k&n air filter on valve cover problem

[tony/ka24de]

the sr20det is smoking and dripping oil from this little filter. was wondering if anyone knows what it might be. Also does anyone know what that black box shaped thing is thats also beside the valve cover on the drivers side? I think that box might be clogged. But not sure. the car is running rough at lower rpm

[SpeedRacer1]

Yeah thats the carbon canister and when the oil gets backed up it goes into the box. The breather filter (which was originally run via tube into the intake tract) will end up leaking oil if the box is either clogged or there is too much oil in the engine. This (stupid) design was fixed on the S13 Blacktops.

And easy fix is an oil catch can and they can cost as little as a few dollars if they are home made. They usually run about $100 USD from greddy and some other sources.

[S13240]

You must be talking about the stock oil catch can and the K&N breather you have on the pcv valve. Excess oil might just be dripping old oil onto the turbo manifold so it seems like your sr20 smokes, but really it might just be your oil burning on the manifold. Is it newly swapped in? How long has it been going on?