Hi there team,

Luke, from your picture. I see only breather caps to vent. On my car, I vented pass. side to bottom of carb. base and drivers side to carb. That should take care of heat and moisture build up. You might have to put check valves in your collectors and vent to them. I know my race buddies do, to keep pressure down. Good Luck!

Thanks Dick. The passenger side is actually hooked up to manifold vacuum and the drivers side has a breather to allow fresh air back in. Never heard of check valves in exhaust collecters? I'll look into that.

Thanks again!

The check valves in the exhaust collector is method of crankcase evacuation, but it really only works in high rpm situations, such as racing. The check valve is screwed onto a pipe that is welded into the collector on a 45 degree angle(very important), at 1/2 the diameter of the collector. So, on a 3" collector, the pipe would be inserted 1 1/2" into the collector. At high rpm, the exhaust flowing thru the collector creates a vacuum, and that pulls the excess blow-by out of the crankcase...and makes the exhaust smoke a bit, too!
Not really recommended on a street car, even tho I've done it meself...
However...if you are actually seeing steam coming out of the valve cover, something is amiss. Are you sure it's not just oil blow-by?
I don't know what your heads looked like on the chamber side, but if you're running a 400 block, the heads have to have the steam holes. Perhaps Brodix heads already have those provisions, which is why they say you don't need to drill??
Running non-drilled heads on a 400 block will cause it to overheat fairly quickly...like before the cam even gets broke in...

A small amount of condensation is to be expected if it hasn't been run long enough to draw it out via the PCV system.
Also, a fresh engine will have more blowby than usual, until the rings take a good seat, and, depending on the type of rings, ring tension, and cylinder wall finish, it may be perfectly normal for the set-up. Just be sure there is sufficient vacuum at the PCV while running at speed, and make sure the PCV is clean. It may be the wrong PCV, too. Contrary to popular belief, one size does not fit all!

I would suggest, if the engine is not showing any signs of overheating, and you're not losing any coolant, then you just need to drive it and get the thing broke in, and not worry too much about blow-by at this point.
I have a tool that sits on the valve cover grommet that measures crankcase pressure. You pull the PCV out, and stick this thing on there, and there's a little ball that floats around. It shows how much crankcase pressure there is. I don't know if they are still available anywhere...I haven't seen one, or even looked. I've had mine for prolly 30 years or so....

Take the breather off of the driver side, and stick your finger in the hole(no jokes, please). With the engine running, see how long it takes to pull a strong vacuum on your finger. If the engine is sealed well, it should hold your finger in there purty tight, and "pop" as you pull it out.(again, no jokes, please...)
You may have a seal that is not sealing well, and that will keep the PCV system from working properly. Even a loose dipstick can cause this..

hth

I agree with Joel.  If you have enough water in the crankcase to turn milky, there could be something wrong internally.  Either a bad head gasket or intake gasket could be leaking water into the crankcase.  Thoroughly warm up your engine to see if you just have condensation.  But keep checking your oil during this warm up.  If the oil in the crankcase is milky, you are in danger of hurting bearings. 

The exhaust breathers only worked at high RPM with open headers, like Joel said.  With closed exhaust, you might actually blow exhaust back into the engine if the check valve doesn't seal tightly. 

And I am surprised that Brodix would say you don't need steam holes, especially with a high HP engine, which generates higher combustion temperatures.  Possibly they misunderstood the question.  But that heat concentrated right next to the combustion chamber seems like an invitation for gasket damage.

Good Luck
Larry

Thanks Joel and Larry. What I can tell you is that the oil is clean, I am not losing water and the engine is not overheating. The was a slight film on the underside of the pass side valve cover... LukesVette2009-01-05 18:38:15

Drive it...
Drive it at different speeds...don't drive at a steady pace...keep the rpms moving up/down, as in speed up/slow down. Don't allow it to get too hot(over 200), either, until you get some miles on it, say, 500 or so.

Another thing....what you might be seeing is the assembly lube. Depending on what was used, some of that stuff will stick to the VC once it gets washed thru the oiling system, tho most of it should be caught by the filter. The lube on the pushrods can blow onto the bottom of the valve covers. If white Lubriplate was used, that's prolly what that stuff is.
Even so, a small amount of condensation wouldn't really worry me, unless it was there every time I drove it.
Drive, and enjoy the fruits of yer labor...

sounds like a plan Joel. I'm also going to change the oil jest in case any more residual assembly lube is floatin around the there.

Thanks again all for your thoughts.

Sad update folks. LukesVette2009-02-08 07:08:42

Man that's just not right. I hope it's something minor. Do you think it's a head gasket? If you need some extra hands, let me know, I'll be glad to come down and help you out.