John: If you are getting a lot of oil drip from your crankcase breather it may be in part because the drain back tube in the base is plugged. It's hard to see even with the canister cover off, but you maybe able to clear it with a flexible wire. Or you could remove the whole unit & clean it out.

Paul

Ok so i did some investigating on the breather.  I have a feeling someone hit something at some point, because the bottom was all bent and with the cover off, it was really loose.  After wiping it down, I noticed someone had made an attempt at soldering the bottom and probably multiple other attempts with silicone to stop the leak.  The shop manual doesn't say jack about how this comes apart.  I assume it's supposed to be snug in there, but i'd like to take it completely off an make sure that passage into the block is clean was recommended.  Any suggestions, or link to some instructions would be great.  Thanks for the continued help! - John 

John: Lake Forest, IL



'57 Fairlane 500 - Looking better every day.

The single bolt in the cap takes off the cover and filter. Under the filter are two large screws. Remove those and the whole unit comes right off. If you find an early VW bug fuel pump blockoff it will cover the whole and bolt up. They were eliminated on later Y's anyway. Chuck

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

I picked up some Billet Specialties finned, oval breathers.  One is PCV the other is Just a breather.  They're billet, but they look pretty nice.  They're prettier than the K&N filters I was using.  I'll get some pictures in a few days.  They seem to work well.  I've been out on a drive and the dipstick hasn't been pushed out due to crankcase pressure.

Does it matter which valve cover the PCV breather is in?  I want to put it on the passenger-side because the driver side is somewhat cluttered with the fuel line and vac advance hose.  My firebird has the PCV valve in the driver-side valve cover with the intake on the passengersside valve cover so I'm wondering if there is any reason they do it that way.

Lawrenceville, GA

Hi Charlie,  Just wanted to say that you've got a sweet looking setup with those modified valve covers.  Looking forward to seeing them with the Billet Specialties breathers.  It shouldn't matter which side you put the PCV breather in.  On my T-Bird I tapped into the back of a 1/2" carb spacer, and the PCV is in the back of the valley pan.  Have fun, Nick Brann

Rule of thumb is for the PCV valve pathway to the engine to be as far away from the vented breather as possible.  This allows for a longer air path through the engine and potentially allows for more moisture and/or vapor to be picked up and reburned.  On the Y where the breather is at the front, the factory PCV location was installed in valley cover at the rear.  In those instances, the factory put a baffle on the lower side of the valley cover to force a longer path for the air.  If putting the breather in a valve cover, then the other valve cover would be the logical choice for the PCV  hose but nothing says that the PCV still couldn't be put in the valley cover in this particular instance.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Ted brought a good point about the moisture/vapor being brought out of the block. Most fellas seem to think they have an oil leak on their crankcase breather (side of block), when in all actuality, it is just condensation leaking down from the cannister. There may be some oil that tries to mix in with the condensation, but you can pretty much tell that it is mostly water when you place a piece of paper or cardboard underneath of it.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Well, I went ahead and put the PCV Valve on the passenger-side.  It sounds like it should be fine.

To add to the technical aspect of this thread:

I had to remove the baffled breather grommets.  It seems they severely restricted the ability of the breathers to breath.  The dipstick would get pushed out of the tube about 1/2".  After replacing the baffled grommets with regular grommets this was not an issue.  It also seems like I chose a very good location for the breathers.  Oil does not seep out of the breathers at all, without baffles installed.  Any of the three locations between each pair of rocker arms will probably work just as well as there is nothing immediately below it to sling oil.

Lawrenceville, GA

Charlie.  Looks Great!  Definitely show car truck material.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

like it!

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