'65 MGB FIA Race Car - technical woes - Urgent advice needed please!

[Cadence]

Evening all,

My car has been under wraps since the last meeting in October last year. I decided to do a track day on the spur of the moment and checked the car over before loading the trailer. All seemed well and it started just fine. The issue I've now discovered is...

- I have a catch tank with connections from the rocker cover and crankcase breather. The catch tank has a K & N filter attached.
- when starting the car I noticed quite a lot a wispy vapour entering the car - it's coming from the breather tank K & N filter. I cleaned the filter
- I took the car for a 20 minutes run along the local lanes (my car's road legal ish) hoping that this would cause any moisture to vaporise
- there's plenty of power and good pick up, oil pressure good, water temperature ok, no mayonnaise in the rocker cover filler, oil looks clean and no bubbles and my coolant hasn't changed colour to indicate the presence of oil in the cooling system

Yet when I stop, it looks like someone's having a fag under the bonnet. The catch tank is filled with fumes as is the rocker cover.

I have a track day on Monday and at a family do most of tomorrow so there's only tonight to determine whether it's fit to go on track on Monday.

Any ideas what the problem (if any) could be? I'm loath to go blasting down the Hanger Straight if the omens say, for example, a piston ring has failed. I'm no mechanic and don't possess a compression tester so cannot test this.

Starting to panic - help gratefully received.

Cheers

[GORDON STREETER]

I would think that it is a ring problem by the way you're describing it .
It's up to you if you want to run it but you could cause a lot more damage to the pistons and bore (if it hasn't already), as it's a piece of cake to whip the pistons out on that car without taking the engine out then that's what I'd do personally !

[delta]

Gordon is right can you get a leak down check and compression check done. Report back to us what you find.

[Mike Bell]

Cadence, you need a second opinion but difficult without anyone seeing for themselves. As Delta and Gordon say, piston ring(s) first thing that comes to mind.

Having said that, very unusual not to get some 'blow by' even on a healthy engine. A and B series race engines quite often have big or double breather systems just to cope with this. The quantity of fumes is the clincher........

Definitely needs confirmation before risking it!

[zefarelly]

possibly caused by detonation or fuel starvation ? I've seen a few trashed motors because of the same, check it sooner rather than later or it could scrap the pistons and bores.

[simes43]

Ian Prior and Bob Luff are near to you if you haven't fixed the problem.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

Cadence, you need a second opinion but difficult without anyone seeing for themselves. As Delta and Gordon say, piston ring(s) first thing that comes to mind.

Having said that, very unusual not to get some 'blow by' even on a healthy engine. A and B series race engines quite often have big or double breather systems just to cope with this. The quantity of fumes is the clincher........

Definitely needs confirmation before risking it!

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I'm going to have to swallow the bitter pill and have a precautionary engine strip. I'm a muppet when it comes to mechanics, so I'd welcome an recommendations for B engine specialists in the Bucks, Oxon, Berkshire area?
MG Motorsport are excellent, however I'm not sure I can afford their services at the moment.

[GORDON STREETER]

I suppose you hadn't overfilled it with oil ?
It's a pity that you wont learn a little bit about the mechanics of the engine because it really is very easy to work on as it's old school and can be repaired beside the road, most of us could work on it in the dark with a torch ! however if you don't feel up to it then you haven't much choice unfortunately.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by Cadence

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I'm going to have to swallow the bitter pill and have a precautionary engine strip. I'm a muppet when it comes to mechanics, so I'd welcome an recommendations for B engine specialists in the Bucks, Oxon, Berkshire area?
MG Motorsport are excellent, however I'm not sure I can afford their services at the moment.

PM Iain / Delta (post #3) and ask how he is fixed. Maybe an expert eye (like his), cast over before jumping in and stripping, would be useful.

[275 GTB-4]

An exhaust manifold gasket leaking? Can you hear a "ticking" at idle or when the engine is running?

Tried a different method of breathing? your set up may be pressurising the sump etc

Is the K&N too restrictive or in the wrong location?

I would be reluctant to strip the engine based on what you have said above...

however...

Do a compression test on each cylinder and maybe a leak down on the head....might be good to eliminate other causes

[terence]

Originally Posted by Cadence

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I'm going to have to swallow the bitter pill and have a precautionary engine strip. I'm a muppet when it comes to mechanics, so I'd welcome an recommendations for B engine specialists in the Bucks, Oxon, Berkshire area?
MG Motorsport are excellent, however I'm not sure I can afford their services at the moment.

There are other B "specialists "about who would charge a lot less
As Gordon said re oil level, but it does seem odd that this problem has occurred over its hibernation.Could be just that ring gaps have all aligned them selves causing blow by?
Why does your breather system need a filtre, might look pretty but certainly not a necessity.
Like I said, if it were me, I would definitely be looking for some else to check it out for me.