I think I tracked down the oil weep on right hand side; waiting for my air/oil separator to come in, but in meantime had put a hose to a catch bottle in the back end of the car under the tray from the vent…but I noticed it had slipped out and the oil mist from the breather was coating the side of the mill. So, put a barbed right angle fitting in, tightened down with a ty-wrap (for now...ran out of hose clamps), and rubber cemented the breather hose (and clamped it with another tie) into the angle fitting.
Spritz of varsol to clean off the block. I’ll see how that 'quick fix' works. (varsol residue is dampness you see in the photo…)
Left side of the lump is still dry after modifying the dipstick so it seals in the dipstick tube. No mist on the brakelight switch, shift tubes, side of engine, etc. so far, so I think I have that under control for now. Thinking when I plumb in the separator to the intake air box (instead of the direct hose from the head to the box...), that will create enough of a depression in the upper half to reduce the pressure build up.
When the separator comes in, a fellow lister on the groups.io list sent me a vent fitting for the front of the valve cover; thinking of adding that, plumbing both the existing vent and the added fitting on the valve cover to the separator, running the “dry” air back to carb airbox, and maybe at some point going to an electric fuel pump and putting an oil return line on the fuel pump pad blanking plate.
Going a bit too far? If it is...next up is the front suspension and brakes, if this turns out to be a fix. Missing from the second photo are the steering rack rod ends and new brake disks (left over from my S2 restorations a few years ago)... Did I say before that I hate oil leaks...and somehow fitting I'm using a B&D Workmate bench (designed by Ron Hickman...) to work on a Europa...no?
And...slowly, as I stamp down the leaks, scrubbing the accumulated spooge off the engine to at least make it a bit more presentable. Thinking (and talking with some folks on the other side, since I'll have to deploy a cherry picker to pull the lump anyway for regasketing and cleaning/painting of the engine, and a new clutch; mechanically it seems to be in good nick: 40-45 Lbs oil pressure at speed, temps right down the center, cylinder pressures around 150-155...a little low, but sufficient...so not necessarily looking to do a full pull-down) of using it to really get the back end up high enough so I can drop the fuel tanks and install the overhauled tanks and new level sender I picked up last spring. Have the stainless braided fuel line stock, need to get the fake "AN" ends to dress up. Pulling the lump would let me get in there and scrub off decades of spooge...and put in a set of stainless transfer tubes and new silicone hoses to dress up the warp core room...lol)
