Jacks Transmissions Forums

I removed the baffles so i can clean under the valve cover. I drilled a big hole in my valve cover to weld in some AN fittings.

The baffle is steel, the VC is aluminum. Jack, do you think you would be able to weld the baffle back on?

Hello, it is tricky welding it. I have had hit or miss with my TIG on those. It's difficult to add aluminum to such a small area surrounded by thin steel. I heard what some are doing is drilling small holes in those areas and using screws to hold it in and that makes it easier to remove again if needed. I have never tried the screws. Might next time around... I would recommend doing the screws. Welding it just never seems to be the same as what it was before it was removed from what I have seen here.

Jack

How about a steel screw and then tack it onto the steel baffle? I would hate to have a screw pop out and fly into the valvetrain.

Yeah, that is the thing I'm worried about too. Adding a bunch of screws sounds like it could be a disaster waiting to happen, but I haven't heard of anyone complaining about them coming out. Making sure it's tapped well and has loctite might help. Welding them to the plate is a good idea too. If I end up doing the screws on the next one I'll definitely do the welding them to plate idea.

Jack

I just removed my baffle. I pretty much grinded down the little aluminum "nubs" flush to the baffle, then drilled it out with a slightly larger drill bit. Would you be willing to try to thread in some screws and weld the it up for me? I can be a guinea pig to this idea.

So many of us run larger AN fittings in the valve cover, however nobody ever cleans out the baffles. I drilled mine and washed it a dozen times. I wasnt convinced that I cleaned it out good enough. I removed the baffle and there were shavings everywhere STILL.

Jmfab said they pretty much won't do it. Perhaps you can add this service to your site. No one has really offered any provisions to getting this done.

To give you an idea of what I'm doing, I had a 90 degree 1/2 to -8an fitting welded near the stock breather. I am going to run that to a catch can, and then -8 to the intake pipe.

Then I'm going to run the pcv back into the intake manifold (Jmfab) thru an inline filter (air compressor style from home depot). I'm trying to figure out if I need a check valve in there or not.

Im not too worried about getting oil in the intake as I'm running meth injection on the street every day anyways. Does this sound like it would be an improvement over the stock setup? All I was doing was running a hose behind the engine.

You will need a valve for the intake mani or boost pressure will get into the crank case and cause a lot of nasty problems.

Sure, we can do the threading and install of screws for you. I'll look into it to see if it's something worth doing for others. Not sure if it's really worth the time as there are a lot of screws that need to be drilled, tapped and installed.

When I did mine I had 3 -10 fittings on the side so I had plenty of openings to clean out the baffels before installing the VC again. Several people have lost engines though due to sand (from bead blasting to powder coat) or shavings from drilling. If you are not 100% sure it's clean definitely pull it off like you did and make sure.

Jack

I have been doing a good amount of reading about this and from what i have read everyone says to put your baffle back in if you take it out, because without a baffle you will suck up to much oil into your catch can (if you’re running one) other than keeping this from happening what would be some other problems that could come from not running a baffle?

That's the only negative I see is too much oil loss without it. Using the baffle is a very good idea.

Jack

Thanks Jack thats what I was looking for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I tried drilling it for screws and popped through into the spark plug well.

I was shocked how much filth was still in there, even after soaking in the parts washer.


--Steve