DIY oil catch can
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 1999
Posts: 3,570
Likes: 3
From: Austin, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Houston, Dallas, Hong Kong, Elgin, etc.. Texas
DIY oil catch can
I've seen a lot of DIY oil catch cans and air compressor oil separators on cars. I decided to try to make one myself from PVC pipe.
The inlet is at the top and has a tube inside that goes all the way to bottom. The inside is filled with stainless steel wool as a filter. The bottom has a screw in drain. The bracket is just a prototype at this stage and bolted it to the head in two spots. Very sturdy. I used tie wraps to attach it to the bracket but they can be replaced with hose clamps or clips but tie wraps work just fine.
The inlet is at the top and has a tube inside that goes all the way to bottom. The inside is filled with stainless steel wool as a filter. The bottom has a screw in drain. The bracket is just a prototype at this stage and bolted it to the head in two spots. Very sturdy. I used tie wraps to attach it to the bracket but they can be replaced with hose clamps or clips but tie wraps work just fine.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 12,094
Likes: 197
From: Colorado Springs, CO
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11
The only test of such systems is to remove the TB and see if there is any oil getting in the intake. If there is any oil in there the system is inadequate no matter how good it looks.
Did you check to see if any oil is getting through?
Did you check to see if any oil is getting through?
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 1999
Posts: 3,570
Likes: 3
From: Austin, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Houston, Dallas, Hong Kong, Elgin, etc.. Texas
My engine consumes very, very little oil in any case. I have notice very slight increase in oil loss during my HP Tuner set up / experiment / learning process when I was running to redline more frequently. When I removed the intake a while ago, there was a light coating of oil inside which I cleaned out.
The stainless steel wool is more like a coarse mesh. A fine screen would be good insurance. Suggestion of other material as a filter would be appreciated.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 12,094
Likes: 197
From: Colorado Springs, CO
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11
Correct. I just installed it yesterday so testing just started. Need to remove the TB, clean, then check again after 500 miles.
My engine consumes very, very little oil in any case. I have notice very slight increase in oil loss during my HP Tuner set up / experiment / learning process when I was running to redline more frequently. When I removed the intake a while ago, there was a light coating of oil inside which I cleaned out.
The stainless steel wool is more like a coarse mesh. A fine screen would be good insurance. Suggestion of other material as a filter would be appreciated.
My engine consumes very, very little oil in any case. I have notice very slight increase in oil loss during my HP Tuner set up / experiment / learning process when I was running to redline more frequently. When I removed the intake a while ago, there was a light coating of oil inside which I cleaned out.
The stainless steel wool is more like a coarse mesh. A fine screen would be good insurance. Suggestion of other material as a filter would be appreciated.
I use a breather on the oil cap and a vented catch can with the oil return lines capped off. I have run this sytem for 2 years and the car jas no oil in the intake tract and no oil used between oil changes meaning no blow by either.
My current set-up (MAF was changed since this one):
The catch can:
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 1999
Posts: 3,570
Likes: 3
From: Austin, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Houston, Dallas, Hong Kong, Elgin, etc.. Texas
Sometimes my designs work great, and other times you learn something......
After one day of testing, it seems to work fine and there were traces of oil in the can but none in the hose leading to the manifold. But the PVC pipe plastic is not going to work because of the way it reacts to heat.
Two things....
1) PVC expands from the heat enough so the screw in hose bosses loosen up and it created a vacuum leak. That could be fixed with thread tape or pipe glue which would make it a totally sealed system and I don't want that.
2) But what really caused me to rethink the use of PVC under the hood is where the tie wraps were. The PVC must have gotten hot enough that it started to bulge around the tie wraps mounted to the bracket after only an hours drive. The heat must make the PVC soft and expand. So, the solution would be to move it farther away from the headers or use material less susceptible to heat...like aluminum.
All of this makes me conclude that the better solution would be just to buy one from one of the forum vendors or off of eBay.
After one day of testing, it seems to work fine and there were traces of oil in the can but none in the hose leading to the manifold. But the PVC pipe plastic is not going to work because of the way it reacts to heat.
Two things....
1) PVC expands from the heat enough so the screw in hose bosses loosen up and it created a vacuum leak. That could be fixed with thread tape or pipe glue which would make it a totally sealed system and I don't want that.
2) But what really caused me to rethink the use of PVC under the hood is where the tie wraps were. The PVC must have gotten hot enough that it started to bulge around the tie wraps mounted to the bracket after only an hours drive. The heat must make the PVC soft and expand. So, the solution would be to move it farther away from the headers or use material less susceptible to heat...like aluminum.
All of this makes me conclude that the better solution would be just to buy one from one of the forum vendors or off of eBay.
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