He shore do write purty. Though there's a lot more violence in a
crankcase than his email suggests, and the oil goes everywhere--it's
amazing that there's enough in the sump to feed the oil pump. In a
modern race engine and even converted motorcycle engine used in race
cars (which relates to my recent experience with a Radical) there's
so much oil/air mixing that any breather has to have a good swirl
tank to separate the oil or you'll transfer it to the catch tank very
efficiently. With the radical I was filling the one-quart catch tank
each 20 minute race. I cut open the original swirl tank and added a
spiral inner separator and reduced that to an ounce or so. With a
swirl tank the separated oil drains back to the oil tank (dry sump).
I always tossed away anything that wound up in the catch tank as a
matter of course because it was likley to get contaminated while I
was getting it out of the tank (used a sucker). Blowby contamination
of oil used in a race car is not very likely--its not around that
long and it's generally a synthetic or part syn so it's less
susceptible.
On Dec 8, 2006, at 7:24 AM, BillDentin@aol.com wrote:
> Amici:
>
> Bob Wismer and I have three Tornado cars (a Typhoon, a Thunder
> Bolt, and a
> Talisman). Over in England there is a club called the Fairthorpe
> Sports Car
> Club that serves the vintage and historic English specials like
> Ashley, EB,
> Fairthorpe, Falcon, Turner, Rochdale, and Tornado. Bill
> Woodhouse, the surviving
> founder of Tornado Cars, serves as a Vice President, and like our
> own Kas
> Kastner, is always near by with wise counsel. There are other
> names on the board
> that ring a bell, like Bennett, Cooper and Turner. The club members
> respectfully refer to Bill Woodhouse as 'Father William'. Makes me
> wonder if we
> should be calling Kas, "Father Kas'.
>
> Bill Dentinger
>
> PS...Below is a copy of an email sent yesterday by Bill Woodhouse
> to Richard
> Disbrow, the Falcon Registrar.
>
> <<< Dear Richard,
>
> Reading your always interesting pieces in the "Newsletter" I will add
> my pennyworth to your current "Discourse" in the hope of adding
> something of value.
>
> Crankcase pressure builds up as a result of combustion gases escaping
> passed the piston rings. These gases don't improve the quality of the
> oil so, if they can be quickly vented away, so much the better. As
> some of the crankcase gases will be forced up the pushrod tubes, some
> pressure will build up in the rocker cover, which is why this also
> should to be vented.
>
> In the past these gases were ducted away, inevitably carrying some oil
> vapour with them. That you now have a catcher tank presumably is a
> current regulation to try and eliminate any oil film forming on the
> track during extended racing and no doubt is a good idea.
>
> However to expect that the rocker cover bleed into the tank will feed
> back into the crankcase will, I suggest, not work for the reasons
> explained.
>
> I would suggest that both the bigger pipe from the crankcase and the
> smaller from the rocker cover both be fed into the catcher tank. The
> volatiles will vent through the perforated cover and, barring broken
> piston rings or burnt and holed piston tops at the end of the meeting
> there will only be a small residue of carbon contaminated and
> generally
> degraded oil in the tank, best disposed off and not returned to the
> sump.
>
> Does "Father William" make sense? >>>
>
>
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