You guys who really know your stuff, yes or no on catch cans and what kind?
GM

 

 

Absolutely get one. If you need convincing, look here:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...8&postcount=18

I like the Elite Engineering Can and the Cartek cans best, but there are other good ones here from forum vendors.

 

I have one and it works great!

 

that's a gunky engine

 

While certainly no expert, I do know that this inexpensive preventive measure is a no brainer.

 

Me too.

Seriously though, give Cartek Racing a call about their system, it's pretty good.
www.cartek.net

 

I guess I am getting a catch can installed on my 08 Z51

 

Not an expert, but here is mine, preheaders.

 

I ran ten autocross events last year and after each run you could smell hot/burning oil.

I put the Elite Engineering catch can on my 06 right before this season of autocrosses and after the first event, there is about two teaspoons of oil in the catch can and no more smell after each run.

For the money, I don't see any downsides to installing one if you plan to keep your C6.

 

That's only about 14K....imagine what the typical, higher mileage engine is like inside.

 

and flame protection on.

You have got to be kidding. A light coating of carbon on the top of your pistons (like shown in your picture) is normal and it is a "good thing". It helps insulate the piston from the combustion front similar to aftermarket coatings.

Unless your engine has more serious problems, the carbon thickness of is self regulating and is not a problem. Healthy engines run with synthetic oil and quality gasoline (quality gasolines and oils all have cleaning additives) will look about the same after 200,000 or 300,000 miles.

 

Could you explain how carbon build up (thickness) is "self regulating"?

 

Which vendor and did the hoses come with it?

 

As an expert on dirty oily intakes... I highly recommend one It makes my clean up after porting go faster!!

 

OK, OK!
Elite, here I come!
GM

 

Deposit thickness is limited by combustion temperature, pressure and the fuel additive package.

Gasoline additives began to be regulated in 1992, and additive packages have improved to a point that current additives effectively limit both the formation of combustion chamber deposits and deposit thickness.

There are lots of good books and papers on this subject:


“After combustion chamber deposits form, thermal insulation of the piston increases and the cylinder temperature rises. Studies have shown that combustion chamber deposits are primarily related to fuel quality rather than oil quality (oil/fuel ratio). Hydrocarbons with high boiling points in the fuel were found to account for the majority of combustion chamber deposits......

Cylinder thermal conditions, specifically wall temperatures, in combination with fuel fractional boiling points, will eventually lead to the stabilization of deposit growth rates. When the chamber is clean, combustion chamber deposit formation is relatively fast. As deposit thickness increases they act as a thermal insulator, decreasing the rate of local heat flux. This increases combustion chamber surface temperatures and reduces deposit growth rates. Eventually, an equilibrium condition is reached at a critical surface temperature and deposits no longer grow......

Deposit growth progressed as mileage increased. Then, sudden decreases in deposit thickness were observed after deposits reached a critical thickness. The critical thickness appeared to be controlled by both the cylinder temperature and pressure and by the fuel additive package.”


EDIT:


Just for grins, recovering 4 onces of oil in a catch can in 2000 miles of driving means you would recover 1 gallon of oil in 64000 miles. 4 ounces in 2000 miles is the highest number I have seen reported on the Forum. At 25 miles-per-gallon, you would burn 2560 gallons of fuel for every 1 gallon of oil recovered.

Two ounces in 5000 miles (a fairly typical number) is about 1 gallon of oil recovered in 320,000 mile. That's an oil/gas ratio of 1:12800. It may sound like a lot, but it is not really a problem.


Engine oils, like fuels, have additives to prevent combustion chamber deposits. Say your engine is pulling enough oil into the intake, which is not blow-by in a stock LS2 and LS3, to approach the oil/fuel mixture of a two-stroke engine (at which point you have a very serious problem). Two-stroke evaluations, using premium unleaded gasoline mixed with various test oils at the engine manufacturer's recommended ratio of 50:1, show that premium fuels and oils can control combustion chamber deposits at higher oil/fuel ratios. For example in one study, test engines were assembled so that each had similar clearances and compression and run continuously for 500 hours. The engines were then disassembled and evaluated for combustion chamber deposits. Engines run with quality synthetic low-ash oils were relatively clean with very acceptable combustion chamber deposits.

Most of the posters with catch cans report that they fill with oil fairly slowly - no more than a 2500:1 mix. Twentyfive years ago we would be debating the importance using Marvel Mystery Oil to increase engine life.

 

What can setup is this? Very nice !

 

Well there are fuel deposits (greatly reduced due to better fuel additive packages as shown above) and then there are increased oil deposits (the main focus of this thread) due to excessive oil drippage or blow by (for lack of a better term) in the PCV system and intake manifold finding it's way downstream.
Or no?

 

Anyone have any pics of Cartek's catch can to see why it's supposed to be better than others?