Hi All,

I'm pulling bits off the engine to give it a bit of a tart up.

I've got to the oil seperator box ((?) rubber pipe from box to carb breather system) on the off side rear and it's a pig! I've undone the bolt but it still wont shift very far.

has anyone else discovered a succesful technique to removing these, or has anyone got a spare for when I get annoyed with it tommorrow and destroy it!!

Cheers,

kelvin

IIRC its a push fit into the crank case with an O-ring seal; mine was also rather tight but with a bit of gentle persuasion and some WD40 it came free.

O/T I am well pleased with the wheels.

Eric

Hi Eric,

Cheers for that.

I'll give a squirt before I gove it the hammer then!!

Glad the wheels are okay

Cheers,

kelvin

rotate mainbody outwards as far as posible then pursuade gently out. Recommend new 'O' ring when refiting.


Enjoy.

Can somebody give me some more info on the oil seperator, briefly how it works and what the point of it is?

My engine is running but I haven't connected that pipe up anywhere yet, where should it go?

quote:

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((?) rubber pipe from box to carb breather system)

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Part of crank case ventilation system.

Think this way & you will understand. Your engine sucks air in through the carbs and out through the exhaust. Each piston sucks & blows. EACH PISTON has TWO faces, A TOP AND A BOTTOM. What happens up top also happens to a lesser degree below, plus ring blow by. Therefore the bottom of the engine needs to 'breath' usually in through the top (oil filler cap) & out through the bottom ( crank case breather). the breather is not only a trap to collect oil droplets and allow drainage back to the sump, but also to direct through manifold vaccuum, oil vapours to be burnt through recirculation.

The trouble is that, you can't vent to the inlet manifold on a multi carb set up like twin 40's because the cylinder will draw from the crank case rather than the carb. So your choices are fit an inlet filter box and vent to that, or Fit a oil collector bottle some where on the bulkhead with a little air filter ( a small plastic inline fuel filter would do).

I hope this answers your queery.



Enjoy.

This is how I plumbed mine up......
The pipe from the oil separator was fed into the rocker cover. Another pipe was attached from the rocker cover into a catch tank. Do not be tempted to feed the oil separator straight to the catch tank, as under hard acceleration, oil is forced to the back of the block, up the breather, and into the catch tank, which will be full in no time! It may mean welding one or even two pipes to the rocker cover, but IMO worth the effort. Xflows are a bit notorious for lack of oil retention anyway, so anything you can do to improve the situation has got to be good.

or if you are going that route,---- ford fitted a filler breather cap to a fiesta I believe with two or three pipe connectors on it. Just buy one of those & blank of the pipes not required. JD Change from a fiver no welding.


Enjoy.



[Edited on 21/1/03 by jollygreengiant]

quote:

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The pipe from the oil separator was fed into the rocker cover. Another pipe was attached from the rocker cover into a catch tank.

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There's no way the Fiesta cap will fit under a Locost bonnet, it's huge. The method described by Stu is the way to go. I did it the other way first (crank and rocker box to tank) but like he said it threw out too much. The second way is the way to go, seperator (or alloy adaptor) to rocker cover and rocker cover to tank. You'll still get some oil in the catch tank but nowhere near as much. I think there may be some pics on my website.
http://www.christopher.gibbons.btinternet.co.uk/Aug022.jpg

[Edited on 22/1/03 by locodude]

I'll definately go that route. Is there any reason why the pipe goes into the cover near the front of the engine and comes out near the back? Or is this just how that ally cover comes?

Chris, please can you explain your water fill up unit you have fitted. Looks like the top pipe goes into the head and the bottom hole goes to the water pump? At the moment, I have a pipe fitted between the head & water pump. Is this where I should fit the filler bottle? will this be suffice to keep my level up? looks like a good idea!


thanks
darren

P.S sorry Kelvin for Hijacking your post

Chris, what is that black box next to your battery where the oil overflow pipes go? This can't be the overflow tank or could it?

Ah, the 'black box' as used in Aircrafts, to record your last motions

thanks
darren

[Edited on 23/1/03 by darren(SA)]

[Edited on 23/1/03 by darren(SA)]

Hi darren
The ally cover has a point on the back to accept a tapped hole. The pipe at the front was just a convenient space.
As for the header tank, it is basically there just to provide a convenient point for filling etc as it is the highest point in the system. Strictly speaking it's not a header tank system as the bottle doesn't have a pipe to the bottom hose to the rad but takes the place of the heater in the circuit. The return from the tank goes to the water pump. I have to say that it works a treat though. Sat in traffic in france last year in 90deg heat and no bother whatsoever.
As for the 'black box', yes it's the oil catch tank, guess what it's made of. Plastic of course!

quote:

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As for the header tank, it is basically there just to provide a convenient point for filling etc as it is the highest point in the system.

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The filler cap from the ford V6 has a single outlet pipe from it and is nice and low. Available at Halfrauds.

---john---

Hi Guys, i am going the same route as stu & ptm re crankcase breather. what i need to know is should i remove the non return valve from the pipe coming from the seperator to rocker box, as it is no longer under vacuum? cheers davef.

Hmmm, I'm confused, I assume the connection from the crank case you're talking about is the one just above the fuel pump, however on my engine this is sealed off with a cap. Any ideas what's going on? In case you didn't already know, my engine is from an XR2 Mk1.

Kingr

Davef, yes I removed it as it is really an anti-backfire valve, which is only needed if it plumbed into it's original destination i.e the inlet manifold.
Kingr, the XR2 system probably does all it's breathing from the rocker cover/filler cap, due to it's original transverse installation. I would look at getting a breather back in there, as with older designed engines, every little helps...

HTH Stu.

My 1600 crossflow had been adapted to use in a FWD car and the breather hole was blanked off, however the filler cap was a mk4 escort one and has three pipes coming out of it and is very tall. this was connected to the inlet manifold.
I got an orignal breather box and fitted but have found that if i suck on the pipe it is completly unrestricted from the crankcase, therefore if conected i would have no manifold vacuum.I think i am going to use a catch tank and connect through the rocker cover as discused.
Now i need to find a nice alloy tank of 1 to 2 litres cappacity that is not to expensive, any ideas?or do i use a plastic rad header type tank.
Paul.

quote:

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Originally posted by kingr
Hmmm, I'm confused, I assume the connection from the crank case you're talking about is the one just above the fuel pump, however on my engine this is sealed off with a cap. Any ideas what's going on? In case you didn't already know, my engine is from an XR2 Mk1.

Kingr

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If planning to do track days/competition with your car check if a minimum size is required but a cycling water bottle from Halfrauds makes a nice ali catch tank.

HTh Stu.