So relieving the pressure at the valve train by use of the generic crankcase breather systems as shown, should also (in theory) help to eliminate the oil leakage like my own current setup does then.

Not over worried about the other pro`s and con`s - just don`t want to reintroduce an oil leak now that it appears to have gone

Dave oil can seep through a joint slowly even when parked up and the pressure will have little effect on it but if you are blowing oil out of breathers, vents and seals in quantity the reducing the pressure could help.
start it up with your hand covering the oil filler hole to feel what pressure there is in the case, no oil should come out if the deflector plate under the stand is correctly fitted.

I don`t get any seepage when stood still, but before putting that pipe to the breather I would absolutely plaster the trailer in oil if I thrashed it down a motorway.

That little pipe has cured this 100% and now left me with a spotlessly clean trailer - engine is still knackered (no oil  ), but it was such a good and effective thing to do, that I want to make sure my next engine has all the help it can have from day one.

Like I said Dave, a worn out engine, working hard will push lot's of air out of the breathers with all those oil particles in it. As your new set up works well on your knackered engine, a similar system will work fine on a good engine. All that extra bling and expense isn't needed on a standard engine unless you want it of cause 

Rob

Thanks guys - that was some really good and detailed replies there 

The only thing I would add is that I managed to dump all the oil into one of my rocker covers until the yellow light came on, it then took ages to get back to the sump, almost 20 minutes later the oil was just starting to get back to the dipstick, once air started getting up the pushrod tubes as the level in there dropped it then flowed faster.  Alright, I shouldnt have gone round the roundabout that fast, in that gear (2nd Andre not the lycra number), and until the oil had fully warmed.
A deep sump stops the oil pickup running dry and the breather lets air into the covers easily allowing the oil to drain back better, at least that is what I have found.
Mind you the quality of these kits, as with a lot of the bolt on goodies, is questionable. I have swapped all of the joints for top quality ones from Pirtek.

re the foam filter in those boxes, there is a metal mesh at the top of the box with a thin piece of coarse foam on top and a mm or so gap around the lid edge, after a year or two the foam was very oily but still permeable to air, so it needs cleaning but is unlikely to block completely so I wouldnt dump it.  If another pipe was run from this to the air filter as someone suggested then the box would have to be airtight or it would simply suck air from the box, through the filter to the carb rather than suck from the crankcase.

One more thing to add, many aftermarket pulleys dont have the spiral but rely on a seal so there is no pressuring from that route, but just expansion and contraction of both liquid and metal, plus the turbulence in there, would still need a route to atmosphere to prevent pressure, +ve or -ve building up.

For me Rob is absolutely right, on a stock VW engine driven as VWs were meant to be, relatively sedately, they work perfectly well without any additional pipes or boxes.  Start adding shiny bits, tweaking them and driving them hard round roundabouts and you just introduce problems, in my case a breather box helped solve one so I am a fan.

All the best
Dave

Some worthy additions there - especially the spiral on the aftermarket pulleys - thats one to watch out for indeed.

If another pipe was run from this to the air filter as someone suggested then the box would have to be airtight or it would simply suck air from the box, through the filter to the carb rather than suck from the crankcase.

Ah .  No . . . I was thinking of the addition of a slight amount of negative pressure to the box and not a Vaccuum, as that could bring a whole host of other issues

Dave, I reckon applying any intentional negative pressure to the box would just suck air into the box through the filter rather than up the pipes. Trying to reason out what is happening in the three pipes with the engine belting away plus all the centrifugal forces of cornering, acceleration and braking is making my brain hurt

Surely the passage of airflow would be less restricted from an open pipe entering the fiter box than through the substrate of the filter material ?

That way, as the carbs require more air, the pressure in the air box becomes heavily negative, this "assists" the flow from the oil pipe, but does not cause a heavy suction - and the remaining air requirements are drawn through the filter as normal.

The resultant effect is that instead of the air from the crankcase being "pumped" out to an ambient pressure, they are instead being gently "drawn" out, and the result is that a slight negative pressure here seems to prevent the oil from leaking out of every orifice when at full tilt.

This all could be absolute rubbish of course, but its just that connectng that little oil filler breather pipe to my air filter had such a dramatic effect, I`d like to understand why.

And yes, makes my head hurt too.

Please lock me out of this thread, enough 

Please lock me out of this thread, enough 

Just remember, if you fit them, just make sure the connections to the rockers are good.........
Cos if not, and this happens..............



And one ain't connected, added to a high mica content in ground.........
You'll end up with purdy shiney coloured engine oil....... ......if you're lucky.......

Needless to say.....GBH does not have them fitted anymore......but they sure did look pretty when they were!

the way to stop oil loss into the rockers on cornering is

A) front tyres that do not grip thus relieving the G force on  tight turns
B) push rod tubes with longer bottom sections so the oil stays in the crankcase.
C) drive sedately

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Please lock me out of this thread, enough 

Look its quite simple.... if you just follow this easy formula:



Its all just about sucking and blowing and stuff squirting out of places it shouldn't (Oil) 

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Well, Im sorry Keith, but C) is not an option on this forum! I mean wash your mouth out!!!!!