Bugeye breather tube re-routed

If I could ask the previous owner this question, I would, but that's no longer possible.

The breather tube that comes from the rocker cover to the front air cleaner is no longer connected to the air cleaner. It's not just a matter of its havving been disconnected, but the tube (black hose) was lengthened considerably and run down the front of the engine block. I'm wondering why someone would modify it that way. Is there some advantage?

Shouldn't I shorten the tube and reconnect it to the air cleaner?

Also, as taking off the air cleaners from the Bugeye appears to be more complicated than taking them off a TR3 (just remove the bolts holdng the clearners, nothing else), can someone let me know what I need to do to remove them for cleaning andto replace them?

I feel pretty dumb about some of these questions, but the Bugeye is entirely new to me. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Lots of opinions on the entire engine "breathing" process. Some say, let it all breath (especially those with high-performance engines) and not worry about re-cycling anything.
Your situation is pretty common. You could connect it to the one air-cleaner... but note that many rocker-covers have NO breather pipe (like mine). You could also connect it to the oil separator tube (at the front of the engine). I'll let others weigh in on that.
In my own case, I have the oil separator (at the front of the engine) connected to a hose that comes up to the carbs and merely terminates with a breather/screen in that area. I used to have it feed into a PCV which was then connected to the intake manifold. However, I have pretty high oil pressure, and on occasion I'd have oil burp up to and beyond the PCV... and, man, if you dump even a small bit of oil directly to the intake manifold expect SERIOUS smoke for a few minutes. So, I've elected to just let that front of the engine breath. Many don't hook that oil separator to anything (and it breaths as-is, which should work given there is a screen inside of it).
You could connect the two of which you speak (as per your photo - edited after I saw the one below).
Personally, I don't think any of this will alter engine performance one way or another.

Mark,

Many thanks. I guess I'll just leave the breather tube disconnected from the air cleaner, especially since you say that you don't think any of this will alter engine performance one way or another. The car has been running fine as it is. The former owner had this car for many years and knew every bolt and screw in the car, so I have to assume he knew what he was doing. Again, many thanks for answering my very basic question. I came to know my TR3 very well, but the Bugeye is new to me, despite some basic similarities.

Here is a photo of my engine showing the disconnected breather hose.

LexTR3 said:

Mark,

Many thanks. I guess I'll just leave the breather tube disconnected from the air cleaner, especially since you say that you don't think any of this will alter enginer performance one way or another. The car has been running fine as it is. The former owner had this car for many years and knew every bolt and screw in the car, so I have to assume he knew what he was doing. Again, many thanks for answering my very basic question. I came to know my TR3 very well, but the Bugeye is new to me, despite some basic similarities.

Click to expand...

To paraphrase Duke Ellington: "if it runs good, it is good."

Your set-up looks fine to me.

Mark,

Yes, indeed. Also: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Or my take on this: "If it ain't broke, improve it.""

How about this--on my Nash Metropolitan--filters the outgoing contaminates, and it looks (to my mind) better than a hose hanging down--

Now that's an interesting idea!

Lex, those stock air filters filtered almost nothing and it would be my advise to replace them with better filter's. I ran them for a while but only after I oiled them. Lots of good aftermarket filters out there or just run the later stock filters...I think they fit???

Kurt.

The fitting on the valve cover is for in-taking filtered air from the air cleaner : behind the filter element and in front of the throat of the carb. Unless your filter's clogged, there should be little to no vacuum there. The gasses are drawn from the block through the hose that connects the oil separator through a gulp/PCV valve to either the carb or the manifold as a source for vacuum. If you have the separator hooked up normally (which it looks like you don't) and the valve cover fitting run down below the block, you could be pulling dirty air into the motor. If neither is connected, then your motor, which usually develops some positive internal pressure, the level based on condition, is just venting to atmosphere, which is OK depending on how you feel about emissions. Originally, a " draft tube" just ran down to a negative pressure area below the motor and drew the gasses from the block only while the car was moving. Depending on where your top vent hose terminates, you may have a similar situation and could possibly be drawing dirty air in through the separator.. What's the story with the oil separator ? If you had the top vent connected to the separator ( closed loop) , you'd have pressure inside the motor that would vent somewhere like the dipstick tube.

The early engines didn't have an "oil separator" per se. Just a draft tube. The valve cover vent should be hooked to the air cleaners to keep unnecessary dirt out of both but, as mentioned the pancake "gravel strainers" don't keep all that much dirt out anyway.

Kurt.

No PCV, or oil separators on these early engines. Connection between the valve cover and air cleaner is to both burn off oil vapors and along with the draught tube, create some negative pressure for the scroll seal. Leaving it open to atmosphere will allow oil vapors to circulate into the engine compartment and migrate into the cockpit as well. If you are going to leave the rubber hose, I would cap the pipe opening in the air cleaner to prevent unfiltered (such as it is) air from entering the carb.