Faithful listeners will recall that in the last episode I packed it in early
and put the red Spit on the trailer at the IVR race last weekend. This was
done as a result of drawing the conclusion that the rear main seal of the
1296 was leaking. Not something that could be easily fixed in a few minutes.
Well, after a few days of dealing with the flu, I managed to finally get to
the shop today and take a closer look. I feel a bit silly. I popped the
bonnet and started looking at the oil. It was in places that it shouldn't
be if it truly was just coming from the rear seal. Closer inspection revealed
the true source of leak. My rocker cover catch tank was to blame.
Before the event, I had planned on putting in a catch tank and routing the
block vent and rocker vent to it. I didn't get that finished. Saturday I ran
with the vents open, no big deal. Sunday morning I saw a few drops of oil here
and there, so decided a makeshift catch tank was in order. I rummaged around
and found a piece of 1/2" heater hose. Stuck one end on the rocker cover vent,
stuck the other end into an empty beer can, wedged the can behind the
battery and secured the hose. That worked fine for a few laps.
Basically what happened is that the pull tab on the can, which pushed against
the side of the hose to keep an air vent open, pushed too hard during running.
It dug into the hose, the hose expanded a bit, just enough to completely seal
off the only exit for the pressure from the valve cover. So the pressure must
have built up in the rocker cover enough to start pushing oil past the back
of the rocker cover gasket. The oil ran along the sides of the engine, dripped
off the bellhousing onto the ground. Except for left hand turns where it
was splashed onto the exhaust pipe. Instant blue cloud. What fun.
So, for the next IVR race in two weeks (May 19/20) there's a pretty good chance
the red car will have a properly vented catch tank installed before leaving
Salt Lake. Wonder how long the car and I will last for the 1 hour enduro?
mjb.
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