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Why is everyone so afraid of a little oil vapor getting burned up in the combustion chambers to the point of spending time and money to vent it to the atmosphere or catch it in a bottle? If your engine is running right then the amount of vapor than vents is minimal. I did this mod a few years ago to make sure all oil vapor made its way into the carb throat, didn't collect in the air cleaner cover and didn't drip on top of the cam cover.
I get no oil smoke out of the pipes and my spark plugs are burning nice and clean.
Problem with mine is the mounting plate is too thick for the bolts they supply. I could tap the side like it was suggested above. I might just cut it off completely and buy the kit. Or look at other air breathers with different mounting
The bolts that who supply?
Measure the bolts that are in your breather now. How long is the bolts from the bottom of the head of the bolt to the tip (threaded end)?
Are you wanting breather bolts with the nipple on the end, similar to stock breather bolts like below? Or something different?
Something different. I could probably use the stock bolts like what you show but the kit has its own sleeve that goes over the threads with a hose mount on it. The button head bolts with my breather and the ones in the kit are too short to add that part to them because my mounting plate is too thick
Yep, to use a banjo fitting your bolts will have to be longer than what came with the breather, to accommodate the banjo fitting in there too.
You could look for breather bolts, the right size/threads for the heads, that are also the right length to use with the banjo fittings you want to use. Just be sure the hole in the side of the bolt, under the head of the bolt, lines up with the groove in the banjo fitting you're using.
One other thing, check the where the banjo fitting will set (when installed on the breather bolt) on the breather's back plate. Is there a "recessed area" that the head of the breather bolt sets down into, and if so, will the hose barb on the banjo fitting clear it and tighten down flush? From what I've been able to google, it looks like it has a slight recess on the Arlan Ness one, so it may not be an issue.
If you're looking at DK's kits, call them their custom service is great, and be sure their breather bolts will work with your breather setup.
The site says the plate cant be any thicker than 1/4. Im think of just cutting the stem off the plate and trying that. I have an old plate that Ill use to test it out. If not then Ill just get a different breather. Maybe from DK
Yeah, I don't know how you would go about that, without throwing off the part that bolts around the throttle body. Take the bottom of the "stems" off, they won't reach because the back plate is hitting the throttle body before the "stems" hit the heads. Take it off the tops of the stems??? I don't know.
Thats why it was easier to do the drill and tap method like MyFavRK mentioned lol
I changed my Extreme Chiseled breather to the one I have now and it was even easier to do this mod. While I like the Chiseled's look, its to thick and hit my leg.... so when looking for a new breather I definitely had this mod in mind.
The plate bolts to the throttle body. The bolts in the head is only for breathing back into the filter. Im bypassing that so cutting them off the backing plate wouldnt matter if i use the pieces from the DK kit. Or I can just tap them, which is what Ill probably do anyway. Lol
Last edited by kloccwork419; Apr 19, 2021 at 12:39 PM.
Why is everyone so afraid of a little oil vapor getting burned up in the combustion chambers to the point of spending time and money to vent it to the atmosphere or catch it in a bottle? If your engine is running right then the amount of vapor than vents is minimal. I did this mod a few years ago to make sure all oil vapor made its way into the carb throat, didn't collect in the air cleaner cover and didn't drip on top of the cam cover.
I get no oil smoke out of the pipes and my spark plugs are burning nice and clean.
Your spark plugs may be clean, and there is no oil out the exhaust, but have you seen the tops of your pistons lately? I would bet you have so much build up on the tops of the pistons you have actually changed the compression.
Last edited by Ghostduck; Apr 30, 2021 at 08:47 PM.
Over the winter , I added an external breather kit to my Big Sucker , I had no luck finding longer bolts to direct the crank case air / oil to vent out using the backing plate . Everyone I've seen with air cleaners like ours have had to drill and tap a fitting that would re direct the crank case , The backing plate also has breather holes that will have to be plugged using high temp silicone or sealed with set screws using red loc tite .
I ended up drilling , tapping and adding the fittings , using silicone to fill the vent holes in the backing plate , job took me about 2 hrs , made my own catch can which took a bit longer , lots of options out there though.
Any chance you could post your equipment list you used? I'm planning on doing exactly what you've done on my Wide Glide.
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