Crankcase Vent Improvements

July 25, 2017

The vent for the crankcase was pretty shabby (not sure how else to describe it in one word). The hose was cracked and not very flexible. The mounting of the hose at the flame arrester was poorly done, and didn't really get it that close to the flame arrester. Also, the grommet in the valve cover wasn't sealed, nor the hose fitting that goes in the grommet.

I've been thinking about how to improve this and bought a little nylon hose fitting the other day as a start. Today I got started on the fabrication.

I had to make the hole in the flange piece larger. (If I was using this angle that already had holes in it.) I couldn't drill it, so I worked it bigger with a Dremel tool and rat tail file. The file actually worked best. You can see the bracket that goes over the top of the flame arrester in the background.

Here's the mocked up unit. Set this up to measure where to cut the top bracket in order to weld the flange on. The welding will be a little challenging. Not sure if I use oxy acetylene torch or the old Weld'n Power welder. It sure would be nice to have a wire feed welder (could use it to do the rust repair on my truck is I had one).

I love doing this stuff, at least when it works out, and so far this has gone well. It took about 45 minutes to get this basic design and moc up done.

The next step is to weld things together. But I wasn't sure if I could weld it with the arc welder or if I'd have to use the torch. So were were the progression of test welds and then the production weld.

The first weld with the arc welder. Way to hot, even though it was on the lowest current setting.	The next weld with the welder running about half speed to reduce the frequency and hence the power. Still way too hot!
The first weld with the torch. It looks good, but broke as soon as I tried to pick it up. I missed the joint and had little penetration.	The next weld with the torch. Getting better! It held together. I did another test weld that I don't have a photo of.
The welded bracket. There was more to do. Another piece and grinding and cleaning.
Here's the finished bracket, before painting.

I also pulled out the grommet for the crankcase vent fitting and cleaned the valve cover. I also cleaned the grommet. I plan to put it back with a little RTV sealant so that things are sealed up well.

August 8, 2017

I got the new carburetor installed with the new crankcase vent rig. Looks good and runs good.