Benjamin Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 Dear all, I have just bought a fully built Westfield kit with a 135 bhp ford x-flow tuned by Kepston motorsport. Can anyone help me as I do not know much about the set up and running of the car. The problem is my oil catch tank overflows after 40 miles of hard driving. Both the crankcase & rocker cover breather pipes go directly to a small catch tank. Is this normal as the person I bought the car from says its OK? Thank you in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studbuckle Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 The setup is normal. The filling of the catch tank is probably due to having too much oil in. I had this problem when I first bought my Westy. Check to see if you have a modified sump (flattened), the dip stick might not have been modified to suit. If you dont notice a drop off in oil pressure after it's dumped the oil in the catch tank then I suspect this is the cause. If it's not that then it could be that the 'pill box' on the crank case breather has been removed and if they haven't fitted a fuel pump splash guard it could be throwing oil straight off the fuel pump drive gear (assuming it now hasn't got a mechanical fuel pump) Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adhawkins Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 Oh, and Benjamin... Do join the club...it's worth every penny. Go to the club home page and click on 'Membership' on the left. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 This is NOT normal and is NOT a result of having too much oil in the engine. It is amost definitely a result of the block breather pipe not being plumbed into the top of the rocker cover, at its front. There should only be one breather pipe from the engine, that being from the rocker box, preferably at it's rear. It is also a good idea to have the catch tank as high as possible and to keep the flame trap box on the block breather to help baffle the oil flow. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studbuckle Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 Sorry John, I have to disagree. The method of plumbing both the rocker and block breather into the same catch tank has been used by many people with great sucess. This is how I had both my x-flows and they worked fine with no oil, only vapour residue in the catch tank once the correct oil level was established Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 Why are you sorry that you have to disagree? IMHO, messing with oil quantities in a engine that is going to be thrashed is a recipe for disaster. Surely, if there's a way to keep it in the engine, it is for the better. Low oil levels in engines when a car is driven hard round bends (which lets face it, will happen in a Westfield ) will result in surges in oil pressure and ultimately oil starved bearings. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stupot Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 I had a similar problem when I first bought mine. My oil level was at the correct level but I still got lots of oil collecting in the tank so I changed the plumbing and all that collects in the catch tank now is water vapour. I removed the metal box thats bolted to the side of the block and replaced it with a block breather connector from Burtons. I also fabricated a baffle which I bolted to the blanking plate where the mechanical fuel pump used to be. I then ran a pipe from the block breather connecter to a union at the top of the rocker cover at the back. I also bought a oil filler cap with side breather pipe. I connected a pipe from this to the catch tank and then ran a pipe from the catch tank to the atmosphere under the car. hope this helps Stuart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DickieB Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 I agree with John. Block breathes in to rocker cover. Rocker cover breathes (from rear) to catch tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nlash Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 I agree also... block to rocker cover then another pipe from rocker (rear) to catch tank. This is how my x-flow is plumbed and all I get after say a 100 mile run is a drop of oil with a little emulsion thro water vapour. Its gonna take a horrendous amount of overfilling of oil to have it coming out of the breather due to the high position on the block. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted September 8, 2003 Author Share Posted September 8, 2003 Hi, The engine has a Burtons Westfield sump (baffled). Is this a shallower than normal sump? Can I run the pipe from the crankcase breather into the rocker cover breather hole and then run a rocker cover breather from a modified filler cap to the catch tank? Also is it OK to cut an oval hole in the side of the fibreglass bonnet to increase air flow by the filters? The engine does not run properly when the car is standing still and the engine is hot. I am also a bit worried about how hot the bonnet gets above the manifold. Should I worry about it or try wrapping the manifold pipes or try to increas air circulation with vents in the top? I will have to join the club as this kind of advice in invaluble to someone like me. Thank you all for your help. I am going to have to trawl through past posts for ideas. Kind Regards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adhawkins Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 And of course you can always go along to a club meet and see if anyone else has a similar setup so you can discuss options... Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu999 Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 Yep, John is definately right. I bought my Westfield with an apparently knackered engine, displaying the symptoms you have above. I replumbed the crankcase breather into the rocker cover, and then another pipe from the cover into a catch tank-problem solved. What is happening is when you accelerate hard the oil is thrwon to the back of the block, exactly where the crankcase breather is situated. Obviously the crankcase is still 'trying to breathe', and in so doing blows the oil into your catch tank. Replumbing this pipe into the rocker cover feeds the oil back into the engine. Can I run the pipe from the crankcase breather into the rocker cover breather hole and then run a rocker cover breather from a modified filler cap to the catch tank? Possibly, but you may be struggling for room. As long as there is two separate pipes into/out of the roker cover, it should work. HTH Stu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrustyjust Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 If you run an open breather with the 'Burtons type' plug into the the block,the oil will be splashed directly up the breather pipe and will fill the catch tank in no time at all.This is caused by the crankshaft oil spraying from the journals and without a form of baffle going up the breather. I changed to an electric fuel pump and fitted a blanking plate with a small diffuser plate welded onto it to stop this.Then run the breather over the rocker cover to allow any oil to drain back into the sump.Then it can go into the breather tank.I had a 155bhp X-flow with this and a normal mesh breather rocker cap from Ford and it took over 1500 miles before I looked to empty about 100ml of oil as before I was lucky to get 70 miles. Nothing more than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nlash Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 The engine does not run properly when the car is standing still and the engine is hot. When was the last time the car had a good tune? X-flows are notoriously poor on tick over if the ignition timing/carbs are not set correctly. Also, if there is a wildish cam fitted then it will run a little rough at low rpm. Best thing to do is either find out if it has had a RR tune recently, if there is no history of a tune then it will be wise and money well spent to have one done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studbuckle Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 Why are you sorry that you have to disagree? OK, i'm not I think the point here is that there is more than one way to plumb a x-flow and the setup that is described in the original post does work. We've since found out that it has a Burtons Baffled sump and this could be the reason for an incorrect dipstick reading. I went along to a local meet and after leaving a trail of oil on the car park (pre catch tank) I had all this explained to me. IF the sump is modified and the dipstick reads wrong then this can cause a problem IF the fuel bump blanking plate has been replaced with one without a baffle AND the pill box on the crankcase breather has been removed then this will also cause a problem. All of this can be tried and fixed easily without a re-plumb that will actually mask the other problems rather than fixing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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