New breather/flame traps - strip out old gauze?

[PJ60]

Hi,
I have oil in the vee so I'm going to slowly work through the various recommended causes to solve the problem.
Also, when I remove the oil filler cap there is no change in the engine revs so I'm replacing all the breather pipes and will fit a Rover P6 flame trap/breather in the rubber breather pipe - should I strip out the existing old gauze from the timing chain cover?
After this I'll clean the area off, dust with talc and see where the oil is coming from - the next areas to look at will be the timing chain cover gaskets, the distributor o-ring and (hopefully not) the water pump o-ring.
Thanks,
Jon

[Lingen]

Jon.
Don't forget to check for the small felt washer that should be at the top of the oil dipstick. Without it there will be no vacuum in the crank case, so no difference when you remove the filler cap. Also, with air getting in there, there will be a constant flow of air from the crank case up the breather pipes into the carburettors, bringing with it lots of oily vapour, which will make a real mess. I wouldn't remove the gauze in the r/h cam cover, but it would be worth taking the cover of, and flushing through the gauze, in place, with a suitable Gunk-like solvent.
There really is no need to fit an external flame trap, and it would be almost impossible to do it neatly in the space available.
Mike.

[PJ60]

Mike,
Thanks for your reply. I'll check the felt seal, clean the gauze and replace the breather pipes first to see if that helps.
Jon

[Seaking]

Why not check the cork gaskets and the half moon ones first they are the most likely culprits also check that the cam covers are nice and straight. Fit new cork gaskets with a good smear of Vaseline on all sides before fit
The half moon ones will go hard after a period of time so will need to be replaced
some people recommend to stick the cork cam gaskets in with hi temp silicon but I have never found the need to.

Cheers Glenn

[PJ60]

Thanks Glenn,
I'll add all those to the list!
Jon

[jbuckl]

The flame traps I have replaced were all very corroded, so worthwhile to reduce the risk of the debris getting into the engine.
A P6 flame trap will fit in the hose, as they are pretty small, the stubs might be too small though.

[PJ60]

Well, I took off the cam covers to clean out the gauze and discovered that they had been powdercoated inside and out and I suspected that the gauze might be well clogged so I decided to cut off the gauze cover plate. I managed to do this (it's thick plate!) and found that the gauze was totally black, gummed up and very sticky. I stripped it all out and thoroughly cleaned the inside of the cover. The cork gaskets weren't a great fit so I stuck them to the cover with wellseal but they still looked deformed. I left them overnight weighted down then smeared them with grease and refitted them with new washers. I fitted 2 x P6 flame traps - one for each carb - fitted a new felt washer to the dip stick and went for a test drive - not good.
Lots of blue smoke - more than before, strong smell of burnt oil and smoke out of the cam cover when I unscrewed the oil filler cap. Still loads of fresh oil in the vee and the cam cover gaskets are now leaking so I'm going to have to take them off to refit and stop those leaks.
I'm not convinced about the effectiveness of the P6 flame traps - would they be creating more back pressure? However I do need something to replace the cam cover breather. I was thinking that I might be better getting a catch tank with gauze from ebay.
I know that this is just dealing with a symptom of a different problem but I won't have a garage for a couple of years, I won't do a high mileage - I just want to keep the car going until then. Can I use a catch tank with Strombergs?
Jon

[jbuckl]

Sounds as if the engine has high amount of blow-by.
A catch tank might help, but its best to actually find out whats going on by performing a cylinder leakage test.

[tjk]

Sounds as if the engine has high amount of blow-by.
A catch tank might help, but its best to actually find out whats going on by performing a cylinder leakage test.

Hi
I would agree and suspect a rebore is on the cards, hope this is not the case .

[Lingen]

P.J. You must replace the original (cleaned) gauze and cover. I think this can be done safely with pop rivets. Without them, large quantities of oil will be flung up by the camshaft and will quickly fill and block the breather pipes. The Rover flame traps will probably quickly fill with oil as well. It does sound as though there may be excessive blow-by, but try again with the breather hoses clear, the original parts replaced and for a start, without the Rover traps.
Mike.

[marshman]

I left them overnight weighted down then smeared them with grease and refitted them with new washers. I fitted 2 x P6 flame traps - one for each carb - fitted a new felt washer to the dip stick and went for a test drive - not good.
Still loads of fresh oil in the vee and the cam cover gaskets are now leaking so I'm going to have to take them off to refit and stop those leaks.
Jon

With regard to the oil leaks and the gaskets. It is worth spending time going around the edge of the cam covers straightening up the flange. Over time if they get overtightened the flanges get distorted and twist. This results in the gasket not sitting flat and oil leaking. On mine I ended up hanging the flanges over the edge of a length of 4 x 2 wood and tapping with a hammer to square them back up - difficult to explain but I hope you get the idea. Once all nice and flat and undistorted I stuck the cork gaskets (quite poor fitting) into the cam covers using tiger seal. I then left them over night weighted down on a flat surface. That was a good few years ago. They cam covers have been off several times since but I haven't touched the cork gaskets and they do not leak oil. I am careful not to overtighten the four screws holding the cam covers on. Also check that the rubber "half moons" are not sitting too proud and preventing the camcover from clamping down properly. The new ones I fitted need trimming with a "stanley" knife (other brands available ) to get the cam cover to sit flat.

Roger

[PJ60]

Thanks for the replies and advice. Before I started messing about with the gauze and flame traps the car was running OK, just the oil in the vee and a little bit of smoke on acceleration so the drastic deterioration is solely down to my meddling. I've bought a used RH cover and will clean out the gauze with carb cleaner or paraffin but won't touch the gauze cover. I'll check the flanges and ensure that the covers are flat and true and then stick the gaskets to the covers with evo stick or similar and remove the Rover flame traps. Once the car is back to standard I'll reassess the situation - I'll happily put up with the minor problems that I had before compared with what I've got now!
Jon

[tonypy1]

I think you've done exactly the right thing getting rid of the gunged up gauze however, I have done it by drilling through the spot welds and then welding the plate back in place. I would have thought the plate was important to act as sort of separator / baffle as without it the camshaft will throw oil straight up the breather pipe. I'll be putting mine back together next weekend with either a P6 or TR6 flame trap as I've read about other Stag owners doing this successfully before. I've opened up two rocker covers during my engine swap project the first one because it had been chromed and the gauze was completely blocked and the other standard rocker cover one wasn't in a great state either.

[DJT]

I believe someone on here successfully replaced the gauze with a scouring pad of some sort....

[Bob Heritage]

I believe someone on here successfully replaced the gauze with a scouring pad of some sort....

Stainless steel - Asda