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Question About BB Valve Cover Baffles

PurpleBeeper

PurpleBeeper

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My current motor is sucking oil through the motor somehow (70 440 w/stock valve covers & baffles removed). I don't believe it's the rings, but it could be the guides/seals, intake, or valve covers. I will be working on checking the intake fit as soon as some "wax rope" shows up.

Anyway, this motor has iron heads & Isky ductile iron adjustable rocker arms. When I first put the motor together (years ago), the rocker arms were hitting the valve cover baffles, so I removed them.

I've heard that without these baffles you can suck oil into the motor through the PCV valve. I've considered building a small "catch can" for the PCV hose or maybe some different valve covers? What do you guys know about this PCV/sucking oil issue?

I don't have a lot of cash, especially since I'm building a 2nd motor. I also see aftermarket valve covers being pricey, even used ones. I did buy a set of used "truck" valve covers for my newer engine which are supposed to be taller, but at a glance the baffles don't look any higher up(?). Anybody know anything about those valve covers?
 
i'd say sucking thru the pcv. baffles are important when running a pcv.
 
Can't say for sure that's what the problem is but absolutely it is possible, that's why the baffles were there in the first place. Catch cans don't cost that much and that would tell you how much would have gone into the intake. I think you will be surprised at how much oil actually is going in. As for valve covers, the MP cast covers are a little higher and do have baffles. Cant say for sure they would be tall enough though
 
those summit chrome covers aren't bad. I use a set on one of my engines. they're a little taller than stock and are heavier gauge metal. you can run two breathers or a pcv and breather. used to be $35 a pair.
 
Have you considered something such as this..........
upload_2018-3-9_17-44-25.png
 
lewtot184 said:
those summit chrome covers aren't bad. I use a set on one of my engines. they're a little taller than stock and are heavier gauge metal. you can run two breathers or a pcv and breather. used to be $35 a pair.
Click to expand...

Might look at those if they're anywhere near $35.... even double would be OK. I think the rockers were hitting the baffles only maybe 1/8"-1/4"....more than I could clearance with a hammer on my first try, so I cut them out on the 2nd try.
 
WileERobby said:
Intake bolts sealed ?
Click to expand...

Maybe not...they were tight, but I know this motor has an intake/head alignment issue which I should be checking soon. I plan to use the Hughes Engine method (suggest on this site or maybe on moparts) where you shim up the intake with 4 precision washers & squeeze some wax rope between the intake/heads and measure the clearance....sort of like jumbo plastigauge. At the very least the intake will get re-sealed....always had trouble sealing it to the heads.
 
I use a 'baffled grommet' on my pcv...They're cheap enough so I bought an assortment of sizes in order to get one that fit and functioned best. Bought them from summit...it's basically a grommet that has a cylindrical body with tiny slits that let air flow to the pcv but keep oil from splashing onto the underside of the valve. Check 'em out
20180314_211407.jpg
 
PurpleBeeper said:
Maybe not...they were tight, but I know this motor has an intake/head alignment issue which I should be checking soon. I plan to use the Hughes Engine method (suggest on this site or maybe on moparts) where you shim up the intake with 4 precision washers & squeeze some wax rope between the intake/heads and measure the clearance....sort of like jumbo plastigauge. At the very least the intake will get re-sealed....always had trouble sealing it to the heads.
Click to expand...
it's easy to measure the compressed embossing on the intake gasket to check for sealing issues. I do think the feeler gauge method is easier and accurate.
 
PurpleBeeper said:
Uhhh....no. What the heck is that? Please tell me what it's all about. Is that for an evac system or something???? I would like to know.
Click to expand...
Looks to me like it's just a raised PCV in twist style cap. The bottom is not perforated as a normal breather. Use it with the standard breather on the opposite cover. Not sure as I never tried one, but it may eliminate the need for an oil baffle in the valve cover and/or a second hole in one.
 
Daves69 said:
Looks to me like it's just a raised PCV in twist style cap. The bottom is not perforated as a normal breather. Use it with the standard breather on the opposite cover. Not sure as I never tried one, but it may eliminate the need for an oil baffle in the valve cover and/or a second hole in one.
Click to expand...
I think u know the answer to ur question. I have used all the suggestions on here. U could close up the hole, and relocate the new hole to where it doesn`t sit over a rocker arm too. Making it look good would be the bad part.
 
IIRC the pcv hole in a stock valve cover is 15/16". those push in grommet/baffles are 1 1/4".
 
Let's see what I'm coming up with...
1. Bean's slit-grommets would work with Lew's el-cheapo Summit valve covers (now like $53).
2. I have stock-style 70 valve covers now....have to check which side has the oil filler cap & PCV, but if they're on the same side, I could run Dave's $20 twist in PCV in the oil filler cap hole & block off the existing PCV hole with some type of 15/16" fully plugged grommet & the twist-PCV double as my oil filler cap. If the oil filler cap and PCV are on opposite sides, I don't think it would work.
3. Charger's oil separator idea ain't bad.... just tap it into the existing PCV hose and I do live near a Harbor Freight. Cheap and at the very least I could actually see how much oil is getting sucked through the PCV.
4. I had considered another options (probably the worst of all of these) is to tack weld a very small piece of sheet metal up under the PCV as a "mini-baffle", but I don't know exactly how much clearance I need OR if the PCV sticks down in the hole too far for this idea to work. How would I even measure that? Any ideas?

I think I might first try Charger's idea first (cheap/easy/good test) when I pull the intake to check for intake/head angles and sealing + see if my pan rails are interfering with the intake bolting all the way down. I have to re-set the valve lash, set timing & change plugs anyway too so maybe I can figure out something else on the rocker clearance while I'm in there. How do I measure how much rocker clearance I need? I will check the valve cover arrangement too since I like Dave's PCV/cap thing too....looks clean.
 
Possibly the tunable PCV valve from M/E Wagner? I run one to stop oil from blowing out the breather...IOW my old non-Mopar PCV valve wasn't sucking enough. For your application you'd "turn it down". I like mine so much I'm getting one for the 421 in the Tri-Power GTO.
http://mewagner.com/?p=444
Here's a review! I'm sure this PCV valve could have saved hundreds of people thousands of dollars on engine rebuilds they did NOT need!
http://www.powerperformancenews.com/tech-articles/an-adjustable-pcv-valve-for-the-street/
 
biomedtechguy said:
Possibly the tunable PCV valve from M/E Wagner? I run one to stop oil from blowing out the breather...IOW my old non-Mopar PCV valve wasn't sucking enough. For your application you'd "turn it down". I like mine so much I'm getting one for the 421 in the Tri-Power GTO.
http://mewagner.com/?p=444
Here's a review! I'm sure this PCV valve could have saved hundreds of people thousands of dollars on engine rebuilds they did NOT need!
http://www.powerperformancenews.com/tech-articles/an-adjustable-pcv-valve-for-the-street/
Click to expand...
I have stock valve covers on the 440, do you know how I can adapt this to fit my valve cover? The stock hole in the cover is 15/16 (I think) and the hole in the grommet for the pcv valve is 7/16. So I'm trying to figure out how to use this thing since it is made for a 3/4 grommet. I thought about the inline adapter but that's 3/8 on both ends so it still won't fit the stock grommet
 
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