Plumbing Resevoir to Oil Filler Tube

[jngregory]

When running my partial flow 289 at high RPMs (4,500 - 5,500) for extended periods oil sprays out the oil filler cap. Not huge amounts of oil, but enough to make a mess in the engine compartment. I think it is also a bit of a fire hazard. I have breather tubes on both valve covers, and a road draft tube, but I get the oil spray anyway.

To solve this problem could I put a removable cap (without the breather holes) on the oil filler tube, attach a fitting to the cap, and run a hose from the fitting to a small container that acts as a resevoir to catch the oil? The container would have a breather cap on it.

Does anyone see a problem with doing something like this?

John
1953 Commander Coupe
1954 Champion Sedan
1963 Lark

[Tom Bredehoft]

Boy that sounds familiar.....I've been fighting that since September. I want to fabricate a cork with a string, so I can add oil. But then it wouldn't breath.

I can't imagine my 232 hitting 4,500, though.. the highest it's gone is a calculated 3,700 (no 6 v tach) but I've cleaned a LOT of oil off my hood.

[img=left]http://www.alink.com/personal/tbredehoft/Bothcars3.jpg[/img=left]
Tom Bredehoft
'53 Commander Coupe
'55 President State Sedan Project
'60 Lark VI (Now on the market)
'05 Legacy Ltd Wagon
All Indiana built cars

[N8N]

ISTR that Mopar Action ran into the same issue with the '69 Valiant they built up for the One Lap of America maybe... um... heck, it must have been close to 10 years ago. I think they used breather caps in the valve covers with hose fittings on them, then ran the hoses into a catch can, and mounted a breather with filter on a tee high in the engine compartment. That way the oil vapor would separate out and fall into the can, but you'd have to empty it every time you popped the hood. If you had enough room on the firewall, you maybe could plumb the bottom of the can back into a new hole in the valley pan to make it self emptying...

You say that you have a partial flow engine, so I ASSume you still have valve covers with no breather holes and the single stack and breather at the front of the engine. If that is the case, do you have a baffle in the stack? I'd imagine that if that were missing that replacing the stack with one with a baffle might encourage some of the oil to fall back into the engine rather than blow out the breather.

nate

--
55 Commander Starlight

http://members.cox.net/njnagel

[Jerry Forrester]

quote:Originally posted by jngregory

When running my partial flow 289 at high RPMs (4,500 - 5,500) for extended periods oil sprays out the oil filler cap. Not huge amounts of oil, but enough to make a mess in the engine compartment. I think it is also a bit of a fire hazard. I have breather tubes on both valve covers, and a road draft tube, but I get the oil spray anyway.

To solve this problem could I put a removable cap (without the breather holes) on the oil filler tube, attach a fitting to the cap, and run a hose from the fitting to a small container that acts as a resevoir to catch the oil? The container would have a breather cap on it.

Does anyone see a problem with doing something like this?

John
1953 Commander Coupe
1954 Champion Sedan
1963 Lark

I see no problem with doing what you describe, but I think you are delaying the inevitable. You have compression leaking past your pistons and are in need of a rebuild.
And don't do one of those $7000 rebuilds. No need to pull the engine. All you need is....
rings, rod & main bearings, a gasket set, some oil and some anti-freeze.

Just my opinion, your's may vary.

Jerry Forrester
Douglasville, Georgia
Be sure to check out my eBay store

http://stores.ebay.com/CHROME-CHROME-CHROME_

for your shiny Stude stuff

More pix of Leo here...http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/d...rrystudebaker/

[59r2]

I had the same problem with my 259, the problem was with compresion leaking past the rings .A good soaking with marvel mystery oil with the plugs out,for a whole weekend. The engine has less than 50k on it so I didn't think new rings were needed. A compression check the clyinder were equally low before the marvel treatment , after it did increase not to spec but close . So I disconnected the filter for the rest of the summer,took it easy added a quart to the oil. ran it for the season , in the fall i reconnected the line it leaked a very little after high rev driving and seemed fine the following season ,

1959 HARDTOP R2 clone
1960 conv
SDC member since 1972

[Mike]

John,
I gather this is the car @ http://www.ssracing2007panamrace.blogspot.com/ . You drive that thing across Mexico, the long way, fast, in competition. That's really neat!
Air is coming out of your fill stack, and carrying a little oil from the filter with it. Ideally, air would be going in, there. The filler stack you are using is supposed to have a baffle in it. You should be able to see it, just looking down the tube. It just slides in from the top; at least on the later aluminum stacks. Some filler caps have a skirt that extends from the lower edge, halfway around. It's supposed to keep air blowing across the breather from siphoning oil out. You probably know the fitting going into the filter is supposed to be restricted, to limit flow. If any of these three features aren't in place, installing them may very well fix your minor oil leak.
After the Lark V8's that Holman and Moody prepared for Nascar had trouble with oil not returning to the pan, Stude made a few mods that the full flow engines have. The return holes in the heads were enlarged slightly. Passages back to the pan from the valley area were enlarged, and moved away from the distributor drive gear. I think oil flow to the rocker arms was reduced, too.
"R" series engines got a special breather system that vented through a large stack, from the side of the oil pan. Air was supposed to go in restricted breathers on each valve cover, and go to the crankcase via the valley, then out the vent stack. The hole where your fill stack is, was blocked off. There was no road draft tube from the valley cover. The vent stack from the oil pan was connected to the intake manifold through a PCV valve, for low speeds; and to the air filter , for high speeds. The idea was that air flow would help return oil to the pan. At least, blow-by gasses wouldn't be escaping in the opposite direction returning oil needed to flow. It's explained in the SAE "Avanti" paper: http://www.sae.org/technical/papers/630048 . The original, 1951, vent system is explained in one of the best of the SAE Stude papers: http://www.sae.org/technical/papers/510203 .
Flat black is definitely the way to go on the valve covers, to get rid of heat; but I can't see the breather tubes in the valve covers in the picture @ http://bp3.blogger.com/_z0mVSGhQmpc/...h/DSCN1664.JPG . Do you have a better picture?
I think an "R" style vent stack, from the oil pan, would relieve crankcase pressure; and get the air flowing toward the pan, inside the engine. I would connect a road draft tube to the top of the stack, and route it under the car so air would blow across the end, maybe with a scoop, small end forward. I wouldn't necessarily use the stock Stude "R" vent stack. In principal, larger diameter tubing is better, as it slows the escaping air down, and makes it more likely that oil droplets will fall out. Making the flow change direction through baffles makes the oil droplets fall out, too. A stack can be longer if it runs diagonally in the engine compartment; sloping upward, of course. Here's one on an old Porsche race car: http://www.spyderclub.com/phpbb2/download.php?id=3911 . The low end goes to the crankcase.
I've seen some very effective baffling done by cutting notches into alternating sides of the stack tube, and welding thin sheet metal in the notches so it makes escaping air "zig zag". Ideally the baffles slope downward, too.
Mike M.

[hawk gt 62 rhd]

Maybe it is so that the under pressure forged by the vent shroud along the oil filler tube is the cause of the oil spreading ,alittle sheet metal riveted on the cap will be part off a solution.

[Mike]

The "skirt" I mentioned goes to the rear. It kind of scoops air into the breather. Stude engineers thought there was a problem because of high velocity air flow through the radiator shroud, past the breather - not that this car has a fan shroud. There probably is some high velocity air flow, though.
Mike M.

[StudeRich]

John, since you have valve cover oil caps, just put the block-off plate on the oil filler hole and relocate the oil filter to the fender and that will eliminate the oil cap directly in the fan air flow. With 5000 RPM engine speed that is the only way to stop it! [^]

StudeRich
Studebakers Northwest
Ferndale, WA

[jngregory]

Gents, thanks for all the comments, both online and offline. I know the engine doesn't need a rebuild - it was just completed with new rings. The problem is just high rpms for prolonged periods. StudeRich has a good suggestion about blocking off the oil filler hole, and moving the filter to the engine wall. Another idea is to move the oil return from the filler pipe (where the oil gets aerated by the pressure moving up the pipe) to the timing cover. I'm going to try some of the ideas suggested, and report back.

John
1953 Commander Coupe
1954 Champion Sedan
1963 Lark

[StudeRich]

I return the oil from the remote bi-pass filter through the block-off plate, to lubricate the timing gears.

StudeRich
Studebakers Northwest
Ferndale, WA