Everything came out fine. This is all final installed and Locktited in.


The insert actually came off pretty easy with a heat gun. But if you look close, the heat yellowed it a bit. Must have some kind of coating. After I got it off and with everything still hotter than hell, the idea popped into my head to just rotate the insert and stick it back on while the glue was still sticky. Seems like it worked.

As for the backplate wanting to drift, just doesn't seem like an issue to me. Where is it going to go? At most, it can move like 1/16" either side to side or down. Probably wouldn't notice if it did, and even if it moves, what's the harm? I figure as long as the ear bolts are tight and it's not bouncing around, it's good.

Or maybe I'm redoing this in six months. Time will tell.

 

Glad it all stayed togethere.
With the external breather hose’s in you’ll get no mess even if it did move. And if it did by what you said. Even if it was more. Any air sucked in woold not really hurt.performance

 

The big difference between the S&S and the CV is that the S&S is securely bolted to the intake manifold and really doesn't need the backplate to hold it in place.

I was noodling on whether or not to install the supplied o-rings between the washers and the ears. On the one hand, a positive seal between the washers and the ears would prevent any possibility of air leaking in through the breather holes in the backplate. On the other hand, the available space between the ears and the washers is probably microscopic, and that joint is most likely fairly well sealed even without the o-rings. And if a tiny amount of air manages to find its way through that path, can't see how that would hurt anything. In the end, my natural laziness won out and I left the o-rings in the box.

The (case) breather on this was routed down under the frame by the prior owner, and my oil pump check valve must be in good shape. I've never had any sumping.

Here's the vid I put up a couple of days ago once I figured all this out:

 

O rings behind the backing plate would not be needed for a bottom breather. The S&S is pretty solidly mounted to the motor, thus my comments on letting the backing plate ride where it wants to. Trying to force it somewhere else would only put a lot of stress on things. If your carb floats, that is probably less important, but, from experience, an undue strain on the carb, putting it somewhere it doesn't really want to be, will lead to rubber seal problems. Or "more rubber seal problems," as the case may be.

 

My thinking was there will be could be some negative pressure on the other side of that ear port during the intake stroke, which could theoretically pull air through the unsealed ears. That's all picking fly **** out of the pepper, I think. Even if it does suck some air through that path, it doesn't matter.

 

Bravo Zulu on the video Omaha, Nice of you to share your knowledge and experiance with others.