Breather Mold Project

[mgbrv8]

Hey Tom the package came in today :handshak:. So it begins the first rough CAD drawing is done. Next up finishing and then a mold and material selection.

Dave

[mgbrv8]

Concerning the two different style parts I was going to make the larger style (Pic, Breather2). Now I have a question, with the lower tube style PCV valve holder? Why is one PCV tube lower then the other(Pic, Breather2(3))? Were they originally the same height but one was trimmed?

Dave

[Aurora40]

They have two different PCV valves. If you notice, the height with valve installed is the same across the two.

[mgbrv8]

I figured, So I will base both my dimensions off the taller one then. Now if anyone has any design changes or suggestions now is the time to speak up cause once I start making molds it gets trickier to go backwards.

Dave

[GOLDCYLON]

They have two different PCV valves. If you notice, the height with valve installed is the same across the two.


100 percent correct GM stepped em. Why?? So the mechanic (now you lol )would know which one goes where. It does make a difference. Simple and effective

[mgbrv8]

So you are suppose to have two different PCV valves? If so I will copy the one I have.

Dave

[VetteMed]

So you are suppose to have two different PCV valves? If so I will copy the one I have.

Dave

Yes, the valves are different, presumably in the pressure/vacuum at which they are designed to open/close.

Andrew

[Aurora40]

So you are suppose to have two different PCV valves? If so I will copy the one I have.

Dave

As said, yes it is correct, no one trimmed that. I assume GM went with two valves, and two different ones at that, to get some kind of progressive crankcase evacuation. They did have some various issues relating to pressure and oiling, presumably this was part of the solution.

To be clear, what you show in your photos is what GM put on the car.

[Pete]

Hey Tom the package came in today :handshak:. So it begins the first rough CAD drawing is done. Next up finishing and then a mold and material selection.

Dave


My suggestion is make this piece like an F also this way you can put hose clamps on the top of the PCV just like the bottom.

I cut and made mine like an F and have clamps on top & bottom of each PCV.

Pete

[mgbrv8]

My suggestion is make this piece like an F also this way you can put hose clamps on the top of the PCV just like the bottom.

I cut and made mine like an F and have clamps on top & bottom of each PCV.

Pete

Like this? Now this would be harder to make, I would recommend I make the other style and individuals cut it with a razor blade to make the cut out. What is the consensus gentlemen?

Dave

[Pete]

Like this? Now this would be harder to make, I would recommend I make the other style and individuals cut it with a razor blade to make the cut out. What is the consensus gentlemen?

Dave

Yes,like that.
But if it's easier and cheaper the your way then do it your way.
Do you have an idea of price after it's done.
While your at it might as well make the lower hose.


Pete

[mgbrv8]

Yes,like that.
But if it's easier and cheaper the your way then do it your way.
Do you have an idea of price after it's done.
While your at it might as well make the lower hose.


Pete

I want it to be in the $10 range but I know the fist few runs will be $18ish to cover initial material cost. I also wont sell more then 2 per mailing address to avoid people buying them to resell. I just want to give the ZR1 community other options, I am not looking for a profit I just want to help.

Dave

[bobbyhi]

I want it to be in the $10 range but I know the fist few runs will be $18ish to cover initial material cost. I also wont sell more then 2 per mailing address to avoid people buying them to resell. I just want to give the ZR1 community other options, I am not looking for a profit I just want to help.

Dave


Thanks Dave for your work on this project. We do appreciate it...:handshak:

[tomtom72]

Yes, Thank You Dave for offering to help the community out with your efforts!

:thumbsup:
Tom

[jrd1990zr1]

Dave,

Thanks for stepping up for us!

:cheers: John

[mgbrv8]

I have ordered a number of sample materials so I can see which one would work best. And I am 30% through the first mold.

Dave

[Pete]

Can you make the 1991-1995 rear bumper moldings.

Pete

[mgbrv8]

Lets get one project finished first but yes that's relatively easy. I have some spares of those already.

Dave

[Blue Flame Restorations]

Lets get one project finished first but yes that's relatively easy. I have some spares of those already.

Dave


Make, them so I don't have to. I have enough to do as it is. :cheers:

[mgbrv8]

Make, them so I don't have to. I have enough to do as it is. :cheers:

I hear ya Sir =D>

Dave

[gbmidyear66]

I've been chasing a high/unstable idle issue for awhile and tonight think I hay have found part of my issue. The connection of the vacuum pipe to the Breather Mold.

The pipe has a lip on it, mine was not pushed into the mold and I believe was intermittently leaking. It would be great if the mold had a female thread to accept the lip on the vacuum tube and hold it firmly in place - is that a possibility?

See attached (not fully inserted into mold)

Glenn

[mgbrv8]

I've been chasing a high/unstable idle issue for awhile and tonight think I hay have found part of my issue. The connection of the vacuum pipe to the Breather Mold.

The pipe has a lip on it, mine was not pushed into the mold and I believe was intermittently leaking. It would be great if the mold had a female thread to accept the lip on the vacuum tube and hold it firmly in place - is that a possibility?

See attached (not fully inserted into mold)

Glenn

On the PCV valve part??

Dave

[tomtom72]

Glen, a small ideal clamp will take care of that situation. I have found that after only a short time in service on the motor even NOS stuff gets loose....for some reason that is not clear to my thick skull.....and it leaks. I believe that "ridge" on the metal PCV pipe is just a "stop" so the F-connector doesn't miss align...?

Befroe I coughed up the cash for the samco set up I had ideal clamps everywhere on the OEM set up except for where the F-connector mates to the tops of the PCV's no place to put the clamp so I used a zip tie horizontally. :o

After I got the samco stuff & installed it I had thought " now this stuff fits tightly!" Yea it did, but I had to go back and fit ideal clamps everywhere on that stuff also to get the optimal answer to the leaks, JMHO on "optimal"!:o

:cheers:
Tom

[mgbrv8]

I've been chasing a high/unstable idle issue for awhile and tonight think I hay have found part of my issue. The connection of the vacuum pipe to the Breather Mold.

The pipe has a lip on it, mine was not pushed into the mold and I believe was intermittently leaking. It would be great if the mold had a female thread to accept the lip on the vacuum tube and hold it firmly in place - is that a possibility?

See attached (not fully inserted into mold)

Glenn


Like this Glenn, I cut away the section so you can see the inner profile? Sorry for the late response I've been a bit busy this weekend. What dose everybody else think?

Dave

[A26B]

Like this Glenn, I cut away the section so you can see the inner profile? Sorry for the late response I've been a bit busy this weekend. What dose everybody else think?

Dave

I don't think the aluminum pipe/tube is supposed to go in that far. To do so would make the tube crooked and/or pull on the PCV rubber connector. It has vacuum, not pressure.

[jrd1990zr1]

Like this Glenn, I cut away the section so you can see the inner profile? Sorry for the late response I've been a bit busy this weekend. What dose everybody else think?

Dave


I have an OEM piece. I will try to measure the location of the "groove" later tonight and post it up.

:cheers:

[mgbrv8]

Gentlemen feel free to chime in here, I have never messed with or lived with a LT5 like you guys have and for as long as most of you have. If there are parts or aspects that you see need improving on or just plain annoy you, I will do my best to engineer towards a improvement, that is what my background is in. I welcome criticism. Also if you don't feel comfortable posting a comment due to you not being sure of the accuracy of your statement please feel free to PM me . I see this as a way to ensure the ability of maintaining our cars for the future with out shelling out unnecessary capital due to greed of others. The Zr1 shares so many parts with the base corvette we will be able to take care of most of it easily due to reproduction parts. Now the LT5 its self is a different story, not vary many things are being made for it, so I have the means and the resources to remedy that so I intend to do so and do my best to make owning a ZR1 a reasonably viable option for people, with your help. Its kinda neat the hole forum will help with the R&D of the parts they need, kinda like a ZR1 COOP.

Dave

[Z51JEFF]

I want it to be in the $10 range but I know the fist few runs will be $18ish to cover initial material cost. I also wont sell more then 2 per mailing address to avoid people buying them to resell. I just want to give the ZR1 community other options, I am not looking for a profit I just want to help.

Dave

Thank you Dave for the time,effort.This makes perfect sense to me,if somebody sells parts for a living let them foot the cost for tooling,molds whatever.In the future Id be willing to help pay for having a part made with the understanding the parts would not be sold in bulk.One suggestion on the F fitting,would it be possible to tighten the inside diameter for the 2 PCV nipples?

[A26B]

I don't sell parts for a living, but I do sell gaskets, seals & parts. I know about and fully understand what it takes to manufacture. With Jerrys Gaskets, I never "try" to sell anyone anything. I do attempt to help anyone that askes for it.

I will offer a though for your consideration though. Based on Jerrys Gaskets sales over the last 3+ years, I know that there are many, many ZR-1 owners, world-wide, that need parts, including the parts that Dave is planning to make. Maybe Dave's goal is to just make them for anyone who happens to find them on the forum, I really don't know and it's fine with me if that is his objective.

However, I do have the customer base and the presence to reach ZR-1 owners well beyond the forum. If Dave is willing, I would like to buy from Dave and add those parts to the web store. Sure I will pay Dave more than his cost. Sure I will resell for a higher price. The result will be providing Dave's part to others in need who would otherwise be unable to obtain one. Side benefit of manufacturing in greater quantity is the cost per unit comes down. That would be a win-win deal.

Just a thought..... Thanks Dave for doing this. It's needed to be done for a long time. I've worked on it, but just can't bring myself to do business with China and domestic manufacturing is way to costly up front. If you're interested, let me know & we can talk about it.

[mgbrv8]

I appreciate the the offer sir but my goal is to help the people on the forum and the ZR1 community. I don't need the money and I have the time occasionally. So I plan to make the molds and make small runs of parts and only sell limited amounts to ZR1 owners.

Respectfully
Dave

[mgbrv8]

Thank you Dave for the time,effort.This makes perfect sense to me,if somebody sells parts for a living let them foot the cost for tooling,molds whatever.In the future Id be willing to help pay for having a part made with the understanding the parts would not be sold in bulk.One suggestion on the F fitting,would it be possible to tighten the inside diameter for the 2 PCV nipples?

So a smaller diameter on the PCV valve ports, noted. Thank you for the feed back Sir:cheers:.


Dave

[Z51JEFF]

I don't sell parts for a living, but I do sell gaskets, seals & parts. I know about and fully understand what it takes to manufacture. With Jerrys Gaskets, I never "try" to sell anyone anything. I do attempt to help anyone that askes for it.

I will offer a though for your consideration though. Based on Jerrys Gaskets sales over the last 3+ years, I know that there are many, many ZR-1 owners, world-wide, that need parts, including the parts that Dave is planning to make. Maybe Dave's goal is to just make them for anyone who happens to find them on the forum, I really don't know and it's fine with me if that is his objective.

However, I do have the customer base and the presence to reach ZR-1 owners well beyond the forum. If Dave is willing, I would like to buy from Dave and add those parts to the web store. Sure I will pay Dave more than his cost. Sure I will resell for a higher price. The result will be providing Dave's part to others in need who would otherwise be unable to obtain one. Side benefit of manufacturing in greater quantity is the cost per unit comes down. That would be a win-win deal.

Just a thought..... Thanks Dave for doing this. It's needed to be done for a long time. I've worked on it, but just can't bring myself to do business with China and domestic manufacturing is way to costly up front. If you're interested, let me know & we can talk about it.
Jerry,my comment was in no way aimed at you.My apologies for any confusion on my part.We,the owners also appreciate the efforts you've put into serving the ZR-1 community.

[gbmidyear66]

Like this Glenn, I cut away the section so you can see the inner profile? Sorry for the late response I've been a bit busy this weekend. What dose everybody else think?

Dave

Dave - Yes, thats what I was thinking. I just put a clamp on the end, but I think this could eliminate the need for doing so - those of you with more experience trhan I on this feel free to chime in.

[A26B]

Here's a photo of the pipe that fits into the rubber connector. Assuming the PCV top connector might be a 70 durometer rubber compound, you may consider making the hole size about 0.010" under the pipe nominal size of 5/16", or about 0.302".

I think the stop flange is to keep the pipe from going in too far and possible intersecting the perpendicular holes for the valves. keeping the upset end in the horizontal hole will make a more effective seal on the pipe.

Putting a groove inside of the connector could defeat the purpose of the upset end.

Hope this may be of some use.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z224/A26B/PipePCVConnector.jpg

[A26B]

Jerry,my comment was in no way aimed at you.My apologies for any confusion on my part.We,the owners also appreciate the efforts you've put into serving the ZR-1 community.

I never thought that for a second Jeff. I was simply saying that there is a large group of ZR-1 owners out there who could benefit from this project that may never know about it. I'm just glad to see it happen! Best wishes to the project.

[ittlfly]

[QUOTE=A26B;123697]I don't sell parts for a living, but I do sell gaskets, seals & parts. I know about and fully understand what it takes to manufacture. With Jerrys Gaskets, I never "try" to sell anyone anything. I do attempt to help anyone that askes for it.

Off topic here but I'd just like to say ''thanks'' to Jerry for all he does for the Z community. He has helped me unsolicited and it was appreciated.

[mgbrv8]

I realized something, I have to add the black dye to the polyurethane rubber any way. And sense I am making small batches these can be almost any color we want.

Dave

[scottfab]

I realized something, I have to add the black dye to the polyurethane rubber any way. And sense I am making small batches these can be almost any color we want.

Dave

I'd say stay black for several reasons. Also if the mold is not finished add some sort of identifying mark like maybe the date? This only to differentiate this run from others.
Also you may want to take Jerry up on his offer later if only to get out of the hassle of fulfilling orders etc. I for one don't mind a small mark-up for the work done, not only in the fab work but packaging/shipping and the cost of keeping inventory on hand etc. $20 is still a reasonable price to me. There are outfits that gouge for rare parts and then there's folks like you and Jerry.

[tomtom72]

I'd say stay black for several reasons. Also if the mold is not finished add some sort of identifying mark like maybe the date? This only to differentiate this run from others.
Also you may want to take Jerry up on his offer later if only to get out of the hassle of fulfilling orders etc. I for one don't mind a small mark-up for the work done, not only in the fab work but packaging/shipping and the cost of keeping inventory on hand etc. $20 is still a reasonable price to me. There are outfits that gouge for rare parts and then there's folks like you and Jerry.

Here, here, I agree! Thank You to Dave for taking on this new project! Jerry, well there ain't much to say about all the magic you have brought to our parts inventory!
:thumbsup::thumbsup:
Kudos to both of you guys! I also agree that even at the $20.00 price point it's not that much of a ask....okay that's JMHO:o....but if it looks like the real part it will help the guys that do the NCRS thing also, no?

:cheers:
Tom

[a1991zr1]

what aboutmaking the top connection taller so that a set of ideal clamps can go on the top and bottom? I am in dire need of this part and the bottom connection as well I would really appreciate it as I have been unsuccessfull at getting one to replace the leak i have. I would also wonder if you could make this out of hard rubber or plastic and if that would prevent premature break down and collapse?

[scottfab]

Since the original part is not an "F" shape and mine was loose FWIW I solved the loose connection at the joined point of the connector
by placing a small bolt with washers in the center-point between the two openings. It pinches in hard enough to both keep it on and eliminate leaks.
A temp fix till this new part is available.:dancing

[jrd1990zr1]

In my opinion the part should be as close to the original as possible in color and configuration. Tom's idea using a zip tie to keep it tight seems to work out.

My $0.02

Thanks for taking on the project!

:cheers:

[mgbrv8]

I am so far intending the first batch to be to be a perfect match to the original except for a 0.015" decrease in size on the ports. I also intend to incorporate internal grooves to simulate the nipples tips and help lock the various nipples in place so as to reduce the chance of release. I am still waiting for my test materials to show up. If these come out to be exactly they way everyone wants you all can thank each other for that sense its all of you input that has steered the design. I also might make a alternate version that will simulate the Samco unit. And once I have this hose worked out I will start on the lower one and its mold.

Dave

[Pete]

Put me down for one.

Pete

[a1991zr1]

Please put me down for two one for my 1991 zr1 and one for my friend jim sweet in corunna michigan for his 1990 zr1 thank you sir

[mgbrv8]

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z224/A26B/PipePCVConnector.jpg[/QUOTE]

What is the dimension from the stop flange to the upset for seal?

Dave

[mgbrv8]

I want you guys to know I haven't been ideal. I am still materials testing so far I have eliminated two materials and I am down to three. Its all part of the process.

Dave