First post! Quick (suspected) freeze plug question

[guyatou]

Hello all! I’m new to the forum. I’m helping a buddy put together a 1967 Elan S3 and I have a quick question: is a freeze plug supposed to go here?

(See photo)

I’ve looked at several exploded diagrams but none seem to show this corner of the head. I’m 90 percent sure it just needs a plug, but wanted to make sure before I screw something up. The rest of the engine was assembled and installed by a previous owner, so I’m not super familiar with it.

I’m a Datsun Roadster guy and this is my first British project, so go easy on me!

[pharriso]

That's not a coolant port, it's actually a breather port & should have a tube to the airbox to route fumes back to the carb intakes.

p.s. Welcome!!

[pharriso]

Found a picture...

Here it is in the parts manual:

You need parts #16 & #18

[guyatou]

Thanks! Glad I didn’t plug it up! I’ll add that to my next parts order!

That's not a coolant port, it's actually a breather port & should have a tube to the airbox to route fumes back to the carb intakes.

p.s. Welcome!!

[HCA]

Renew the grommet if you are re-assembling the engine, as it can get a bit oily there if the fit is poor. Also note that if you have heavy crankcase vapour, most gets sucked in by No4 cylinder and in extreme cases will upset your tune.

For these reasons, the other day I threaded the port for an AN fitting that I use to connect to an oil catch can. I am not sure if this is a good thing as I suspect that some oil vapour should be going into the cylinders...

[512BB]

I am not sure if this would be period correct for an S3 but for all my Sprints, I fit the 90 degree rubber elbow and pipe down to the ground. I cannot stand all that crap residue that builds up in the airbox. The engines run so much cleaner.

Leslie

[billwill]

And don't forget that there is a bundle of scrunched up copper in that tube, to act as an anti-flash-burn filter.

[h20hamelan]

Is that the rare 5 cylinder twin cam, maybe my old eyes are deceiving me

[billwill]

I am not sure if this would be period correct for an S3 but for all my Sprints, I fit the 90 degree rubber elbow and pipe down to the ground. I cannot stand all that crap residue that builds up in the airbox. The engines run so much cleaner.

Leslie

My S3 originally had the drip-to-road pipe (so it is period-correct) , but it was replaced later with a feed to the air box. Nowadays I've modified it to use an oil catch-can.

[Quart Meg Miles]

Is that the rare 5 cylinder twin cam, maybe my old eyes are deceiving me

"One lead to rule them all".

[guyatou]

Thanks everybody! I clearly have a lot to learn about these cars. This one is finally coming along, but the quirks will take getting used to. For simplicity I might set up a catch can and vent to atmosphere and see if I get any leaks. If so I'll source the parts to route it to the air cleaner/intake as originally intended. The car is missing a lot of those little things that really add up in the long run!

[guyatou]

Is that the rare 5 cylinder twin cam, maybe my old eyes are deceiving me

It's the very rare Lotus 5-cylinder. Sourced by SAAB of course

Nah, I just have the coil wire hangin out on top since I haven't installed the coil yet. So much to do!