yoeddynz

Cool- cheers for answers fellas. If anyone else has experience or scientific calculations etc etc and reasons for and against vacuum please do tell. What I do know is that yesterday at work i removed the one way valve off the manifold and plugged it with a bolt. I vented the filler tube to atmosphere. When I drove home the car was smoother low down and didn't bog like it sometimes does when I try to pull away in too high a gear. I thought about it last night and realised that if the vent hole on the centre plate is indeed just venting the sump (which morkster has confirmed it does) I then had a vacuum leak. The old setup was pulling air all the way through the sump via that unplugged open centre plate vent. I reconnected the vent pipe from my filler back to the manifold today as I was paranoid that not having any vacuum on the sump would create a mini havoc situation... And now the car is back to the old bogging down really low. As soon as there is boost then the oneway valve closes and the vacuum leak is gone. I will draw a little diagram later of the setup I plan on building (cause I like doing that) and post it up. I like the idea of using the exhaust as a vacuum source. Would need a one way valve that is all metal construction.

Oh - and I think my one way valve is just that. A simple one way valve. It's not a variable opening PVC valve.. Which according to wiki.... "The PCV valve connects the crankcase to the intake manifold. The valve is simple, but actually performs a complicated control function. An internal restrictor (generally a cone or ball) is held in "normal" (engine off, zero vacuum) position with a light spring, exposing the full size of the PCV opening to the intake manifold. With the engine running, the tapered end of the cone is drawn towards the opening in the PCV valve by manifold vacuum, restricting the opening proportionate to the level of engine vacuum vs. spring tension. At idle, the intake manifold vacuum is near maximum. It is at this time the least amount of blow by is actually occurring, so the PCV valve provides the largest amount of (but not complete) restriction. As engine load increases, vacuum on the valve decreases proportionally and blow by increases proportionally. With a lower level of vacuum, the spring returns the cone to the "open" position to allow more air flow. At full throttle, vacuum is much reduced, down to between 1.5 and 3" Hg. At this point the PCV valve is nearly useless, and most combustion gases escape via the "breather tube" where they are then drawn in to the engine's intake manifold anyway." Anyway- I would rather completely by pass the induction side of the engine and keep the crankcase venting its own separate system.

I had asked this question last night on a ausrotary but wanted to see what other people are doing here on Oldschool. I think it's more relevant to boosted cars this. And not just rotaries - although I think rotaries produce less blow by, unless the oil control rings are kanckered. Question was.. is there any reason why could I not just vent my crankcase to atmosphere? I realise that it will be a total lose setup with oil being lost to the underside of my car. Is it strictly necessary to involve vacuum? I presume you can't just run a baffled catch can with a filtered vent but no vacuum because it would then fill with volatile fumes which could be a hazard? My current setup just involves a hose leaving the vent halfway up the filler tube being sucked into the inlet manifold after the turbo. The manifold has a one way valve. There is also a small hole in the centre plate facing backwards about where the big Mazda writing is on the rear housing. This is open to atmosphere and hence after hard driving or long trips I have to clean the area under the oil filter of oily mess. This I want to stop... Is that vent hole on the centre plate just venting the same circuit as the filler vent (basically the sump) or is it linked to some other area like the air gap around e shaft? Can I just block that hole and just use the one vent on the filler tube? I would rather not be burning oil into the manifold and would like to stop the above mess so I was going to install a simple catch can that once in a while I would just empty back into sump. Bad idea?? Plus I like the idea that by keeping the sump venting and oil vapours separate to the inlet side of the engine I completely rule out any worries of vacuum leaks and oil burning upsetting my wideband readouts and general tuning of the carb etc. The user Bumpstart on ausrotary replied insisting that I need vacuum!! My reply was.. Ok so I need the vacuum. But why? If blow by from the turbo forcing more past the oil control rings etc is pressurising the sump then surely just an open vent to atmosphere will stop the sump pressurising? The reason I figure the vacuum is needed is to 'pull' the unburnt petrol fumes out from the sump and other voids. If these were left then over time they will mix with the sump oil and generally degrade it, plus being a potential volatile hazard? My problem with my current system is that the vent pipe is drawn through a one way valve, into the manifold after the turbo. This works fine at low revs under a light load when the manifold is a vacuum. But when the turbo is boosting, and producing the most crankcase pressure, the manifold is under pressure- so shutting the one way valve which means that sump pressure can go no where. But if I route the vent into the system pre turbo then I will be burning all those fumes- and oil. So some sort of oil catch can setup, with decent baffles to really help the oil drop out is needed. Then create a vacuum on this tank. Rather than just suck the fumes into my induction I would like to create the vacuum some other way. Maybe a Venturi within a pipe but that will only work when the car is moving eh. Hmmmm? Ideas.

Does the shed have a kettle and or stove top? Just trying to work out what we should bring for cooking. I think we'll just bring all our camping gear. Will has dropped off his camping stuff at my work so he is now free to zoom along merrily on his 50cc speed machine come sat morning. We'll be meeting him in Blenheim for his coffee break Billy- Do you reckon you can make it down for the day?

Snookling. Does this involve balls? Yep I'm still buzzing about this weekend coming. What's the idea for the nights grub. We all bring along our own choice of meats and just whack it all on then try each others meat. Fuck that sounds dodgy. Hopefully some crays too.

And you would miss out going over the whangamoas.

Yep I'd be doing whatever to get a house with a 5 car shed. This will mean you'll have to buy more cars of course. Hopefully you can make it for the day at least. Go in convoy with us? Will- you can always meet up with us in Blenheim sat morning for a coffee break eh? We will have to stay in touch. Then you join convoy from Blenheim too.

I think billy used up all his 'get out of jail' tokens when he went to the nats. I'll text him though. I was hoping Sam might make it too but same again - no tokens left? Im hoping to get dave the Irish avenger along. He now has 5 avengers but none are on the road. So offered him a seat but will depend on if he is free.

No worries will. Hannah and I will be heading to Blenheim Friday night but you can always pop stuff around to my work when you finish work (that's like 3pm then eh- you easy life school teachers.....) As long as you turn up Felixx it doesn't matter what in. You still keen on diving for crays?

I have been tinkering with the viva. Looking forwards to the drive down. I love the coast road and have yet to do it in the viva!

Cheers chris. Hopefully we might see you at Kaikoura? The running gear was pretty old looking. I'm not sure on condition of engine but it was a much older falcon engine with a tiny carb and a auto box. Funny enough another CF snapped an axle one sunday night about 2 months ago. The fella was towed down to work and and the others swapped the old axle that was off the project CF, sitting about doing nothing, onto his. worked out nicely. And a while back a Hillman super minx was being recominshined for the road and it had an auto box that was stuffed. Again the old CF parts came to the rescue and the CF box donated some of its innards.

Yeah Louie- please pm me the details. And best send them to willdat too so he doesn't get lost on his little motor bike. He'll be well deserving of a beer when he gets there that's for sure. I say we wheel clamp Felixx's Anglia once he is there. Released on Sunday morning.

Yeah it's cool to get paid to work on old cars in this way. First time for me after over ten years as a push bike mechanic. I'd love to be doing more cars and engine conversions in the future. Borg- the bus in the back ground is a 1940s fixable clipper. It's had a whole tonne of work done here including adding doors, righthand drive conversion and is in the final stages of some rust removal to keep the vtnz boys happy. The vauxhall- I'm not sure what year it is and other details. He's a regular customer so I'll ask. Lots of vintage/veteran cars combining in and out including many owned by Trevor who works here as a coach builder. Today hannah and I got a drive in his mates 1914 rover that Trevor has just rebuilt the bottom end on. That was cool. Total different outlook on life when putting along in that eh. Very comfy seats too.

Tell wifey that she can't work Sunday as you already have it booked! Niece will have another birthday- its happens roughly once a year.

I think he wants seats in the back for his boys. Stressed seats with seatbelts attached so they can be easily unbolted and taken out to convert van into workhorse or to sleep in while camping. The main thing is to first get it on the road and all safe and legal then work out what to do with the inside. I'd love to kit it out in a really nice funky style using heaps of sweet timber and stainless steel. I don't know why exactly but its just what i picture when i think of ideas. ....or wall to wall fluffy carpet, island bed and with a big side window in the style of a 70's day van.

Ooooooohhhhh yes you are. There is no reason why you shouldn't- its a long way to go in a anglia or any car then turn around and head home and miss out on a good BBQ and banter with chums.

Discussion here.... For quite a while now I have been meaning to start a thread for the Bedford CF project I am doing as at work as a contractor. Its been quite an interesting and fun job so far and when finished the owner is going to have one very unique van. The customer has been given this van to him by his dad. His dad has owned it since new and the customer used to get taken to school in it when little. It holds quite strong memories for him and he wants to get it back on the road and built to last so he can hand it on to his kids when they grow up. It had been converted to running a older Falcon engine on lpg and auto box many years back. He drove it like that and really didn't like it. My boss has done many different conversions over the years using the later falcon running gear so it was decided to go down this route. The idea is that it will be future proof, better handling, better brakes with Abs, modern equipment icluding air conditioning, faster and easier coping with towing boats etc. Plus it will be a bloody cool talking point and a one off van. Starting off I stripped the donor car that was bought as a complete runner with some rear accident damage- it cost $1000 which for all he is getting from it is cheap as. Everything and anything that would be or could be used in the conversion was removed by me and I labeled all the wires where needed etc as the whole loom is to go into the CF. The air conditioning is to hopefully go in too and the dash complete is going in so after a lot of stripping I ended up with one very empty Falcon shell. The plasma cutter got lots of use. Whats scary is how much rust I found hidden away on the Falcon! The guys at work said the rust is very common on all the Falcons they have stripped for these conversions. Not impressed with that.. The Bedford was sent to the sand blasters and came back much cleaner underneath. This made things a heck of a lot easier. I finished stripping the rest of the van out. It does have a fair few rust issues but luckily the chassis and underneath is still very solid. And I was happy to discover no rust when I took out the windscreen- always a bonus.. The engine was sat in a corner while I continued on with carefully chopping the whole front end out of the Falcon. Then after loads of measuring I chopped out the Bedford floor and slowly whittled both van and Falcon until I could lower the van over the Falcon till they became one. Forklift came in handy. Loads more measuring took place. I wanted to get it as straight as possible and most importantly get the castor angle set up as close as possible to the falcon specs. This took time but once set and tacked in place I could start joining them together. Don Hoff, the certifier, came along and had a look around this point and was happy. I could continue. Some pretty hefty sheet steel and many awkward shapes, folds, bends later and it started to look more factory. All the time through out the work I have been having to think many steps ahead. There were loads of things that would be made much easier later on with a little forethought at this stage. Overall though it was really, still is, just a case of piece it together- making it up as I go along. Luckily the other fellas at work have built some pretty awesome machines. They often pop over and point things out that could be done easier or more effectively etc. Here is a grand example of one very intelligent fella- the painter.. The Falcon dash had to be fitted quite early on so I could get an idea of where things would fit in. Much deeper than the CF dash, it had to be chopped down quite a bit while still keeping the main steel structure inside it so I could mount it. I extended the main bar out width ways and made brackets so it can be bolted in place. This is essential as the dash needs to come in and out quite often. The steering has been a head scratcher! The new seating position and dash layout gives a more carlike position compared to the older CF truck position. The Falcon steering column points forwards to the bumper whereas the steering rack is behind the crossmember. These I had to link..but how? I came up with the idea (quite proud of this..) of using two right angle steering boxes from a Mitsi L300 van. The little units that take the column and sent it back to the rack. I got a heap bits needed from a wrecker and pieced them together, eyeing things up and then making mounts. One box at the front taking the feed from the column and sending it back along the chassis rail to the next box which then sends it down to the rack. I was worried that there would be slack in the system, what with 2 boxes and 6 universal joints but was pleasantly surprised that there is none! It works a bloody treat. Plus the steering column still has the full range of adjustment - up/down and in/out. Happy with that. The universals and shafts that required welding have been welded by a ticketed welder and will be sent away for crack testing. Luckily the customer is the same height as me at 6' 2” so I need to set up the lot comfortable for me and he is happy. He has been popping in often to check progress and loves it. I chopped the seat base down 3” and the position is really good. The Falcon brake servo and master fit in neatly where the old CF one was. They line up well with the CF pedal box. The brake pedal only needs be moved 100mm back to suit the new dash position. I have mounted the Falcon rear axle. Luckily the Falcon was not an IRS model. The axle sts in well and the track is pretty close but the stock (ugly) Falcon wheels have sod all offset and tuck in too far front and rear. But thats cool as he wants different wheels. Plenty of choice with the new stud pattern too. The wheels are also about 15mm smaller in diameter but again thats cool as the van needs taller profile tyres for the expected gravel roads and general abuse expected. The Falcon front struts were going to come up too high into the foot wells so coilovers are now being used. This is good though as I can fine tune the height later on. Luckily there was a set of Spax coilovers on a 1940's hearse that is currently getting the same Falcon engine conversion along with loads of body work. I pinched the coilovers and built towers to suit them allowing for future adjustment of the top pivot position in the future- just in case. These, along with the whole build so far, have been overbuilt so its all nice and solid. I have now almost finished building a new floor on the drivers side and started on the first of many many rust repairs to be undertaken. Loads of work yet and it'll certainly keep me out of trouble for a while yet. Its gonna be so cool firing this van up for the first time- looking forwards to that and the first drive! I'll add more photos as I take them and if I can get some off the work computer I'll add them in.

Age for me. I am definitely getting terrible with dates as I age. And names. Have you Chch lads decided what time you'll head off ?

It's an age thing..

Hmmmmmm. I wonder if other turbo companies will head this way? I must check my feed line ASAP (not now..it's cold outside and sitting in front of fire place is nicer than being under bonnet) My car uses more oil when town driving ie start stop, waiting at intersections. It's not blowing blue smoke but if the pressure is to high then it is most likely getting a little past the seals at idle. Plus if so then that may be one reason, on top of the over rich idle setting, that my wideband sees rich mixture? Would extra oil getting burned raise the reading?

Nah I was just curious as he had not mentioned anything about what condition they are in etc. good value I reckon for the whole lot. Go for it I say. Good thing is you can get every thing you need from uk and with strong dollar makes that easy. Plus you know the engine fits in easily. Great engines too. Sadly they don't fit into hb vivas easily.

Come along- meet up with others for convoy. Always good on Oldschool convoys for if shit happens there are always mates to help. I vote Bart comes along with wifey in tow. If she goes into labour then we can all help with the birth. Ill bring large pipe wrench as i have seen them used on medical programs eh. Would make epic thread..

I'll have a look and see if any restrictors. Cheers

Yep and my turbo is a garrett ai research. Not sure what else my model was used on. But quite old.

You'll be fine but just make sure you take many warm clothes. Remember we can take what ever gear you don't want to carry in the viva. We will be driving to blenheim on Friday night though so we can go for a run sat morning on wither hills. You're welcome to ride over to Blenheim Friday night and stay at my olds if you want to split the trip in two. But I'm guessing you want to do the trip as a whole in full day light? I would... Edit: Will is no stranger to driving big distances as he told us a while back he used to drive from Nelson to queenstown for a shag? Or something. Maybe work. But a shag sounds better.