Triumph Repair: 74 Spitfire catch bottle, quart size paint, crankcase pressure

Question

 

Jim,  You recently gave me some advice for installing a catch bottle on my '74 Spitfire.  I have done this using a quart size paint can with two copper fittings soldered into the lid of the can.  Piped it per your nice diagram with a PCV valve between the catch bottle and the carb. [A very neat installation].
Now I am getting too much crankcase pressure causing an oil leak from around the distributor near the clamp ring.
I am wondering if I need a small vent to atmosphere with a tee between the catch bottle and the PCV valve?
Or, can you suggest anything else?
Thanks again, Tom[Old and slow in Texas]


This does capture all the blowby, but now I have too much crankcase pressure and am getting oil out from around the distributor shaft near the clamp ring.
I am wondering if I ne


ed a small vent to atmosphere with a tee between the catch
bottle and PCV valve?  Or can you suggest anything else?

Answer
Tom,

If you're getting that much blowby then it's a sign that something is quite worn in the engine, either rings or valve guides or both.

You can try a vent to atmosphere and see if that helps for now... but I'd also suggest doing a compression test on the engine (wet and dry) to figure out what's failing. I'd be interesting to hook a vacuum gauge into the catch bottle to see how much pressure you're really building.

Are you a member of any of the Texas Triumph clubs?  If so, maybe one of the local members can give your car a look over.


Cheers,

Jim