Zetec Breather
AntonUK - 9/9/14 at 09:34 PM
Have been reviewing the engine bay and noticed the breather appears to be huge (and heavy) on the side of my silvertop zetec.
I toyed with the idea of making a blanking plate with hose connector, but then spotted this...
http://www.kitspares.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=596
Is the breather really needed then? Has anyone got any experience of removing/modding this area.
19sac65 - 10/9/14 at 03:26 AM
I think most people remove it
Zetecs dont breath as heavy as older pintos and xflows etc so the breather off the cam cover
will suffice as long as the engines healthy
I used a core plug - a couple of quid off ebay
Nice tidy job and makes the engine much less cluttered
Then a pipe off the cam cover to a catch tank,then out to atmosphere
Alfa145 - 10/9/14 at 07:32 AM
If it's not needed, why did Uncle Henry spend possibly millions in designing it and making it and fitting it?
Not sure about the silvertop but on the blacktop it's not that heavy at all. I left mine in place and just piped it to vent to atmosphere.
I also guess as we will drive these cars harder than they were in the original cars you might get more breathing?
Also, I guess whoever is selling you the blanking plate, might also be able to sell you a new Zetec for when yours goes pop.
But saying that, some do run with it blanked and not had a problem yet.
whitestu - 10/9/14 at 07:35 AM
Mine vents into the air filter backplate but there's no sign of anything much coming out.
Stu
Paul Turner - 10/9/14 at 08:04 AM
On my Blacktop I use the small block breather off the early silvertops. It is piped to a plastic bottle that the cam cover breather and gearbox
breather also use. Never any oil in it.
Don't just let it breath to the atmosphere, any oil on the road can be lethal to motorcycles. Its also not a good idea to breath into the airbox.
It can puddle in their plus oil vapour will reduce the effective octane of fuel and can cause detonation.
Alfa145 - 10/9/14 at 08:14 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Paul Turner
Don't just let it breath to the atmosphere, any oil on the road can be lethal to motorcycles.
On the standard blacktop the thing attached to the side of the engine is an oil separator, so no need for any catch tank as if any oil was there it
would just drain back into the sump.
Paul Turner - 10/9/14 at 09:54 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Alfa145
On the standard blacktop the thing attached to the side of the engine is an oil separator, so no need for any catch tank as if any oil was there it
would just drain back into the sump.
Its designed to work like that with the OEM system fitted and a valve in the box but the valve should be removed when you don't have the OEM kit
fitted.
But there is no oil separator from the cam cover.
For the sake of a bottle that costs pennies and is the correct way to do it why risk it.
19sac65 - 10/9/14 at 10:14 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Alfa145
If it's not needed, why did Uncle Henry spend possibly millions in designing it and making it and fitting it?
Possibly due to emissions
If ide known it cost that much i wouldnt have binned it - they must be worth a fortune 
jeffw - 10/9/14 at 10:21 AM
I certainly wouldn't blank it off....leave the stock system in place if at all possible.
AntonUK - 10/9/14 at 07:34 PM
Thanks all. I think I'm going to make a blanking plate with a 12mm pipe welded in. Then feed it (and the cam cover) to a catch tank.