914 Heat

[jjeffzehnder]

914 2.0 1973
I have had this car for about one year and have slowly cut away the rust repaired the metal, trim etc. all while also trying to enjoy the car. I have noticed that after running for a long time 3-4 hours of use, I occasionally get crankcase blow by and since I have carburetors this vents through a small air type filter into the engine compartment. After a while the filter becomes oil soaked and spits the excess into the same area and makes a mess. Now I can come up with some simple solution as well as just cleaning up the mess but I am attempting to solve the underlying cause. Compression seems ok.
This leads me to my question...how do I determine if the air vent flaps are operating? The metal hinge in the engine compartment is very stiff and I am not sure how hard this should be to move.
The actuator looks ok but is there a way to test it (it’s the doohickey under the car that connects to this hinge)
Does anyone have photos of this area that show the operation?
Could the oil have just been old?
Is it just age?
I may add a gauge to read the temperature so I can monitor during operations, any recommendations for gauge and sending unit?
Related – is it worth it to add an auxiliary cooler to keep the oil temp down.