1976 280Z Restoration Project

[Consigli]

2 hours ago, grannyknot said:

How about it Mark, do you think you can work Courtney Hansen into some of your photos?

That's a great idea! I can only think of two things that's keeping Mark from being a legitimate cable show of his own!

[wheee!]

I should set up my Go Fund Me page....

[Jeff G 78]

Be VERY careful with that valve cover.  I once tried to blast a cover without taking the proper precautions and media got under the baffle.  There is no way to get it all out until the engine flushes it out and into the oiling system.

[wheee!]

It is going to get thoroughly cleaned. I will be removing the baffle for cleaning as well.  I plan to tap the back of the valve cover and relocate the oil breather to a catch can on the firewall. 

[Jeff G 78]

Sounds good.  I tried to flush mine with everything I could think of and then I removed the baffle to see if there was anything caught.  There was grit everywhere!  Luckily, it was just a spare cover I was experimenting on, so I threw it away. If you are putting the baffle back in, just make sure you use an epoxy that won't come apart over time from the heat and oil.

[wheee!]

Pics of the new rails. 

very nice!

[wheee!]

Be VERY careful with that valve cover.  I once tried to blast a cover without taking the proper precautions and media got under the baffle.  There is no way to get it all out until the engine flushes it out and into the oiling system.

Disassembled the valve cover and true enough, the baffle was hiding a ton of crap. Emptied her out then brought it all to work and ran it through this bad boy!

More work (welding, grinding, polishing) on the valve cover to come.

[wheee!]

Some pretty ugly welding by yours truly...

[Zed Head]

Smooth and sleek.  You could probably fill any divots with solder (lead) if you're planning to coat it.  More durable than body filler, I'd guess.

It may be in the 26 pages somewhere, but are you planning for carbs or just disabling the PCV system?  Just curious about why you want a catch-can instead.

[wheee!]

Cleaning up the top of the engine so the Pallnet rail looks clean on the polished intake. Plug wires routed in front and oil breather to a catch can to keep the intake clean.

[Zed Head]

If you don't block the PCV under the intake manifold you'll have suction through the catch can back to the intake manifold, a vacuum leak.  If you seal the catch can, it will be a dead zone with no real function.  Not picking, just exercising my technical brain.  The Emissions chapter shows the various flow paths from the crankcase of the PCV system.  Actually fun to study.  You could just bend a hose along the edge of the intake manifold and retain the factory functions, but with a cleaner look.

Most people use catch-cans on race engines that produce lots of crankcase pressure, to catch oil mist before venting.  

[wheee!]

The catch can will run a small filter for venting. Same function as adding a filter to the top of the valve cover except no oil mist on the valve cover. The PCV will still go to the bottom of the intake. I will review the FSM before final implementation...

I still need to tap a location for the valve cover vent.

 

 

Or the PCV can go to the catch can too and the clean air pumped back to the intake...

Edited March 1, 2016 by wheee!