rodman

iTrader: (10)

I realize the benifits of using a oil catch can in a turbo motor and have seen first hand at what the oem pcv system will do to the intake mani/valves and intercooler. The problem I had was to my knowledge all the ones out there didn't remove all the oil and a good percent ended up where one was trying to stop it from going.

I looked at ones that were simply empty, to the ones that have screens and baffles. None of these are actually made to 'catch' all the oil vapor simply becouse none of them are made to do just that.... Untill now

I searched and researched, asked alot of questions including speaking with those in the business of making filters that do just that...Filter out 99.9% of oil from air. After that I had to find something fairly small that could stand up to the harshes of the auto.

I ended up finding a Coalescing Design type filter that flowed well, could stand up to some abuse and cope with the high temps and gas/oil mixed vapor. The specs...

Air Line Filter, Sub Compact 12 Series, Inlet/Outlet NPT 3/8 In, CFM 25, Max Pressure 250 PSI, Max Temp 175 F, Bowl Type Metal Material, Bowl Size 2 oz, Filter Rating 0.7 Microns, Drain Type Manual, Height 5.91 In, Width 2 In

Its made by Grainger industrial and a link to the product and larger versions of it for those that need more flow or capacity.
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/4RA16

I purchased 2 of them, one for the pcv and one for the intake breather side. 4 3/8 brass barbs, thread sealant and 8ft of 3/8 Goodyear 50psi fuel and oil hose and a box of 10 ss hose clamps. Oh, a bunch of zip ties helps for temp placment. I later got 2 mounting brackets made for these filters.

I tested them out for 1k miles before making a post just incase they did not work out. I was concerned about flow and how well these filtered oil at lower pressures. The amount of vac from the intake mani and pull from a 600+cfm turbo told me that it would stay within the limits. Plus if the airflow ever dropped to low there would be little or no movement of oil/air into the intake anyway. I know the intake side needed a filter that could flow both ways without restriction since when boosting, air would be flowing from the valve cover to the intake tube and under no boost the PCV side would be pulling 'clean' metered air from the intake tube. I was told the filters will flow both ways but only clean 100% in one direction. That was fine sice only clean air is pulled in reverse so no real filtering is needed, just flow. Air only flows one way on the PCV side (unless it's faulty) so that was fine and even then if either dumped oil running in reverse flow, it would end up back where it came from, the valve cover.

I took the hose off on the intake side of the valve cover wile the car was under Idle with the filters in place and found them to flow just as well as no filters based on the amount of 'pull' I felt as I plugged the hole with my finger. I would have to imagine that a 25cmf flow rate would be more than the pcv system runs in gen, though i never actually found anyone who knows the flow rates of the stock pcv sytem of the Evo. I know it's pressures and turbos flow rates, but when you consider the size of the pcv systems hoses and means of vacume from a small hose on the intake snorkle or manifold, there was no way it was out flowing the filters specs. Not to mention I went up from 1/4 to 3/8 hose diameter.

So after a month all is well, no leaks, cracks or engine problems. Infact, call me crazy, but the fact that no oil is entering the combustion chambers made the car run and pull smoother. No joke, it was something I noticed without any idea. The MPG went up as well. The gas light used to come on after filling up around 265 miles, now it happens around 275. Though not much it has been consistant from fill up to fill up.

So there you have it. What I would call a 'oil catch can' that really 'catches' all the oil...Well 99.9% of it. I posted some pics of where I installed them only now I have the brackets holding them in place. One bracket is mounted to the batt tie down bolt and the other I mounted to the AC line bracket that happened to have a spare spot for a peice of aluminum stock and bolt to thread into of which I connect the bracket to.

Pics. I tried to get some shots of how I ran the hoses. I made sure they did not interfear with anything under the hood like injector wires and things you would not want the hoses to rub on or pinched in.


The orange thing on the top is so you know when the filter needs service. Wile the car is running under vac look at the orange float peice. If it rises half way up it's time for a new filter. The intake side will have to be done by counting how many times you had to empty the Pcv one sinse that one will need servicing more often. If the filter is done after you empty the pcv filter 100 times, than around 100 times on the intake should be about right. Though one could just pull the hose off the valve cover and add air from a compresser to see since this would be the correct flow direction. I was told this type of filter would last a year at least. We will see. Also there is a temped sight glass so you know how much oil is inside. Also consider placing them away from as much engine heat as you can, these are rated to about 175 deg but spoke to people who said they could take more but safty guidlines of them running at 250psi lowered the rating.








You can see the empty threaded mounting point right behind the filter on the left. Flow direction from pcv valve to filter, then out the left side on to the intake mani. Flow direction on the intake side is from valve cover breather to filter and on to intake snorkle nipple. This one has a clear shot of the flow direction arrow. ALso when I say need a new filter, I mean replace just the element, not the whole unit. They are easy to use and the way they come apart is nice, no worries about o-rings lining up. The drain on the bottom is easy to use as well. One can even opt for a auto drain if they need or want the option.

Balrok

iTrader: (15)

Nicely thought out, any plans for dyno pulls with and without? I can see how these would work fine for DD, but I wonder if they would be able to stand racing conditions.

DoughtCom

iTrader: (8)

Wow... I'm subscribed. It will be interesting to see how the filter holds up after a few months of use. Good job on the research!

rodman

iTrader: (10)

LOL, no dyno pulls. But common knowledge tells me, without oil in the combustion chamber the octane rating would be better. In simple terms the motor is getting a cleaner mix to burn with.

These would stand up to race conditions. However I would opt to mount them in the front of the car where plenty of cooling is available. I would also use metal hose lines so you could run the hoses longer without as much press changes due to the hoses not exspanding or contracting. One would also have to consider using larger hose diameter with one of the lrger higher flowing units. Like one of these beasts

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/4ZL18

Balrok

iTrader: (15)

Ya, that one's a big bi*ch lol.

cfdfireman1

iTrader: (11)

Good post, but please tell us how much oil you have caught in these catch can in1K.

Evo8Emperor

iTrader: (12)

I believe i bought my home made catch cans from home depot. There air compressor fitlers used for the same thing to take water and oil out of the line after the compressor. They use a .7 micron copper filter and they have a drain on the bottom. So far Id say they work always have sh$t in them that needed to be drained.

rodman

iTrader: (10)

I looked at those, they don't remove oil vapor well at all, nor are they made to take all the abuse of heat and chemicals that are present under the hood of an auto, esp an Evo. They are gen purpose and not made to clean all the oil out of the air. Plus, one does not need a gen purpose filter as you only need to worry about oil being removed. The way this one I used works is much diff. I have not had to empty them yet, but at 1500 miles it's getting close to being full. It's going to be around 2oz of oil every 2k miles. The reg filter I was using didn't even catch half that amount. 2oz is actually alot considering the car has only 17k on it. I will post pics so one can see the actual amount. Thats alot of oil for your cars intake manifold to digest at about 1oz of oil every 1k miles.

The intake side gets much less oil and is dependent on alot more factors like blow-by and the amount of boosting one does. There was only about a tea spoon so far in that one. The gen purpose filter had none at all

I pulled the hose off the filtered side of the unit and it was bone dry, no oil at all. The hose on the unfiltered side was 'wet' with oil.

ECS Performance

iTrader: (2)

Wow. Excellent info. Nice to see some thought going into an otherwise overlooked modification. 99% of the cans out there provide little to no improvement over the stock system. I run the Saikou Michi setup simply due to the amount of research and design that went into the product. It always bugs me to see well known companies charging an arm and a leg for an empty "can" with some ports welded on.

Import Junky

iTrader: (7)

really cool. I'm subscribed

redboosted05

iTrader: (3)

Very interesting idea I would like to see how it works out. ECS which model from them do you use? there are so many. Good luck with your idea man-JOEYD

Slo_crx1

iTrader: (9)

Just a quick question for you...what do you have on the other side of the valve cover? The way you have your's setup it should work well for part-throttle off boost driving, but what about full throttle? That's where the most of your oil gets sucked into the front mount and piping...through the line going into the turbo inlet. Under boost the rear pcv valve closes off and it uses the turbo to pull air through the valve cover to try and keep a steady vacuum on the crankcase at all times. This is usually why people running higher boost levels with just a filter on the side of the VC tend to end up popping the dipstick out. I'd recommend putting a can on that side as well, I tend to draw a decent amount of oil into mine setup like that.

cfdfireman1

iTrader: (11)

Slo_crx1

Take a look at his post and read it this time, he has 2 cans.

rodman

How do you already know how much oil has been captured? Can you see the site glasses?

ECS Performance

iTrader: (2)

I run the stage 1 DC3. I was actually one of the first to buy way back when. I might be trying this new setup though...
-Alex@ECS

bbyevo8u

iTrader: (14)

how bad does one need this mod for his car? and does it depend on mods?