Morning Josh,
Apologies if I am repeating things you already know or have been mentioned but my best guess is that this is an earlier car that once had a Gen 1 1500 engine in it that has had a problem at some point and that owner replaced it with a Gen 2 road bike engine package. The sump pan is a earlier Radical one but the pump looks to be a little later (It is anodised Black, earlier was Gold). The breather pot is also a Gen 1 item that looks to have been swapped over.
The Titanium valves cannot cope with excess heat like steel ones can and we have seen them fail regularly in this application, due to the sub stained high load the engines are under. You may get away with it for a little while longer if you are on standard management but I would highly recommend they are replaced. The potential mess they make if they drop a valve is expensive!
That seal was once a Radical one but I would suggest that it has been bodged into place there, maybe someone else on here can confirm, but I think the lock wire used to go through the back/other end of the seal.
I can also see that you have a manual cam chain tensioner fitted which it is highly unlikely that any Radical engine builder has fitted this - unless it was agreed at a customers request.
You are also running a very early oil cooler set up, which again later cars and anything with the Gen 2 engine would not. Later cars remove the oil cooler fitting on the sump, remove the jet behind the oil filter and run the oil cooler in between the return outlet of the scavenge pump and the oil tank.
Interesting that the slight replumb of the breather pot made such a difference. Personally my next plan would be to purchase a Gen 2 breather pot, the reed valve for it and either the OEM plastic cover or an aftermarket one with AN10 fitting and fit this to your engine and track test it. The reed valves in the Gen 2 breather maybe enough to slow down the breather even more, especially if the scavenge pump can then pull a vacuum which it currently cannot do.
This is fantastic information, thank you very much for all of this. It's been hard to get any information on the older cars and setups. I will chip away at all of your suggestions.
No problems!
This is an example of a Gen 2 breather pot so you know what you are looking for:
@rlm-dan Is there a reed valve hidden away in this? Or do I need to add one in line?
@meatman Its hidden in there.
Located between the cast pot and that black plastic top so just bolt it on (either with a new gasket or gasket sealant) and away you go.
