3rd gen valve cover revisited

[Matt400]

I just complete about an hour of driving with some WOT included and the vent surprisingly is still dry, so far Vaughn's idea of using this covers internal breather is working well. Thanks Vaughn!

 

[AndyMan]

Kudos Matt!! That looks spectacular!! I appreciate the ingenuity of people like you that work hard and don't mind sharing with the less creative types like myself.

 

[Matt400]

Thanks, to summarize these are the parts I used, the first 2 are Cummins part numbers:

• Valve cover #3965133 $90. 44
  
• 6 Bolts #3959400 @ 4. 33ea.
  
• Chrysler Industrial Red paint
  
• 1/2" npt fitting
  
• 4 feet of 3/8" transmission cooler hose
  
• 4 feet of 3/4" vent hose
  
• Fuel line fitting robbed from the filter to CP3
  
• 18mm oil pan drain plug
  

So others don't have to read the whole thread...

I tapped the covers original vent exit and installed a Cummins oil drain plug, then drilled and tapped the cover for a new vent exit. This required removing the covers internal breather to clean out metal shavings.

I did this because there is not enough room in the back for even a tight 90 fitting, the firewall is just too close.



I had a spare fuel line piece from when I went to a Scotty 1/2" line from the filter to CP3 so I used it as the oil drain exit fitting. I used 3/8" transmission oil cooler hose on that and spliced it just forward of the original oil drain one way valve. I just cut the plastic pipe and the 3/8" hose is a nice tight slip fit.



For the vent I have just 3/4" heater hose but that stuff is not suitable for oil so it is temporary and I will look for hose that will work with oil for any misting.



Now the question is... do I paint the intake black to match the other side and make the cover stand out more or red like the cover or leave it as is?

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Rock ON ya got 'er done!!! Oo. That looks top-notch. . . blows any painted plastic cover away IMO Glad to hear it's working so far. Now with your legwork you could put this together as a package deal and probably sell quite a few of them.



Once again good work Matt



Vaughn

 

[Matt400]

Now with your legwork you could put this together as a package deal and probably sell quite a few of them.

:-laf :-laf

Naw. . thats ok, I have had my fun with it so its up for grabs if someone wants to do that.

 

[Matt400]

The OEM VC had a spring in the cover that just sat on the rocker brace, not sure what its for, any ideas?

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Someone, forgot who. . sorry. pointed out that the spring is to ground the vc with the motor. I have my sons 03 vc off at the moment and see now that his cover is different than my 05.



The 05 has large rubber insulators around each of the bolt heads and with the rubber gasket that would leave the cover un grounded and thus the spring. the 03 cover only has small "O" rings around each bolt and the bolts contact the cover so no need for the spring on that style.



Dunno what year they changed the cover but its my guess the 05's design transmits less engine noise to the cover. Just an FYI.

 

[EricBu12]

Just went to the Auto show here... the new 06 trucks have a little different VC. for stock. Almost looks like the 2nd gen save for the raise-up hump



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[Matt400]

Yes. . that cover was discussed a while back as not being a true cover but a larger plastic trim piece one. However my parts book shows it as a "real" cover and not a trim piece so if it is plastic then its simply a plastic cover.



I think I like it better than the previous 3rd gens but the change to the injector harness would make it a hard swap.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I think I like it better than the previous 3rd gens but the change to the injector harness would make it a hard swap.

What change did Cummins make to the wiring harness? Is the pass-through plug different now?

 

[Matt400]

Its not at all like my 05, that side of the cover is straight on the 06.

I will look for a pic and try to post but havent had much success posting pics from the manual.

 

[Matt400]

Its on page 5663 of the 05 manual. Has just 2 connections for all 6 injectors.

Maybe someone with a manual can figure out how to post an image from there??

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Matt, bring the pic up on your screen. Hit your "Print Screen" button then open up Irfanview. Hit Ctrl+V and wallah, it's in picture format. You can crop with Irfanview, save it then it's ready to post. Download it here www.irfanview.com



Vaughn

 

[Matt400]

Hi Vaughn,

I am out of town at the moment but will give that a try next week, thanks!

 

[Matt400]

Hi Vaughn,

I am trying and am close, how do you crop so only the image shows?

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Matt, when viewing the picture in Irfanview click your mouse and make a box where you want to crop, then hit Edit then Crop Selection



Vaughn

 

[Matt400]

Ok, I think I got it. Took me a little bit to figure out how to resize for TDR.

The cover looks like it is one piece with a special injector connector. The breather is internal.



What I don't understand is why I had to make it so small for the upload to be allowed.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

What I don't understand is why I had to make it so small for the upload to be allowed.

Did you post it in BMP (bitmap)? If so that's why . . . BMP takes a lot of memory. Change it to JPEG and you can post it a lot bigger, make sure it's not over 560 pixels wide. To save in JPEG go "Save as" and select JPEG from the list.



Vaughn

 

[Matt400]

Did you post it in BMP (bitmap)? If so that's why . . . BMP takes a lot of memory. Change it to JPEG and you can post it a lot bigger, make sure it's not over 560 pixels wide. To save in JPEG go "Save as" and select JPEG from the list.



Vaughn

Yes it was bitmap, here is JPEG:

Thanks Vaughn for the lessons!!

 

[JStieger]

Updates?

Matt-



Can you give us anymore updates - right, wrong, or indifferent?



Also, would there be enough room for the new breather hose with twins? I might have missed it from earlier in this thread, but what did you do with your stock breather hose and oil return hose?

 

[Matt400]

Matt-



Can you give us anymore updates - right, wrong, or indifferent?

I connected the stock oil return line to the oil return port in the new cover and then just ran a large vent hose out the side. Here is a picture of the back corner, exhaust manifold side -

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The marine cover has an internal baffle to keep oil out of the vent but what I noticed was the engine used a little (not much) more oil than with the OEM set up. This bothered me so I took the cover back off.



I have been so busy at work that I got behind on my to-do list so there it sets What I want to do is find a way to boar a large hole in the cover to accept the OEM Fleetguard piece towards the back so the appearance is not compromised, remove the internal baffle and plug off the oil return & vent port I made.

If I can find a way to make the Fleetguard piece work then I will probably do the cover justice and have it either powder coated or anodized, then polish the raised parts.



The Fleeguard piece is a coalacing type of filter that allows oil mist to condense and run back down the oil return keeping the vent more dry.

The way I had it you would think the vent would have been a mess so I was always watching it yet it was always dry. My guess is that the internal baffle was too restrictive and also the cause for the oil consumption. It was 1 quart every 3750 miles vs 1/2 with the OEM set up.