Thanks Steve for the clarification.  I was confused when Jemal advised against hooking the breathers to carb vacuum.

So do you think there is cause for concern with the stuff inside the tappet breather seemingly being loose and potentially getting sucked into the engine?  Could I just wet the material down with oil?  

Or if I choose to replace the media can the breather be removed in car without having to remove my LCB header?

Thank you.

Yes, that is what that port is made for. There is a special hose with different size on each end just for this purpose. Yes you have the correct timing cover for a mini. Looks fine from here. As mentioned the blades will flex a little toward the engine if at all. I have seen people put a small K&N filter directly to the breather. I tie my front and rear breathers together with a T and link to the HIF44 port for the purpose. Steve (CTR)

The timing cover breather is flat on two sides but clearance is still tight.

So you're saying it's ok to connect the breathers to the port on the side of the HIF44?

Is the can on your timing cover round or has it been smasher flat on two sides? When you say you have two spacers on the pump in order to clear the breather I wonder if you have mounted your radiator yet. The full round breathers as found on Sprites and Metros are a real clearance issue. I saw 1/2 inch off the front makes cleaning out very easy. Then tig weld a flat plate to close. Allows mounting fan without spacers and leaves room for radiator to mount. 

As for the venting to the HIF 44 that is the reason for that port located on side of carb. Jamal was talking about direct vacuum as the manifold. All late cars have the front and rear breathers tied together and tee to the carb HIF 44, HIF 38, and HS4s and 2s all have ports for this purpose. There are early HS4s and 2s that did not have the ports but the later ones do. 

We ran a 1 qt. puke tank on out vintage car. After every session the crew would remove 1/2 qt. motor oil from the tank and add 1/2 qt. fresh oil to engine. When on one was paying attention. I filed off the dip stick markings, remarked 1/2 qt. lower and never has to drain the puke tank again. Of course we were running a 3 qt. Accusump in the system so 1/2 qt less oil was not an issue. Steve (CTR)

Breather is optional, if it's designed properly it shouldn't need it, 

Oh yes, I've only got about 1/4" between the breather and 11 blade plastic fan tips.  Do you think that'll be adequate?  If not will it be "self clearancing" or is that just asking for trouble?

I've got two spacers on the water pump pulley already so I don't feel like I can space the fan towards the radiator any more.

Also related to the catch can; should I run a catch can with a breather or one without?

If you are running a plastic fan, be careful with clearance between the blades and the timing cover breather. And remember, in action, the blades bend towards the breather.

The motor is an AEG312 block but is not in an original Cooper S body.  The motor had what I believe was an AA front plate (with the motor mount that sits below the alternator) so my engine builder replaced it along with a timing cover that has a vent.  Good, bad or otherwise that's the way it is now and I don't plan on changing the front cover unless leaving it as is will cause damage.

My clutch housing is not vented if that makes any difference in all this.

For right now I'll run all breathers to a catch can which seems the simplest. 

I may indeed tire of the cone filter noise but for now I'd rather get the car running as is and then change things later on.  But I appreciate the input on what other folks prefer though.  It gives me ideas on what is possible compared to what I have now.

My original thought of connecting them to the vacuum port on the carb was incorrect as (I believe) that is metered air which would cause a vacuum leak as Jemal pointed out.  The breathers would need to be connected to unmetered vacuum but alas my cone filter assembly doesn't have that provision so running a catch can seems the easiest right now.

Thanks again all.

I seem to be confused, you mention a Cooper S engine. I would expect it to have the tappet cover breather. I didn't think timing cover breathers came along till closed back 1275 blocks appeared. The other breather location on later units is on the clutch housing. While I have a set of twin 1 1/4" SUs with the engine venting ports I also went with a single HIF 44. Using the the intake, carb, air horn and air cleaner from the last generation carb. Cooper. Using the little plastic Y shaped connector, I tied the clutch housing and tappet cover cans together then to the port located on the side of HIF 44 just for this purpose. You can change VC caps easy enough. 

Not knowing for sure I always thought the PCV valve was to avoid a back fire from setting fire to the base pan contents. I would not use the cone air cleaner due to the amount of noise it makes. Just me but I like to do what I can to quiet mine down. A K&N filter element in a std type housing should do what you need. Steve (CTR)

Run all the breathers to a catch can. You can buy cans from summit or similar speed shop or fabricate your own, plenty of stuff on the net. just google catch can

Thanks all for the reply.

I suppose I should have started with my other question: what to do with the tappet cover, timing chain and rocker cover breathers?

(my rocker cover has a vented oil cap as well)

Also I have this style air filter which doesn't have a connection for the breathers.  I suppose I could add one if it's the best way to do things.

I have a pair of curved long nose pliers I use to grab and remove the steel springs and packing. I have tried about everything to clean them out. Brake clean and a hand full of bottle brushes from the dollar store. While there look for Chore Boy SS pot scrubbers. Keep flushing till nothing comes out. Make new springs from thin coat hanger wire and put back together. I have a Cooper S engine in my 85 1000 E and run it on a HIF 44 I use the clutch housing breather and the tappet cover breather. Since I use a SPI/MPI cast exhaust manifold I had to do some custom work on the tappet breather. Steve (CTR)

Over the years they clog up with sludge. You can degrease it but it may not always work.
With a bit of effort you can hook the old `mesh' (more like rusty swarf!) out and replace it with a S/S pot scrubber.

Well, you definitely don't want to connect it directly to vacuum! That results in a huge vacuum leak that has the idle speed go way too high, and makes it impossible to get the carb mixture right. You'll find you have run with the choke 'on', which further messes up your idle speed, putting you in a very bad mood!

There were many styles of that breather over the years. The very early ones were just a pipe making a steep turn up, then down to dump any crankcase pressure and hopefully not much oil. As we became more aware of the hydrocarbons in blow-by, the breather grew into a 'canister' and it got a 'gauze' type stuffing to catch oil. Most 'normal' cars got a PCV valve in there somewhere to prevent that runaway vacuum leak. Rover made it "closed circuit' in the 80s and changed to a non vented oil cap Your best option is to leave the end of that tube open, or route it to the air cleaner housing. Brand new breathers have what looks like a pot-scrubber brillo pad or lump of steel wool to 'separate' oil...

My Cooper S motor has a tappet cover with breather like so:  //www.minimania.com/part/12A1212/Tappet-Cover-With-Breather--Mini--Mini-Cooper-S

The motor is a fresh rebuild but hasn't yet been fired.  I'm working on breathers & vacuum lines & peered into the breather via the hose fitting on top and found what look to be loose debris of some kind inside.  I lightly ran a small screw driver in there and some pieces came out attached to the tip.  Attached is the best pic I could get with my cell phone.  My concern is the stuff inside appears to be loose and if I was to connect it to the HIF44 crankcase vapor extraction port it may suck crud into engine.

Am I over thinking this?

Thanks