oil Breather on G5

[the wheelman]

Hi In 1960 I purchased a wonderful G9 after 3 years I noticed one day a pool of oil underneath the culprit the Breather Valve at the end of the drive shaft after months of getting nowhere I sold it to my brother who had less luke he sold it off.Recently I purchased a G5 on trying to start it up I heard a sound of which I thought I recognized coming from the left hand crank case side behind the Clutch the Breather Valve . the dealer didn't want to know I havnt got round to fixing it yet can anybody help Please. I have done road racing all over the world from 1957 to 2003 from Bantam all ally long stroke GL350 to 750 BSA Sidecar Passenger preparing and building all the engine with success Never had any problems at all so why did AMC or Matchless use this sort of Breather in there engines. I await all replies. the wheelman

[Ozmadman]

Welcome to the forum. I must admit, I found your post a struggle to read properly without punctuation but got the gist after a few re-reads. What year is the G5? The early ones around 1960 like mine do have a breather tube that is just pressed into the stator on the crank and can be prone to rattle around sometimes when it(the stator) comes loose. I have an intermittent noise sometimes that I can't fathom so this may be the case with mine but it would need an engine strip to fix it. The later ones had a different arrangement where the stator was secured with a bolt. I will just put up with it until such time when the engine needs some work, which with the mileage I do, will be a long time. I think the noise is the stator rattling around and not the breather tube. Or of course, and a much easier fix, it may just be the clutch a bit loose as the centre nut is prone to coming undone....
Paul

[the wheelman]

Hi Ozmadman sorry about punctuation at my age of over 71 and using a computer I do sometimes forget. Clutch is fine on my 1962 G5 No breather behind it.There is a breather situated in the left hand rear of the the case from what I can see it is screwed in,and yes I am in the throws of striping the engine but will not get back to it as away tomorrow for a weeks break.When I get back will continue with the task in hand.Many thanks for your input the wheelman

[Ozmadman]

Hi
Presuming what you are describing is the nut shaped object at the back(the curved part) of the crankcase where the gearbox fits? if it is, that is the end of the breather tube. The other end of that tube pushes into a circular, what I call a stator ( a thick metal ring with a hole in it )which fits in the casing between the 2 LH crank bearings and inside that there is another smaller ring which fits on the crankshaft. Basically, as the engine rotates the inner ring (which also has a hole in it) turns as well so once every rotation the two holes line up(the hole in the stator and inner ring) allowing the engine to breathe down that tube to exit where that nut is and spray a bit of oil mist onto the rear chain where it goes round the gearbox sprocket.

The problem is that wear happens where the tube pushes into the stator in the casing meaning it can rattle around (people say it sounds a bit like a big end rattle)which is an engine strip to fix it. The workshop manual suggests getting the end of the tube chromed to give a slight oversize to make it tight but there must be other ways to fix it permanently with a bit of imagination??? I'm sure. As I mentioned earlier, the later engines had a different arrangement where the stator is fixed with a bolt but I am not sure if this would be a mod for an older crankcase or not. let us know how you get on... best of luck

Paul

[Ozmadman]

How are you getting on with the breather?

Paul