Installing an Engine Oil Catch Can

[acf321]

Hi there .. I bought a really cool aluminium Oil catch can from Japan and the bottle has two top pipes, and one small bottom out pipe. It also came with two rubber tubes, that appear to both connect to the top pipes. I did not want to just put one of those filters on the top of the rocker cover.

 

It did not come with any instructions, so can anyone run me through how to install it and where to connect the pipes ... Obviously one goes from the rocker cover to the top of the bottle, but where does the bottom pipe route to? Do i need to put a hole in my sump ?? do i route into the side of the block somehow, or into the oil filter? its obviously only gravity and cranks pressure driven, so any ideas on how to do this right would be great.

 

Cheers.

 

Adam

[Riceburner]

The small bottom fitting should be a drain point for the can, top will be inlet/outlet.  I'm about to fit one also, mine will have rocker hose going in the top, breather on the fitting next to it, drain plug at bottom and a clear level indicator tube. I still have pcv into inlet manifold, so it's only the rocker cover breather to worry about.

[ZED660]

You should have two pipe fittings in the side of the catch can as well as a drain plug in the bottom.  You run a line from the engine block breather (on the left hand side of the block towards the front under the exhaust manifold) to the lower fitting on the catch can and run the other pipe from the rocker cover outlet to the upper catch can fitting.

[RB30X]

You aren't going to put a dirty old cheap chinese catch can in your beautiful engine bay are you??

 

Your hose sizes that came with it will also be different to the rocker breather size. I have fittings that screw into the rocker thread and go to -8 so you can adapt it to a smaller hose but you have a lot of issues to sort out regarding hose size and position and style etc before you get that far.

[acf321]

Thanks guys ..

 

and NO .. not a dirty Chinese thing, this thing is polished aluminium and it has the clear indicator tube on the side too. the quality is about 12/10 and its very neat... I think it'll look awesome.

 

I got where the two top lines come in, one from the rocker cover, and one from the block... but to what do I attach the small lower exit to I'm wondering where the oil drains to

 

Cheers

 

[RB30X]

China does make polish alluminium catch cans with clear indicator tubes, which sell on ebay and Supercheap and Autobarn. No offense but it will 'cheapen' the look of your engine bay. Do you have a pic or link??

 

There is a million threads you should read on how these work.

Q1. Does it have an external filter.

Yes: It will breath air with oily residue all over your beautiful engine bay and will be illegal.

No. Then you need to run one of the hoses back to you inlet manifold or your air filter housing with a PCV so your engine consumes your emmisions.

 

The drain is so you can open it up every now and again. Your new engine will hopefully take three years before you need to drain anything out.

 

[acf321]

OK .. here is what I bought, as I said, its pretty neat, and is very well made ..

 

The issue with it is I have three OER's, and the inlet man would need a hole in it to re-route the bottom pipe into it. Anyway, tell me if you think this is one of the cheaper ones .. interested to know your thoughts?

 

Cheers

 

Adam

 

[MaygZ]

Looks neat to me.  I wouldn't use the clear (ish) fuel line though, as they will fill with black goop over time and look dirty, reducing the bling of the whole engine bay.  I would use black fuel line, as I believe it will keep the bay looking clean.

 

My 2 cents.

 

MaygZ

[RB30X]

Yes that is a cheap one. Is there anything inside it?

 

Why do you want to install one?

Do you understand how they work and why you would need one?

 

It's just my personal opinion but I can't understand why you spend all this money making your car look imaculate and factory and then go and put one of those in your engine bay??

[acf321]

thanks guys ... I agree, it is a nice looking one .. and it cost me over a hundred bucks ..

 

Having said that, I did have a look for a 'good' oil catch can and the ones on rocket industries have the exact same side level set-up, including blue plastic bands at top and bottom, and the same brackets etc as mine came with. I have a look at ebay and there are some crappy ones on there too .. I think the one I have is as good as i need.

 

I will however be sure its installed right, and not out in the middle of the place (james Flett has one that sits right beside his radiator which works well), and mine actually might even end up with a valvoline or similar racing decal on it anyway. As for the tube, i'll look into using something a little more suitable.

 

Rb30X, what is that colored exit bayonnet that you mentioned ?? what would I need another bayonnet when the factory item is in place?

 

Thanks again guys.

 

Adam

[RB30X]

 

Rb30X, what is that colored exit bayonnet that you mentioned ?? what would I need another bayonnet when the factory item is in place?

 

 

Not really sure what you mean by bayonet?

Or when you say factory item??

 

[Roberto]

Hey Adam,

 

Let me try to understand.  You are going triples, so you are not going to have a PCV system connected.  You want to be able to "catch" the oil that will slowly leak from the block vent (underneath the distributor).  Is that right?

 

 

[RB30X]

Thats correct, as well as from the rocker cover.

[Roberto]

You don't really need an expensive oil catch can.  Oil shouldn't leak from the rocker cover breather.  When I had triples, none come out from there.  Just cover it with a nice looking filter.

 

As for the block, attach a hose to it, put a 90 degree bend fitting pointing upwards, then a bit more length of hose and then another one of those filters.  This will allow gases to vent and keep the oil in the engine.

 

If you want to use the catch can for the bling factor and because you already bought it, then that will work too.  Just ensure the can is vented to allow gases from the engine to escape. 

 

You mentioned in a previous post hooking the can up to the inlet runners.  If you do this then you don't need a catch can at all.  It will be similar to the factory PCV system.  Just make sure you use a PCV valve to regulate the vacuum and tap into all the runners to keep each cylinder equal.

 

Does that help answer the question?

[NZeder]

my first racecar had an old 4 litre oil bottle cabled tied to one the bars (from firewall to struts) as a catch tank.

 

There is a thread on Hybridz about the whole PCV system and the use of an oil catch can/breather - for the life of me I can't find it now.

[acf321]

Thanks Roberto, Mike, and RB

 

Yes, to confirm your question, i want to be sure that the oil vapour from the rocker cover and case vent does not go all over the place, and i really don't like the look of those little filters that hang off the rocker cover too much, especially for a period race looking motor. I know the OEM setup had a pip running into the air box and this vapor was just rerouted and burned, but because I am running triples on a TWM manifold, there is no way to rig up the system like they did from the factory.... Hence the oil catch can.

 

I know you (RB) said it looked cheap, but when I just showed the part to Nat he freaked out and said it looked awesome (as I think it does in the flesh). Nat suggested that we definitely need an oil catch can to do the car justice and avoid those little pod filter things all over the place. Nat suggested (he is a former race engineer as well as resto guy) that we put one tube from the rocker cover vent to one side of the can, the other pipe goes from the block vent to the catch can, and the hole on the base of the can is for routing to the fuel tank. This way, the oil vapor goes out of the engine, and back into the tank in one sealed system. As Nat said, 'this is a race car type of set-up, designed to stop oil leaking onto the track', as well as keeping the fumes under control. I know James Flett runs a home made catch can on his beautiful orange 240Z .. and he suggested I do the same (largely because of the ugliness of the rocker cover filter pod thing), and to finish things off. As for the location, I think we will mount the can on the firewall near to the engine, and do so without drilling or cutting anything.

 

As for cheap crap oil catch cans, I saw a $4.5m historic bugatti with an oil catch can in it .. the can was an old caltex oil drum with a hole punched in the side of it with a rubber pipe going in !!!

 

Cheers

 

Adam

[RB30X]

So you want to pressurise your fuel tank with your crackcase vapours?? Race engineer??

 

Do this test, get two small caps the size of the rocker breather and the block vent, place them on, or something similar like tape the holes up so they can't breathe. Then start your engine, give it a rev, and see what happens. A lot of air/vapour will come from these ports and routing them to a closed system fuel tank will result in a lot of positive pressure. This will go bang!

 

If you think about it, for it to work you would have to be using as much fuel from the tank as your engine was producing vapour. This isn't going to happen. And your fuel tank breather is designed to let air in as the fuel level gets lower, not release copious amounts of positive pressure. Also you will have a long line running back towards the tank which will create a low point where your oil residue will sit resulting in a blocked line.

 

Most likely your dipstick tube with be launched into your bonnet followed by a stream of hot oil. But go for it, I'm just a Process Engineer, not a Race Engineer.

[ZED660]

I am a bit puzzled by the third outlet at the bottom of the can.  My can has the two attachments on the side and a drain plug at the bottom.  I was able to use the original pipe that ran from the engine block to the old manifold, by simply twisting it around it fitted straight on to the lower pipe fitting on my can, while I ran a pipe from the rocker cover to the top attachment.  Luckily my can had two threaded lugs on one side which allowed me to simply attach the can to the inner guard just back from the radiator.

 

The pics are a bit cramped but you should get the idea

[RB30X]

Apart from your hose size stepping down in size which is a little small, that system will work fine because it can vent to atmosphere. If you step down in hose size the oil vapour velocity will increase making it more likely to carry the heavier oil particles. You have to make sure there is steel mesh or wool inside the can too, between the entry and filter exit to trap the oil particles before they exit the filter. This is what collects in the bottom. You might get a bit of a smell in the cabin too. Adam (I think?) doesn't want to use any external filters.

[acf321]

Ok RB .. point taken .. you can see i'm not an engineer right!, and the way you wrote that was very clear, thanks for going to the effort.

 

Perhaps I misunderstood Nat today ... but I will obviously be doing much more work on this.

 

Thanks again .. I do appreciate your assistance on this.

 

Cheers

 

Adam.

 

one karma point from me to you too, for your assistance !!

 

 

 

[ZED660]

Hi RB,

 

Without trying to hijack Adams' thread.  What hose are you referring to as stepping down in size.  The bottom one from the block is the original pipe and the top one is the size to suit the outlet from the top of the rocker cover and the inlet on the catch can.  Yes mesh inside the can and no smell.

[RB30X]

Sorry then mate. It's hard to see in the pics but initially it looked like you had about 3/8 size hose going into the can but if the same hose fits the original vents then that's the way to go.

[ZED660]

Thanks for clarifying RB, I was getting a bit confused but then again that's not hard to do!!

[chris240]

Im not sure if Im too late , but last months fast fours & rotaries (or was it the month before  ) had a great 3-4 page write-up on the use & installation  of catch cans..

[zaxzeds]

I had a 260 with a catch can on the firewall between the battery and the isolator switch, I think anything for the track is for function and that always looks good. You only need about 3 litre capacity I think (however bad it blows you will be on the side of the track before you fill much more than that) and no outlet. As for fumes, the few fumes from the cam cover only enhance the racing feel,run some Castrol-R to further improve exhaust aroma. Remember to relax and enjoy, sometimes a "perfect build" can lack character. As for Penrith Muffler Man, Andy is very good , a lax kind of bloke but really knows his stuff. Let me know if you want to meet me there and I will organise a system for #295 at the same time, we will get a better price for 2 than 1.  cheers