Fumaze What's A Fumaze?

TinCup

TinCup

Well-known member
When i first saw one of these on my friends 29 pickup I was intrigued by the design and the name. I liked the way it looked on the engine versus the flex hose unit I had on my coupe. It is the only one I have ever seen on a car here in OKC and Tulsa. When I asked some of the other club members where I might find one they all had the same answer "Fumaze What's a Fumaze". Well more than a few swap meets, more hours searching ebay than I care to admit to and posting ads on sites like this one and 18 months was all it took to finally find one. A gentleman from California answered an ad on this site and with the exchange of dollars the USPS delivered it. It was very dirty and rusty but no holes or rot. I borrowed my friends sand blaster and a few hours later I had a nice looking Fumaze. Here are a couple of pictures and a link to more.

More Pictures
 

Attachments

  • IMG00397-20111011-1643.jpg
    IMG00397-20111011-1643.jpg
    40.6 KB · Views: 243
  • IMG00398-20111011-1643.jpg
    IMG00398-20111011-1643.jpg
    44.7 KB · Views: 225
  • IMG00412-20111012-1616.jpg
    IMG00412-20111012-1616.jpg
    74.1 KB · Views: 240
  • IMG00417-20111012-1651.jpg
    IMG00417-20111012-1651.jpg
    74.9 KB · Views: 295
Last edited:
Very cool. I love unique, period accessories. But, what exactly is the advantage over the factory crankcase vent?
 
The standard oil filler cap will not keep the blow by out of the crankcase from coating the engine compartment. That is what the down tube does. As air passed over the bottom it creates a vacuum and passes the blow by out of the engine compartment.
 
With the Fumaze tube on the side of the engine, it would be almost impossible to say if the flow by the tube created a low pressure area, but fact is, it does not need a negative pressure! My guess is that a tube in a free field with cross flow at 90 deg to the axis of the tube would generate some small negative pressure but the situation under a car is so confused that the simplified situation wouldn't apply. My assumption always was that the crankcase ventilation tube just equalized the pressure inside and outside the crankcase - usually from inside to outside driven by whatever was getting past the rings and was offgassing from the oil and what happened to be in the oil (unburned gas, water from condensation while parked or from combustion products)
The Fumaze is just a VENT, allowing water vapor, gas, and fumes to vent out because of the piston blow-by. There is NO air inlet like on later cars in the 40's and 50's.
On later cars there was a valve cover vent which allowed air to enter the crankcase and then to flush out fumes through the road draft tube which usually hung much lower down than a Fumaze and at that level, it's likey a negitive pressure was developed at the end of the tube.
 
That is a neat accessory but why not just put a PCV valve in the valve cover and run the vented gases back into the intake manifold?
 
What are the other options to blow-by from coming out of the cap on the oil fill? As I have just restored my engine and engine compartment I would like to keep it clean!!!

I did try the Snyders Oil Breather attachment but it was a bad fit and I returned it.....
 
Huh, I've got one of those my 29. I never realized it was a hard-to-find accessory. Glad you were able to find one.
 
There is the pvc setup but it effects tuning. Reburning crankcase fumes reduces power and causes the spark plugs to run black and sooty. There is the model B style oil fill tube that is an improvement over the model A style. Some of the model A vendors list a new repro model B oil fill tube but the price is prohibitive.

I really like the way that my fumaze performs and believe that it outperforms other road tube type crankcase breathers, They are however hard to find. I have another Fumaze that is missing the top cap, wish I could find one.
 
The bracket shouldn't be hard to fabricate; the attached photos are from the one on my roadster.
 
Last edited:
Bill O'Brien said:
What are the other options to blow-by from coming out of the cap on the oil fill? As I have just restored my engine and engine compartment I would like to keep it clean!!!

I did try the Snyders Oil Breather attachment but it was a bad fit and I returned it.....
Click to expand...

Go to your NAPA or other parts store, buy a PCV valve with rubber grommet. Drill an appropriate hole that fits your PCV valve in the side of your valve cover towards the front of the valve cover. Thread a brass Tee fitting into your intake manifold where the vaccume line would screw into the manifold. On one end you can run your vaccume for a wiper on the other side of the tee run a rubber fuel line hose from the intake to the PCV valve. This method works 100%. I have been running it on my 31 Vicky as seen in my Avatar for 11 years. I have never had a tuning problem and the engine is as clean as the day I dropped it in the chassis. It looks better than those gawdy breather tubes they sell that are similar to a road draft tube on the flathead V8's.

In fact I have also removed the road draft tube from a 8BA flathead and placed a PCV valve in the hole on the intake and ran a line back to the carb base to control blow by gases in the V8's. This works well on the V8's.
 
BILL; The idea is to get the fumes DOWN and AWAY from the engine compartment, thus the Fumaze or other type of road draft tube. A breather as you suggest will/does not accomplish this. JMO
Paul in CT
 
Vern said:
The bracket shouldn't be hard to fabricate; the attached photos are from the one on my roadster.
Click to expand...

If I had a bending jig it would have been easier. I will keep looking for an original like yours. I just used a 1 inch pipe and heated the iron and beat it around it. Sure could have used your pictures before:)
 
1931 flamingo said:
BILL; The idea is to get the fumes DOWN and AWAY from the engine compartment, thus the Fumaze or other type of road draft tube. A breather as you suggest will/does not accomplish this. JMO
Paul in CT
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply Paul.... Question, wouldn't the breather keep the oil from getting out and still letting the crankcase breathe? Thus achieving the goal of preventing oil from getting everywhere??
 
I made a home made breather with a nice long "down" tube from regular white pvc from the hwd. store. A bit of lath work and walla. The guy I sold that coupe to still has it on board.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top