3rd gen valve cover revisited

[Matt400]

I remember a while back someone was working on putting one of these covers on a 3rd gen:

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The vent in the back was the trouble due to tight clearance I believe.



What about an oil fill cap that will allow the OEM breather to snap into the top of the fill cap and then just re-route the lines and block off the rear breather?

A nice plate could be added to the breather's top and then finished off with a "C" Badge from the Cummins Power Store.



Adding oil might take a little more effort but that plastic cover is just as bad as the fake lug nut bumps on the wheel caps IMO.



I see this engine gets gets a nice cover even with the ugly breather looks way better than the Dodge plastic cover IMO:

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[nickleinonen]

got a link to a bigger picture of that second cover?

 

[lmills]

I remember that too. If memory serves me correct, I think they got it on and working. I just can't remember who it was.

 

[Matt400]

got a link to a bigger picture of that second cover?

No, I found that pic here:

http://www.everytime.cummins.com/every/applications/isc.jsp



There is a little more of a close up on that page.

 

[Matt400]

I took a look at the hole where the crankcase breather mounts and it is allot bigger than the oil fill hole.



The breather is an interesting piece made by FleetGaurd that wicks oil mist out of the blowby and drains it back to the engine so the draft tube has less oil residue.

It is a listed part on the DC emission chart so removal is not a good idea plus it works pretty good.



Another thought was to move it off the cover and have a pipe connecting it but am now thinking the trim cover idea DC had was good, they just needed a better one.

A fella pointed out the plastic one looks like a 4cyl. cover and I think thats pretty accurate.

 

[nickleinonen]

how about going with the first style cover... blank the hole on the rear of the cover, and machine a new hole in the left side [engine left] of the cover and mount a different style crankcase breather on it...



something like this



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[Matt400]

Thats a good idea, I bet that other style filter is spendy though.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

This is the Cummins valve cover that works on the 3G trucks: https://www.turbodieselregister.com/user_gallery/displayimage.php?&photoid=13061&width=0

The ventilation issue should be easy to solve, I bought a brass 90* plumbing piece that I popped into the blowby outlet at the back of this valve cover.



To the threaded brass piece you screw in a short PCV pipe say 5" and a 1" ID heater hose for your blowby.



There is a small oil return hole which would need a small elbow attached then plumbed to the stock oil return. Really not too difficult to get rid of the top breather and replace it with this VC if you use a little ingenuity.



Internal baffle https://www.turbodieselregister.com/user_gallery/displayimage.php?&photoid=13062&width=0



Pic of Blowby and oil outlet holes: https://www.turbodieselregister.com/user_gallery/displayimage.php?&photoid=13063&width=0

 

[Matt400]

Hey Vaughn!



Thanks for those pics,

I would like to get one and compare the internal crankcase vent with the external Fleetguard.



In earlier posts I didn't realize that VC also had the oil return port.

I thought it was mentioned there is not enough room in the back for a 90 to work.

Even if it wouldn't I would think a machine shop could bore a hole in the VC to mount the Fleetguard breather in the back. At least that way it would be tucked under the cowl.

 

[Matt400]

Just ordered one.

Valve cover 3965133 $90. 44

Bolts 3959400 x6 @ $4. 33ea.



So we will see. .



Anyone else interested- those are Cummins parts numbers, not Dodge.

 

[lmills]

sounds good, I am going to look into going that route also.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Way to go Matt

The 90* piece I used would leave clearance OK. The piece I bought was at a hardware store and was machined fairly smooth on the outside so it would pop into the hole fairly tight with just a little sanding. I thought about adding silicon to make a good seal. And the other end of the piece was female threaded 1/2" NPT (I think that's the size), so I could easily screw a 1/2" NPT piece of PVC pipe into that. Then just slip a 1" ID hose for the blowby over the end of the PVC pipe.



I ended up selling the VC to Jesse at Pro Finish since I no longer have my '03 (guy who makes the Whiplash shifters). I don't know if he BOMBed it and put it on his '03 yet or not.



I am anxious to see someone put one of these together and finish it nice and put it on their 3rd Gen. The Cummins deserves better than that cheesy ugly plastic cover!



Vaughn

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Here's what my VC looked like on my '03 before I found out about the Cummins VC, which I spent quite a bit of time on digging up the number.

 

[rbattelle]

Like everyone else, I want one of the Cummins ones Matt just bought. I hope you can come up with a way to machine it to mate with the factory breather assembly, Matt.



In the meantime, the valve cover doesn't look too bad at all with the plastic thing removed and cleaned up like Vaughn did... hmmm... I could even have it powder coated Cummins blue.



-Ryan

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

rbattelle my next plan was to spray paint the breather silver and put a piece of polished SS on top of it, then put the fake braided SS covering on the hoses. Would have done well to pretty it up don't you think?

 

[Matt400]

Vaughn,

Does your exhaust manifold still look like that after use?

 

[nickleinonen]

Just ordered one.

Valve cover 3965133 $90. 44

Bolts 3959400 x6 @ $4. 33ea.



So we will see. .



Anyone else interested- those are Cummins parts numbers, not Dodge.

hmm... i might be going to cummins to get some oil and fuel filters [12&6] might have to see if they have that in stock...





i've been itching to do some mods

 

[rbattelle]

then put the fake braided SS covering on the hoses.

I love the look of braided stainless (I've been trying to spread it around my engine compartment). That's an excellent idea.



It seems to me, like Matt said, you could easily machine a hole in the top of the Cummins valve cover in the same position as the factory cover to accept the factory breather. Then you just put a plug in the breather hole at the back. Done and done.



But if Vaughn never got around to doing it, maybe it's a lot harder than that.



-Ryan

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Vaughn,

Does your exhaust manifold still look like that after use?

Unfortunately no, it did slowly start to flake off a little over time. I used Por-15 brand's Por-20 exhaust coating http://www.por15.com/product.asp?productid=128

 

[Matt400]

Got my cover today, so work in the shop came to a halt till I could get that black plastic cover/baffle off under it for a look.



The black piece is just a baffle and will be effective at doing the job however I am not so sure I like eliminating the Fleetguard piece. Although I haven had that apart because it is a sealed unit I think it may work better at keeping too much oil coming out the draft tube.



Machining a bore in the new VC for the Fleetguard piece is not that easy because due to the thin area of the VC there would not be any material for the Baffles "O" ring to seal on.



At the moment I am thinking of an adapter that would "remote mount" the Fleetguard baffle and attach to the back of the new VC. . not sure.

I would like to keep more oil in the crankcase and not remove an emission devise.



Another idea-

The rear of the cover does have a boss filled in that is probably for a rear oil fill point. If that were machined out and then another adapter added for the Fleetguard piece it might work. Will have to see if there is enough clearance in the back under the cowl for an adapter & the Fleetguard piece.