Dear All
Am having to disconnect/re-route my crankcase breather for a short while...what are the options rather than just letting oil drip on the road?

Thanks
John

John
I've used Cliveyboys part but you can use the rubber elbow that was on early engines, then connect a pipe and route under the carbs through towards the front under the rad to a collection tank/bottle in the nose. Surprising what's in the tank after a while!

Terry

Clievboy's T-piece looks like a very good solution and required the least adaptation!

I have bodged a pipe out from the breather port and to one of my kids old drink's bottles (as a catch tank) with a nice breather on top.
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I AM surprised by two things:

1. The IMMEDIATE improvement in performance and revviness/responsiveness
2. The amount of oil breathed (maybe I need a rebore )

Terry,

How much oil are you catching, and in what time period?

Take care,
Peter

Peter
I certainly had about 1cm of "Goo" (oil with condensed water) in the bottle after about 300miles - mainly short journeys thou.
I also put one of those breather filters on the out connection of the oil catch tank

All the best

Terry

Can someone point me in the right direction to install such a system on my 74 2 + 2 130/5. I've been thinking about it for a while now as No. 4 plug quickly fouls in standing traffic causing the engine to go lumpy and start smoking. Throttle response is much reduced until I can get on a fast stretch and put my foot down.

That breather arrangement was always very messy

I tapped the breather hole in the head to take a 1/2" nipple (like the heater nipple at the thermostat , only straight) and fitted heater hose pipe going to my catch tank, a 500ml brake fluid bottle on the side of the pedal box

No photos because the head is away getting new valve guides at the moment.....

My solution was similar to Seans. Used a K&N type breather on the end of some heater hose. Hangs by the sump.

When I had K&Ns on my last Lotus I used the rubber elbow that is available at most places together with a male/male metal hose connector then petrol breather hose laid to the nose of the car under the carbs maintaining a fall to a oil catch tank. You can then take another pipe from this to a small K&N type breather if required

Terry

This might have just solved the mystery of why I can never get cylinder 4 of my twin cam to fire properly. Have just stripped the carb this evening as the head is off and seemed fine apart from allot of oily goo....

Has anyone got any pictures of their oil breather conversion please for idea?

Thanks

Andy

When I first got my Elan the engine was worn and oil vapour (?) in the airbox made it run very roughly. Diverting a pipe into a bicycle drinks bottle mounted in it`s holder below the carbs. transformed the smooth running..........BUT.......... returning from Italy via the south of France we chose the Route Napoleon. A fabulous twisty road full of hairpins. After half a mile of uphill, flat out, heavy braking etc. the car began to run so badly until it wouldn`t run at all. A full day of fiddling in a local garage, getting the car going then experiencing the same problems resulted in the car being transported home on a truck.
When the car came home it fired up and ran absolutely fine so much head scratching. I had a thought, empty the catch bottle !! It contained sufficient oil, water and goo that the pipe end was immersed when travelling steeply uphill. Lifting off for the hairpins must have been sucking back the goo. So..........
Jim

Mine goes via a Cliveyboy breather tube, like the original but a T piece with the end into the carbs blocked. Then a piece of petrol breather hose laid falling into the nose of the car to a Mocal 1litre tank

Terry

Just got my head back. The original breather hole has been tapped to take a 9/16" hose nipple. The oil catch bottle sits between the airbox and the brake box, with a tie-wrap to keep it in place.

I see that some here have attached an air filter to the final outlet. As any gas flow in the breather will all be going out, I don't think the filter will serve any purpose, other than to catch the last of the oil droplets and make a bit of a mess

BTW my oil catch bottle is filled with SS pot scrubs to catch as much oil as possible

Thanks for the pictures. One question though, given that the crankcase breather can be safely routed to a capture tank then can the inlet where the tube used to go to be safely sealed off? I can't see any reason why not but I might be missing something.
Cheers
Andy

Andy,

If you mean the sealing the inlet to the air box, then yes, seal it otherwise you'll be ingesting unfiltered air.

Bill