After replies on my oil usage thread I have decided to purchase a catch can. What one do you recommend for a head/cam '99 with forged pistons?

Thanks.

 

I suggest Custom Corvette Assesories (CCA)(Willfulone) Vendor right here on our forum. Great guy, great prices. His name is Chip. He has a new shipment in right now. Good luck.

 

Let me ask you this:

What is most important - looks or convenience? A shiny aluminum can looks great but none that I know of come with a dipstick to check the oil level. Ideally, simply glancing over at a clear-body catch can would prevent excess oil from getting pulled into your engine's intake. However, if you are the type of person who doesn't mind either bleeding or removing a can to take a look at the oil level, there are many choices out there.

 

Convenience would probably be first on this list. Who sells the clear-body catch can?

 

CCA - Chip is a great person to deal with.

Just check can after a few days of driving and you will see how often you need to drain can (it only takes a few minutes).

If you are filling can after a weeks of driving (approx 250 miles) or a weekend on the track so you may want to think about adding one or all of the following:
LS6 valley cover
new PCV valve (Chevrolet replaced the earlier PCV valves with one with a smaller restrictor)
restricted pushrods - Smith makes a pushrod with a smaller opening which restricts oil to upper portion of the engine. Stock pushrod length is 7.400

Most of the oil in the intake issues tends to be exacerbated with track events as more oil tends to pool in upper portion of heads and there is not much volume with the stock valve covers.

 

I like the ones from either Elite Engineering or CCA. I have the EE catch can on my car.

 

Here's what I have and believe me, it is very convenient knowing exactly what you have in the "can". Aluminum does look nice and if you have very consistent driving habits (same distance every day/week/month), then you could have a good idea as to what's in the can. I sometimes go on trips or "out-of-the-ordinary" distances, so I don't want any surprises when it comes to having oil sucked into the intake.
Another thing I forgot to mention is the mounting position: While there is moisture in blowby gases, mounting the can near the engine is not the best way to get the water out of the oil. You will get some during winter month during the time period when the can is not yet superheated by the engine, but IMO, keeping the can lower than the PCV valve and in a cool place is the best combination. Blowby gas temps can easily exceed 150 degrees, so if your can and filter is cooler, oil and water will tend to coalesce much more easily than if the can is kept at the same temperature as the gasses.

more info within this article:

http://www.conceptualpolymer.com/PCV...oval%20102.pdf

 

I was pretty much set on the Elite cans (because of length vs CCA) until I read Dave68 post. I like the idea of being able to see the volume. All the talk about mounting in a cooler area makes sense too, but I have a nagging concern about the distance the vacuum has to travel and if that has any negative effect on overall engine performance? Anybody have an opinion?
Also, any difference between the aluminum vs the glass as far coalescence capability?
Thanks

 

For those interested, I emailed Watts on my above questions and following is the (quick) response:
1. The calculated pressure "drop" using 6 ft of 3/8-inch ID hose alone is .24"Hg (mercury). I measured vacuum pressure at idle as 19.5-20 "Hg and with my 20 cfm-rated filter at 19.2-19.4"Hg. IMO, this is more than acceptable. By comparison, a 6-ft long 1/2-inch ID hose (no filter) will show a pressure drop of .03"Hg. However, I do not feel that it is necessary to increase the hose size for a 6-ft long, 3/8-inch ID hose.
2. Aluminum does have better temperature transfer properties, but as long as the unit is in an area that is relatively cool, the difference does not seem to be significant. Optimum? Yes, but the difference in coalesced oil and water between the two materials may also be affected by the top piece material, which in both cases is aluminum.

 

No one can ever say that I'm short of opinions! Here's a bit more to add to the above info:

Regarding hose size, length, and pressure drop: I use an online calculator to quickly determine pressure drop over a fixed length of hose. Let's say you have 20"Hg (-9.8 psi pressure )vacuum pressure in your 3/8-inch ID PCV line that flows about 1.3 CFM. Now you decide to add a total of 6 ft of line to position your catch can in a cooler place. The pressure drop across 6 ft length of 3/8 hose at that pressure is 0.12 psi or about 0.24"Hg - hardly significant IMO. Going to a 1/2-inch ID hose would drop that down to about 0.03 psi or 0.06"Hg.

Regarding coalescing ability, both materials will equalize with the surrounding temperature after a while (aluminum will change at a faster rate, of course), and aluminum will allow more internal heat to radiate outward. However, glass will help prevent/melt ice formation at colder temps if water is left in the container. Certainly, both have their advantages and disadvantages. I guess the only way to know for certain is to conduct closely monitored tests with a few variables as possible. This is not that easy to do, unfortunately.

Dave

 

I had the other brands and they broke or leaked. Im running a CCA now.

 

I don't have a catch can, but I was reading this thread.

If you wanted a way to check the level quickly, why not take the normal catch can and drill two holes and tap them. One near the bottom of the can and the other an inch or so down from the top. Place 90* fittings in there pointed at each other and some clear plastic tubing. Viola, easy to read level gauge.

 

While glass is easily cleaned of fuel, oil, and dirt, most plastic tubing will permanently darken and would have to be replaced periodically. Plus, you'd have to be sure that nothing the plastic is exposed to would degrade it in any way. This is why PVC is not a good choice for a catch can "can".

 

Well PVC is petroleum based, so fuel, oil, etc will break it down. Another reason to NOT build a shop/garage air compressor system out of PVC... it will eventually degrade and explode. Might be 4-10 years, or it could be 5 months.

And while the clear tubing may discolor to some extent, if you can't tell the difference between full dark and slightly brown, there are other issues at hand.

There is clear tubing available for fuels now, I don't see why oil would be much different, other than the discoloration issue.

 

Another thing you may not have thought about is the thickness of the "can". Even a small pipe-tapped thread requires a decent amount of thickness (especially in a tightly-curved surface) in order to seal adequately. Yes, you can weld an aluminum fitting to the can, but now you're talking about spending much more time and money than it is worth.

 

I drive my '01 Vert a lot.. 120+ K (s)miles.
there is no way I would ever come close to filling my CCA catch can in a whole season. i collect somewhere bewteen 2-3 ounces between 5K mile oil changes.
Just drain it at each oil change and after each track event .

 

I'm happy with Elite Engineerings catch can, can't say enough good things about it - looks like it belongs there, zero fit issues, does the job and was easy to install.

 

Back before I had my C5, I didn't think much of checking my air pressure every so often, even though in many cases, the tire pressure was just fine. Now that I have the ability to just glance at the D.I.C. to check pressure, I am spoiled for life. The same is true with other things like battery voltage, oil temperature, outside temperature, etc. Having the ability to simply glance at a clear glass catch can leaves me spoiled in that regard - one less thing to worry about. But hey, there will be sensor-deprived vehicles on the road for many more years, partially because many don't know what they are missing. In the case of catch cans, aluminum can look good near an array of other aluminum or brightly-covered components, that I will readily admit.

 

After looking at different catch cans, I installed the Elite Engineering catch can. It looks & fits perfectly. I get about 1-2 oz oil in 5000 km (3000 miles).

Russ Kemp

 

get new rings if your burning oil

but if you are going to deal with a vender, chip is good people