated

[bloodknock]

Could this be fuel condensate, rather than engine oil? I admit it looks the correct colour for oil. Whats the consitency, is it tar like or oily?
Is there an oily coating inside the airbox? Looks pretty dry to me.