I figure someone somewhere might be helped by this tip, so I'll post it.

I've been on the road two years now in gel coat, having a blast putting miles on the car and trying out dozens of tuning tweaks on the Sniper using the Holley software. Not everyone's thing, but a ton of learning and rewards for me.

One thing's been nagging at me, though. Quite often when turning right while doing some fairly spirited driving, I could catch a definite whiff - although very brief - of burning oil. Not any other time. But I couldn't find any problem spots on the engine inspecting under the hood and under the car. I even started to doubt my nose, and checked for any sign of scrubbed tires or interference points from the left front wheel well or suspension. All clear.

In doing a thorough winter cleaning this year under the car, it seemed like there might just be a bit more dirt / smudge on the driver's side of the frame under the engine, and it got me thinking. I set my engine up to take the old style push-on oil cap, using a Scott Drake fill tube adapter on the DS valve cover. It doubles as a breather filter, with a filter element built into the cap.

This style of breather filter doesn't have a baffle built into it, and in doing some reading, turns out the inside of the cap can get hit by splashing oil coming up through the tube adapter (open 1" diameter tube), and some of that can make its way into the breather filter incorporated into the outer portion of the cap. There were signs that the filter element had gotten oil soaked (but no oil dripped on the valve cover). I'm almost certain that oil accumulates in the filter element in the oil cap, and then drips off the filter and is periodically flung directly onto the header in a right turn. There'll be doubters (including me) until I verify the problem is gone, but that's what I'm going with.

I didn't want to take the valve cover off to put a baffle under the tube, and after some searching around I found Moroso 68775, a breather baffle made to fit the 1-1/4" value cover hole. Turns out it also fits the Scott Drake part perfectly. After some gentle persuasion the baffle actually goes over the spring steel in the oil cap, and is now a permanent oil baffle on my oil cap. The cap goes on a bit more firmly than it did before, but works perfectly fine now and should keep the oil out of the breather element.


Untitled by John Ibele, on Flickr


Untitled by John Ibele, on Flickr


Untitled by John Ibele, on Flickr


Untitled by John Ibele, on Flickr