Breathing troubles

[jbcollier]

I have gone through several permutations of engine breathing with my crossflow.  The first was plumbed straight to the air box which resulted in a bit of an oily mess.  Next I fit a “racing” breather collector in the line.  Much cleaner at the air box but the collector just filled up (and leaked!).  So here’s my latest and, I’m pleased to say, successful system.

The valve cover breathes into a 1” collector with an inlet at either end.  Blow by goes out the upper centre outlet to the air box.  Between the side inlets and centre outlet there is a section of SS loose mesh.  The oil mist condenses on the mesh and flows back into the engine.

Oil “consumption” has gone from a litre every 1500 or so to zero.

https://jbcollier.smugmug.com/Lotus-Europa/i-SnWhKB9/A

https://jbcollier.smugmug.com/Lotus-Europa/i-RX3KJqL/A

The line to the air box has the stock Renault anti-backfire screen.


You know, I’m actually starting to run out of things to debug!

[BDA]

You know, I’m actually starting to run out of things to debug!

You're a determined, skillful man! I wonder if I'll ever get to that stage!

[jbcollier]

The next problem is that moving my foot from the throttle to the brake has my knee “automatically” dipping the headlights!

[Clifton]

Very clean. Every thing looks factory, a/c line routing too. Very nice.  Is your firewall perforated or stamped aluminum or thin foil over foam? It looks very nice too. The factory looking is meant as the highest complement.

[jbcollier]

That very kind of you, thanks.

Wish it worked better though.  It’s an S1 so it has a fibreglass firewall.  To that I applied a sound and heat deadening overlay, an aluminium sheet and DEI’s heat mat.  No heat gets through, that’s for sure.

I don’t know if you are familiar with S1s but they have two hollow sections that start at right at passenger head height and curve down into the sills and then spread out under your seat.  Rather like two flugel horns surrounding the passenger compartment.  To say it’s quite noisy is the understatement of the century.  It’s like the engine is in your lap.

I believe the S2 and TC/S are much better as they don’t have the curving sections to help things along.

Still, I love the damn thing.  It’s like you are bolted to the car, a part of it, and it reacts to your thoughts rather than motions.  There’s nothing else like it… except perhaps a motor bike.

[BDA]

There’s nothing else like it… except perhaps a motor bike.

I know very little about riding motor bikes but that is what a friend who does know about riding motor bikes said when he drove my car.

[rjbaren]

That's a very nice solution.  You come up with some really great ideas.   I was just about to start a thread regarding the breather in the Twin Cam.  In some of your photos I think I saw a Twin Cam in an Elan.  What would an elegant breather solution be for that engine?  The shop I used installed the rubber grommet with a copper pipe and a small 2" used K&N type filter fitted horizontally.  I didn't care for the way it looked so I pulled it out and ruined the grommet.  Now that I really need to replace it, I thought about getting the 90 degree elbow grommet from RD Enterprises and a small piece of pipe and filter and mounting it vertically so any oil might drain back.

Are there any other great solutions out there?

[jbcollier]

The first breather hole is in the side of the head (stock).  Where’s your second one?

[rjbaren]

I don't have a second one.  The Mikunis each have their own K&N filter.

[TurboFource]

I like your breather solution JB!



On TCST the original owner used the emissions container(?) with a filter on each end.
It was hooked to each side of the valve cover.....it drained back into the valve cover through the hose with the blue stripe on it......

[TurboFource]

JB,
Are the end caps threaded so you can take it apart to clean or change the mesh (it looks they may be in your pics)?

[jbcollier]

No, just silver soldered which is also easily undone.  The mesh is stainless so it should last a good long while.

[jbcollier]

Hmm, I like the 90° idea.  You also need something for the oil mist to condense on.  I used coarse SS mesh like this:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B000I1V1CW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Exlimey]

Isn’t it bad to have the breather pointing up as then any condensation goes right back into the engine?

[TurboFource]

It seems I read that stainless steel kitchen scrub pads work well too.