Haven't installed em yet. When I do, I'll post what I find.

 

A catch-can is literally just a container with two pipes in the top. Any oil catch can will work fine in a MINI. Not exactly rocket science...

 

I just installed my $16 catch-can. A couple of tips:

Every set of hookup instructions I could find made it sound complicated - it isn't. The catch tank and hoses simply replaces the elbow hose that runs from the PCV valve to the stiff grey hose under the IC.

There is no reason to use 3/8" hose - 1/4" fuel hose is the right size and material, and installs easily on the PCV and the grey hard-pipe.

I really like having the tank right next to the dipstick - it's easy to see and easy to empty. However, on my `05 with HIDs, it was tough finding clearance. The mount I made up angles forward about 30 degrees from the ground point to give good spacing from the headlights and to place the tank just above the frame member.

It works great. After accumulating a dozen drops of oil in the tank in 150 miles of driving, I removed the hoses and checked them with a q-tip - the pcv hose was wet with oil, while the exit hose was dry, so it is indeed capturing almost all the oil vapor.

The rate of accumulation also tells me that a large tank is probably pointless for street use - there should not be that much oil going into the tank if the engine is in decent shape, and if it is visible and easy to empty, a small tank like this works fine.

One thing to note when installing any oil-catch can is that you really want the hose from the crankcase PCV to run downhill to the tank, as it is the first place where oil condenses and will fill with oil fairly quickly, which could cause it to clog (especially if silicone hose is used, as it swells when it degrades) or to make a mess when you remove the hose from the tank. It should drain downhill into the tank, which is a good argument for not mounting it in the cowl area.

Anyway, this is a great mod - economical, functional, and looks good. Thanks to daleCarlsbad for writing up his experimentation.

 

very cleaver. i will also look into this, your the man.
-malcon

 

shopping list of parts please and a shot or a drawing of top of bracket uninstalled - for us tuning impaired.
Thanks.

 

You need:

- A $10.35 catch-can from Jack's Lawnmower or other source. It's a Campbell-Hausfield Mini General Purpose Filter Model MP5138, available from lots of places. http://www.jackssmallengines.com/ch_air_filter.cfm The white filter unscrews. As described, I cut off the end of the filter to act as an inlet tube. The top of the can is blue as supplied, so I sprayed mine black instead. [Late news: I have since replaced the cut-off filter with an intact one - the rate of oil is so low that it won't clog for years.]

- Two 1/4"NPT to 1/4" hose brass elbows. About $2.00 each at any plumber's supply or Home Depot. The cast ones are cheaper and smaller than the squared-off machined version. There is never going to be any pressure in these connections, so stronger isn't any better.

- 2 ft. of 1/4" rubber fuel line for the hoses. Maybe $3.00.

- Some teflon plumbers joint tape, needed because the National Pipe Thread (NPT) is a tapered thread, and you need something resilient to seal it while twisting it in to the angle you want. $1?

- A couple of 1/2" x 10-24 or 12mm x 5mm screws and a tap to match, to attach the can to the bracket. You could use smaller self-tapping screws, or drill out the holes in the can top to suit the tap size and tap them. Nice-looking cap- or button-head screws are around $.25 each. I recommend Ace Hardware - they usually have a loooong aisle of nuts and bolts, including metric, stainless, etc. May as well use metric, to make it easy on your mechanic in the future.

- A 12mm longer bolt (longer than what is used) and a couple of nuts, to hold the new bracket in place just below the ground-point on the engine block. The idea is to insert the bolt thru your bracket, then add two nuts, aligned to fit into the underside of the ground-point, with the longer bolt to make up for the added nuts and bracket. You'll see what I mean if you look at the ground-point - the bolt-head is recessed into the bottom of it, and the nut on top. Maybe $1.00 for the longer metric bolt and nuts. You can tighten the whole thing when installing with a wrench on the bolt-head from the bottom.

- A 3" piece of 1" wide x 1/8" thick aluminum for the bracket. Cut the end that goes to the ground bolt at about a 30-degree angle to angle it forward over the frame member. Drill that end to fit the ground bolt, then fit it in place, mark the edge of the ground point, then twist the bracket in a vise at that point to make the free end level, so the can is more-or-less vertical. Don't feel bad if it takes a couple of tries - the bracket shown is my third try. You can shape the bracket pretty quickly with a hacksaw and sandpaper.

Mark and drill holes for the top of the can so it fits in close to the ground-bolt-bracket. You will probably need to bend the ground wire at the top end to get it out of the way of the catch-can. Use some closed-cell foam or clay to check clearance to your headlights with the hood down. If your bracket looks like mine, it will clear HID's by 1/2" or more.

I deferred removing the IC until the catch-can was mounted where I wanted it. Remove the IC and clean the oil out with some spray solvent or Simple Green. I used starter fluid because I had a can, but carb cleaner is somewhat less hazardous. If you use solvent, do this outside in a good breeze with no sources of ignition nearby, or use Simple Green to be a lot safer. If you turn yourself into Richard Pryor or burn down the garage by using a flammable solvent, don't blame me - I warned you. I also cleaned oil from the in and out horns with a cloth as far in as I could reach.

While you have the IC off, you connect one hose to the stiff grey pipe - the other end goes to the outflow from the catch-can. The second hose goes from PCV to the catch can.

That's about it - it was a good few-hour project for me. Have fun...

 

Nice liability statement

Excellent writeup BTW.

 

Rick-
I have the same setup using the Campbell-Hausfield filter. I didn't cut the filter or run the lines backwards though.
BTW-you can pick this filter up at Wal-Mart for $11.00 minus the fittings.

After installing it I drove to Portland (300 miles) to have a 15% pulley installed at mini-madness.
We noticed that the OCC had about an ounce of oil in it so I decided I would dump it when I got back home.
So 300 miles later, approx 600 miles round trip, I went to dump the can and it still had the same amount of oil vapors in it (I expected twice as much).

I went to S. Cal for a week following that and drove about 2000 miles at freeway speeds and never dumped the can.
I went to dump it when I returned home and the level was the same as the PDX trip.
I have a feeling the excess is being sucked back up into the outlet tube. I can't believe after 2000 miles it only accumalates the same amount as 300 miles.
What do you think? What's happening to the excess if any?
George at Min-Madness did suggest that the size of the bowl was insufficient and that the occ would fill up pretty quick.

 

Bob - that's interesting. I ran mine for the first day or so with the flow going in the top and out thru the truncated filter, and the oil apparently condensed on the bowl, as the filter stayed clean while a half-dozen drops appeared in the bowl.

I then reversed the flow yesterday - in thru the filter tube, and it started soaking up oil. I ran for maybe 40 miles since, and the filter is now saturated and had a small drip hanging from it after a spirited run through the local twisties.

It may simply be that if you are just highway cruising without using any boost, there is minimal blowby. Try a few miles running it hard, and see if it starts to accumulate again.

You might also run a q-tip up the outlet hose to see if any oil shows up there, as it might if the vapor is just going in and out again, but it looks like you had some condensate earlier. Also, check to see that one of the hoses isn't kinked or pinched somewhere.

If it worked earlier and the hoses are OK, I wouldn't worry about it - my feeling is that there probably just isn't much blowby during moderate driving.

 

While I'm glad to see people getting results, my concern parrallels George of Mini-madness that the bowl is too small to fully do the job.

Adding copper brillo type stuffing in the bowl might help. I noticed a difference (i.e. collected more oil) when I added it to my home made OCC.

I can't tell from the pics but do the "in" pipe and "out" pipe face one another inside the gadget? If yes (again I can't see) it might help if you could put a 90 degree elbow on the "in" side so the air is aimed to the bottom of the bowl so the air takes a longer and less direct path to the out tube.

 

In the tank top, the inflow is deflected into a circular spin pattern around the edge, and the outflow goes out a hole in the middle. That's why I reversed the flow and cut off the filter bottom - to send the inflow down the remaining tube of filter toward the bottom, and take outflow from the top, as can be seen in my pix. It's easy to check whether the tank is large enough to do the job - just run a q-tip up the outflow hose - if it comes out dry, then the oil is staying in tank, as it did on mine when I checked.

OutbackBob's unit was clearly working but then stopped accumulating oil, from his account. From the picture of his hose layout, and the fact that it worked but then stopped, I strongly suspect that his headlights may be kinking the hose from the PCV when the bonnet is closed - the clearances around the headlights (especially HIDs) are very tight, as I learned with my first two attempts at brackets.

Another possibility in Bob's setup is that the oil is sometimes staying in the PCV-to-tank hose, and sometimes draining into the tank - it looks like the hose might have its lowest point around the area where it turns around from PCV toward the tank, and it might be that it isn't getting into the tank at times because it is just filling up the hose.

As to capacity, an older motor will probably have more blowby, and track use, where high boost and high heat are sustained for a long time will certainly produce more blowby.

My engine has about 10K miles, and the amount of oil coming out in normal and spirited driving is pretty small. If the tank were to fill up with an ounce of oil in 2-3K miles, that would be OK with me, as I open the hood a lot more often than that, and it takes 30 seconds to unscrew and empty the tank. If you find that you want to carry 8 oz of spent oil around, you can always get a bigger tank.

 

Just remember WHAT causes blowby guys.
outbackbob if your motor doesnt have any HEAVY load on it excerting excess pressure in the combustion chamber technically you shouldnt have excess blowby. I once drove around a SR20DET that would drive FINE around as LONG as i kept it on vaccuumm. the SECOND i would get any +ve pressure that catch can would fill to the top in minutes.
DEFFINATELY stick metal wool inside it WILL help enormously to trap small oil particles.
Another thing to consider is that by putting that can there you simple cleaned out the lines which otherwise would have stagnant oil. empty it and go beat the crap out of the car see what that does and come back to us

 

Since returning home and just driving around town I have not accumalated any oil in the bowl. I also put some steel wool in the bottom of the bowl. I have noticed that the steel wool is wet with oil but no sitting oil in the bowl.

Rick- I don't think the headlights are kinking the hose as the OCC is mounted to the cowl wall and the hoses don't run near the headlights. My photo doesn't show it but I left the short right angle hose in place on the pcv valve and spliced a 5/16" hose to it so it's not kinked that way. I swabbed the outlet hose when I disconnected it from the OCC and it was wet with oil vapor.

sspikey- I was doing a lot of high RPM driving especially when showing off the power of the car to friends/family deceleration and WOT when passing. So high boost may have played a part in the oil accum.

I've started making a different OCC sort of on the design of the Alta but with a breather valve and made of metal. I'll post pics when done.

 

Well I think we now have the essential information from OutbackBob:
No surprise - when driving moderately with little boost used and lower RPM, there is little blowby. When Bob was hammering it, showing off his new pulley, he got a third of a tankful in a few hundred miles.
The good news is that this confirms my belief that the tank capacity is adequate for a street-driven car. It will hold enough oil for a couple of thousand miles, which is plenty for me, since it is a 10-second job to unscrew and empty it, unlike some other designs.

 

I like the logic here that you used. Did you ever try it the other way?

 

Bart - as noted earlier, I first tried it the way it is marked. It was catching oil and apparently was running it down the tank walls, as the filter in the middle stayed clean.

However, it occurred to me that if the tank filled up to where the level was higher than the bottom of the filter (tube), incoming air would force oil up the tube and out the outflow - not what I had in mind.

If I were doing it again, I'd just drill a 1/8" hole in the bottom of the filter and not cut off 1/4", as I believe that the rough surface texture of the filter tube is quite effective at catching the mist, particularly once it is saturated with oil. I don't see any need for metal wool, as there is no detectable oil going out the outflow tube - it passes the clean q-tip test.

 

You used to be able to get sinterd bronze replacement filters for those traps. Like $2.

 

Sorry if I missed it in an earlier post. As I said I like the logic used and I'm encouraged to give it a try. Regarding the metal wool - it could only help not hurt and would use it in combo w/ the current filter. I raise this only because when I was playing at round w/ a homemade OCC, I found the more metal wool used the more it trapped.

 

noob question ... Do people generally put these catch cans on mod'ed cars? In other words, is there any need for these on a car that is currently stock?

 

In a word -- YES --if you saw what came out of my M7 catch can you would get one NOW

Earl

 

Why is the hose setup on this different than the Alta and M7? It looks simplified...

 

Nevermind... I found your second install which answered my question.

 

Just as a follow-up, I found that the $16 catch-can didn't really start to work well until I put a tuft of copper wool into the bottom - I used some cut from a copper pot-scrubber, and it began to capture a lot more oil vapor that would have wound up in the IC.

Looks kind of high-tech too, in the transparent bowl...

And as a lat follow-up, I've started using the original filter unmodified - it catches alll the oil vapor just fine.

 

good for you man don't worry ; where you located it won't get hot enough for an issue . you've got me wanting to do this too . thx ! like i don't have enough sh$t going on !!

 

man i was looking at these shots again and it hit me ...you don't need a catch can you obviously don't drive your car. what do you clean it with it's showroom .