Something you guys may not consider that I do is that I have an oil heater cartridge in mine. I don't want to have to use a bunch of alcohol getting it to temp and I don't have room to easily add a primer.

You can start as many times as you like for short periods, then just plug it in and let it heat the oil. Open your oil fill cap or whatever you have to vent moisture out of the valve covers and you're good to go. I use my oil heater year round to get the oil warmed up before starting my routine on race day.

Curtis

I don't run methanol. My car sits in a garage that doesn't go below 40*. I don't have aluminum valve covers, stamped steel. I pulled the valve covers this week and these was plenty of condensation on the rockers and stud girdle which are aluminum. It does this every year over the winter months. I always clean all of this out before starting it. So it's not just a methanol thing as far as the condensation goes.

quote:

Originally posted by rusty:
my experience is that water turns it milky ,alky turns it brown.over rich at idle is the worse culprit. I also add the ambient air being cool and a aluminum valve cover being warm makes it rain water in there

^^^ I agree with ya, Rusty. And I'll add another factor - Humidity. Since the beginning of Fall, it has been wetter than normal in N. TX. I do have heavy aluminum valve covers, and when I was up in Denver, (extremely dry air), I did not see near as much condensation in the engine, although it has always showed more water than I expect to find. I guess having the water separate from the oil is good, since it is heavier, and all ends up at the bottom of the pan, instead of rusting the rings and cylinder walls, etc. Although it means the oil pump will be sucking in water as soon as the engine is cranked...
With that being said, and reading all the excellent comments on here, I've decided my engine is a serious moisture trap, and I need to make some changes.
1. I switched to these valve covers when I added the pan/header-evacs, (they were already set up that way, bought them from a S/C racer who had gone to a vac pump). They are thick/heavy aluminum, which does seem to attract condensation as Rusty mentioned.
2. There is no oil fill cap or open/removable breathers on them, so no easy way to vent the internals at the end of the day. (Also makes adding oil a PITA, but it does force me to look over the valve train at every oil change).
3. The "breathers" on the covers that are plumbed to the evac hoses are the old, tall "Mopar-style" cans, which are secured from underneath by large nuts. They trap a TON of water in them. Yesterday I pulled one cover off, and tilted it a particular angle, and it was almost like turning on a faucet. Water trickled out both directions, from the inside of the cover, and down the evac hose.
4. Header evac systems do create a vacuum, but they do not allow for any flow of air to purge the crankcase and valve covers of contaminated/moist air. (I guess vacuum pumps don't either, though).
Everyone who mentioned keeping a clean tune-up, lean idle mixture, and getting engine up to temp is correct, as far as reducing moisture buildup. But none of that can actually prevent it. I am thinking about how to add some type of purge valve to one of the covers, that could be opened to flush out the damp air, (and the acid-producing combustion gases as well), after race day is over. I am considering adding a vac pump, not for performance improvement, but to help with the moisture problem. Definitely need different valve cover/plumbing setup with removable breathers or oil fill caps. What do you fellas think about this idea - With a vac pump, I could add some type of manual valve, (like a lean-out setup), to the valve cover on the opposite side from the vac pump. Then at the end of the day, after getting things hot, I could open the valve and run it for a minute to clear out the foul air?
I used to do something similar with my old engine, which had stamped steel Moroso covers. I had push-in open/filtered breathers on both sides, and when I would go to load up, I would pull one out, plug in a PCV valve, then unplug the vacuum hose, and hook it to the PCV. That engine stayed as clean inside as the day I finished assembling it, for years. (It was also run on race gas, not alky - which probably helped as well).

Please keep your thoughts coming, thanks guys.

My opinion, if your running a vacuum, you dont need to vent it. Also you want your vacuum regulator on the line going to the vacuum pump. My reasoning for this is that you dont want to pull outside that is filled with moisture and dust though your engine. You want the engine sealed up tight. Oil is sent out for analysis on every change, water very rarely shows up in it. I also get very little water in the overflow.

Think about this, how would moisture get into the crankcase if the engine is sealed? If your getting enough moisture to milk the oil though blow by, you have other issues.

Imo, the 2 keys to keeping oil happy with alky,

Build oil heat. With alky, after installing an oil temp sensor,i was amazed how much effort it took to get heat in the oil. I like to keep it above 180, if I see it start to dip, I plug in my oil pan heater. I run my coolant temps in the 180-190 range, i bet guys that like to run it down in the 130-140 range never get close the temps they need to boil out the moisture and alky.

2. If your running a vacuum pump seal the crankcase, and have the regulator the line going to the pump. As stated above you dont want to pull outside air though your engine as it brings in moisture and debris

I like BP best, but have tried VR1 and recently Schaffers. Having an oil sample done can help you determine what you prefer to use.

If you do not preheat your oil prior to starting I believe you will need to run the engine much longer than water temp to achieve the desired oil temp. This has been my experience.

Installing an oil temp gauge will help you keep water out of your engine knowing what temp the oil is at.

My engine runs MFI with a Primer Plus and the oil has never been milky or contain water. The oil sample analysis states this.

I will not enter the water box unless the oil temp is 140* minimum. Doing the BO and staging will add another 20* or more. A 1/8 mile run can raise my oil temp to 195* and 1/4 will be 210*+

My engine runs on 93 octane when not on the racing surface.