I noticed on my flathead v8 on my 48, after driving, smoke comes up out of the area where you pour your oil when changing oil . Why is that? I do have a bad exhaust valve that needs to be replaced. Does that have something to do with it???


Thanks guys

 

i was told by an auto wrecker that white smoke coming out of your oil fill rod is a sign of your motor going soon. he would have been talking about newer motors but i would tend to think that the same principle would apply to an older motor. otherwise i have no idea.

 

A small amount is normal. How much are you talking about?

 

it seem like a small amount, almost like steam and it wasn't white smoke.

 

That's real normal. Flatheads were notorious for poor crankcase ventilation, the 8BA's (like yours) were an improvement in that regard. It comes out of the filler cap when the engine isn't running or when the truck isn't moving (i.e., no draft). A PCV retrofit is a big improvement on these, helps keep the valve chest free of varnish, provides some measure of top-end lubrication, and it's good for the environment too. They are simple to retrofit, see below. It uses the vacuum connection on the manifold for the wipers, and the PCV valve plugs into the draft tube opening. Cost about $10 and takes a half hour to install.

 

A great idea and one that I haven`t heard of before ALBUQ F-1.

 

Here are the parts I used:
"Help!" grommet #42052 (Pep Boys, Checker/Schuch's, and AutoZone sell these, it is for some GM car)

Fram PCV # FV294 (for a 3.8L GM 6-cyl, I believe)

Small piece of shim material, about 18 ga. (I used copper) to make the grommet fit real tight in the draft tube hole)

piece of fuel-rated hose

AN fitting with elbow and hose barb to fit the vacuum port. Sorry, I forget the size but I think it's 1/2" which is AN-8 (?)

 

Great idea! Ole Henry would be proud! American ingenuity at it's finest!

 

Then why didn't he do it himself??

 

Because air pollution wasn't an issue back then and no resources were devoted to it. Or at least no one thought it was.

My sense is if Ole Henry could have made a buck off of it and had thought of it , pollution control would have been standard fare.

So, anyone got a problem with breathing cleaner air?

 

I'll admit that the primary reason I installed the system was because Flatheads don't vent moisture out very well, and the valve chest area gets pretty gummy even with modern oils. But watching one of these old engines spew oil vapors, unburned hydrocarbons, and gas vapors into the air is a vivid reminder of how it really was "back in the day". I remember in the 60's even, sitting at a stoplight it was "normal" for at least one car to be smoking visibly (burning oil) and the whole intersection would smell like gas. No one thought much about it. I'm amazed every time I walk into my garage how much it smells like gas.

By the way, if you do this retrofit, I'd consider opening up the actual drilled ports in the manifold (they are about 1/16", one in each throttle bore), to about 3/32". They are not sized for PCV service. But this requires taking the manifold off to make sure no chips fall in.