Triumph Repair: Oil leaking from dip stick, pace setter header, crankcase pressure

Question
QUESTION: I have recently installed a pace setter header and weber DGV upgrade car is running great. But seems like oil keep leaking out of the dip stick tube. I have also removed all the emmission stuff and there is no EGR valve in the header. Do you know what the problem might be.

ANSWER: Hi Bill,
Oil seeping out of the dip stick is usually excess crankcase pressure. When you increase performance you also increase blow-by of the rings which increases crankcase pressure. Any increase in performance should include crankcase venting.
You should first do a "Wet" and a "Dry" compression test to be sure the rings are OK. If the tests show good then work on the venting. (I assume you didn't over fill the oil or change to a low viscosity oil)
If you are not familiar with a wet and dry test, You first test one cylinder (throttle wide open and turn the engine over at least 4 or 5 revolutions) Then put about a tablespoon of oil in the plug hole and make another test right away. The wet test will be higher than the dry but it should not be more than about 10 to 15% higher. If the wet test shows much higher than the dry you have a ring leakage problem and venting may or may not help.
Let me know,
Howard

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello Howard, I did the compression test dry and wet, dry each cylinder was 140 psi, wet 160psi. I think my rings are OK. So next step is crankcase venting. Do you have any suggestions or are there kits out there I can buy that you could recommend?
Thanks
Bill Sinclair

Answer
Your ordinal crankcase vent system used a purge system via the carb. but with the Weber you don't have a purge system now and even venting to the outside seems not to be enough. Some aftermarket competition valve covers have a large vent with a small filter but they are sometimes expensive. If it were mine, I would just purchase one of those filter vents available from any rod shop or someone like Speedway or one of the other mailorder rod parts stores. You would need to cut and weld in a place in the valve cover to accept it but that would be an inexpensive way and that is how many racers do it anyway.
Another method would be to run the valve cover vent into the inner part of the air filter to get a purge system back. This method might take a little work as you may put too much vacuum in the crankcase if the filter is too restrictive and cause a lot of oil burning or not enough and still get the pressure leak at the dip stick.
I hope this helps.
Howard