| Remove the two metal tubes pressed into the driver's exhaust valve cover. Thread them with a 3/8" NPT tap. Drill out the small rivets that hold the baffle plate in place and remove the baffle. Clean it thoroughly. Install a threaded plug into the two ports you tapped. Use a little red RTV on the threads. Remove the PCV valves from the plenum. Clean the threads with brake parts cleaner. Plug them with 1/4"NPT plugs, again using a little red RTV on the threads. On the intake valve covers, at the front, remove the metal pipe on each. *Done.* The PCV system is an emission control device that is intended to direct crankcase gases/oil mist into the engine's intake to be burned off through combustion. Back in the old days vehicles used a draft tube that ventilated the crankcase and dumped the products onto the road. The govt. mandated the PCV system to eliminate this pollution. Engines these days are significantly more refined than in the old days when PCV systems came into law. Those old engines would wear faster (poorer materials than today's) and produce a lot more crankcase emissions. They were also larger engines with more cylinders and were slugging around much heavier cars, thus increasing crankcase emissions. Today's engines, the materials they are made of, the improvement in lubricants, the reduction in displacement and cylinder count, the reduction in vehicle weight, and the electronic fuel injection and ignition systems have made a big difference in crankcase emissions. Our engines are very well engineered and when properly built and operated they will produce very little crankcase emissions. The OE PCV system in our engines is actually very poorly designed though. Under fluctuating throttle condition during extended heavy right hand turns, oil will pool in the driver's exhaust valve cover and get sucked into the PCV hoses and into the intake manifold through the PCV valves. In some cases it is so extreme that you will have zero visibility out of your rear view mirrors for a moment which slowly diminishes... and it can take a good bit of time for it to stop smoking completely. People install catch cans to accumulate this oil before it enters the PCV valves and makes it way into the intake manifold but that's almost futile if you intend on running the car for any length of time on a roadcourse - it will fill up quickly and result in the same problem. ADditionally, when oil is present in combustion, it detonates. You do not want oil entering the combustion chamber, especially in a high performance engine that is operating in full load conditions. Another aspect of our PCV system is the tubes running from the front of the intake valve covers down to the turbo inlet pipes. This side of the PCV system exists to provide a means to scavenge crankcase emissions while the system is in a boosted condition. When in boost, the PCV valves shut and the suction within the accordion turbo feed hoses will act to draw the emissions into the turbo inlet. Most problematic is the oil mist - it coats the compressor wheel, compressor housing, charge pipes, intercoolers, throttlebodies, intake manifold, and into the cylinders. Biggest issue here is the intercoolers - that thin film of oil isn't a great thermal conductor and it will reduce the efficiency of the ICs. It is also the reason you have to clean your throttlebodies every so often, and also the reason why it is always wet inside the plenum when you look into the balance tube holes. By plugging up the driver's exhaust valve cover ports and removing the PCV valves you have eliminated half of the system that dumps oil into the intake manifold. By leaving the ports on the front of the intake valve covers open and not routing that to the turbo inlet pipes, you have eliminated the other half of the system. So what ventilates the crankcase? Nothing. It is simply an open crankcase and the gases exit through the front of the intake valve covers. At idle there is very very little blowby that occurs. The engine is only producing enough power to overcome its internal friction and hold a steady idle RPM. There is virtually zero blowby. Under deceleration the engine is typically at higher RPM and the manifold is in a high vacuum state, fuel delivery is cut and the cylinders are producing zero power. Because of the high vacuum in the intake manifold and within the cylinders, the crankcase gases are actually drawn into the cylinders resulting in a slight reversion of crankcase gas flow, but this is also virtually zero. Under hard acceleration where the majority of blowby occurs, the acceleration forces the oil in the intake valve covers to the rear and away from the ports at the front so you'll never be blowing oil out of those ports. EVen on a dyno where the car isn't experiencing acceleration, there is still no oil puking out of the ports because it is baffled. In fact, even if you put your hands at the opening of these ports, you will feel very little blowby. There will be a very small accumulation of oil film on the parts surrounding these ports over time but nothing more than just a simple wipe up at each oil change. Do not try to leave the metal pipes on the intake valve covers in place and install small breather filters onto the end of them. The small bit of oil mist will accumulate in the filters and choke them off and it will typically result in blowing the dipstick out from time to time. There's no need for the filters - just leave the ports open and you'll be just fine. Remove the PCV system -you'll be much better off and it isn't hard to do.
Enthusiasts soon understand each other. --W. Irving.
Are you an enthusiast? If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the
tailor.
Albert Einstein
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