About to start body restoration on 86

[gbeaird]

84's had the a nipple sticking out. if it's got the bigger hole, it's likely a merkur, if I remember right, or the later t-bird.

no reason you can't use it, you just need the larger breather... looks like this...

Eric, the cover currently on the car takes that breather. The one I have on the bench has a much smaller hole back there, like 1/4" or 3/8". I think the script on it says 'Ford Fuel Injection Turbo', or something like that. I, of course, failed to get a picture.

[SVOeric]

OHHH, I misunderstood then.. you need the stock 86 oil separator then. it has the tiny sized connection on it.
it looks identical to the other one, but the just has 2 small connectors on it, both are nearly the same size as the barb.

now, couple options... drill out the hole in the valve cover, put the rubber grommet in it, and use it. -- this may actually be the best solution, because I can confirm the stock 86 style LEAKS

you could weld a barb on the cover (the way the 84's were) and mount the oil separator farther down stream

or find one of the 86 style separators .

[gbeaird]

Hmm, we have an 86. I thought it had the 86-style separater!!

[SVOeric]

have a 85.5 and 2 86's all 3 have the 'tiny' inlet -- will get you a pic --
did a quick internet search, and couldn't find the small one, only the bigger one --the one you have,

I have a 88TC motor sitting here, and it has the larger inlet.

[SVOeric]

went and grabbed a pic..

This one is from the 85.5 -- it was easiest to pull because it has a relocated throttle-body.

[svono50]

I can confirm that is the same size I have on my 86, always leaked and would occasionally get blown out when drag racing or once on track(!!). The fit on mine has always been somewhat loose. I always wondered why the separator's nipple didn't push down into a rubber bushing. I crafted up a thin gasket to sit between the cover and housing along with a hold-down wire to keep downward pressure on the separator, no leaks or ejections since.

[gbeaird]

Now that IS weird!! Our 86 clearly has the 'big' hole in the back. Since pictures are worth billions of words, I finally got out in the shop with the crappy cell phone. Here they are:

OEM valve cover on the car. Assuming it's OEM, since the car was abused but pretty much unmodded other than the radio, when we bought it:



And here is the pretty shiny one I have in a box:



I've had the head off once for a new head gasket, but that's it.

[SVOeric]

yeah, the one ON the engine is NOT STOCK .. the one you have to put on-- is totally stock

[gbeaird]

Wow! I never knew the POs even got under the hood. So what does the breather connection look like on the stock 86 valve cover? Thanks.

[SVOeric]

go back 4 posts

https://www.svoca.com/forum/showthread.php?15519-About-to-start-body-restoration-on-86&p=277306&viewfull=1#post277306

https://www.svoca.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=47105&d=1587565153

[gbeaird]

go back 4 posts

https://www.svoca.com/forum/showthread.php?15519-About-to-start-body-restoration-on-86&p=277306&viewfull=1#post277306

https://www.svoca.com/forum/attachme...5&d=1587565153

Okay, got it. Saw the oil separator 'can' and figured that was for the 'big' hole. Going to have to weigh my options here. Argh!

[gbeaird]

Searched my stash of SVO parts. Turns out I have 4 breather cans.... all of them for the 'big' hole! While I was working through all that, I figured I'd pull and clean the valve cover I had. After cleaning, the thing looks pretty nasty. so I got the can of Aircraft paint stripper and hosed it down. A dent is about all I could do to the black paint on the cover. I'm guessing this thing is enamel coated. So I may be back in search of a breather can for the other valve cover, and try to find someone who can media blast what I have.

Guess I'll have to post up in the parts wanted thread.

[SVOeric]

Might be simpler to see about powder-coating the existing one.

[svono50]

Gene, I too tried to take the factory black wrinkle coat off my valve cover many years ago and found the same thing with the Marine grade Zip-Strip...didn't touch it! I will almost bet it is a high-temp silicone based powder coating that is all but impervious to heat and chemical attack. The Zip-Strip did, however, clean up the surface really nice. From there I used a block sander and worked the exposed aluminum features to a nice fresh surface and then hand polished them with some Rolite. So far it has held up great with minimal maintenance, so I would almost advise against removing the factory black coat, as long as it looks pretty good and concentrate on just cleaning up the exposed ribs/features. Along with that, I would consider opening up the stock cover for the larger grommet opening and using one of your existing separators, as I feel they are a 'better' solution.

[gbeaird]

Gene, I too tried to take the factory black wrinkle coat off my valve cover many years ago and found the same thing with the Marine grade Zip-Strip...didn't touch it! I will almost bet it is a high-temp silicone based powder coating that is all but impervious to heat and chemical attack. The Zip-Strip did, however, clean up the surface really nice. From there I used a block sander and worked the exposed aluminum features to a nice fresh surface and then hand polished them with some Rolite. So far it has held up great with minimal maintenance, so I would almost advise against removing the factory black coat, as long as it looks pretty good and concentrate on just cleaning up the exposed ribs/features. Along with that, I would consider opening up the stock cover for the larger grommet opening and using one of your existing separators, as I feel they are a 'better' solution.

Ted, Eric,

Thanks for the notes. I didn't think of opening up the hole on the other cover! The baffle is held on with a couple of screws from the inside, so that might be a viable alternative. The current cover is pretty banged up. Plus, the Zip-Strip did some work, but not enough. I could probably try media blasting it, but am starting to run low on the media. Plus, that's a lot of territory to uncover.