Yeah, we talked about that a little. Seems Powell wasn't too good with communication. Besides that, the vast majority of what I've been catching is water. I certainly wouldn't want it draining back into the oil pan.

 

That's what I was thinking.

 

Well, I was under the car again, and noticed that telltale oil collecting on the bottom of the inlet hose, at the mouth of the turbo!! That's what got me into this whole shell blasting, catch can building process!! It's baaaaack!!

So I've suspected for quite a while that some vapors were getting past my catch cans, now I know for sure. But what to do?

Like everything else, Google. I read some threads about how to trap water, to keep it out of paint spray applications. So the air comes out of the compressor(in my case, the crankcase) hot. And just like RF2 said earlier, if you can cool it, the liquids can condense and drop out of the air stream.

These painters recommended copper pipe, for it's excellent heat conduction properties. So I ran some 3/8" copper tubing outside of the engine compartment for cooling. Bending here, straightening there, making sure there were no low spots where liquids can collect, potentially blocking flow. Hopefully I can keep more of the vapors from getting past the catch cans.



I had to drill through the upper radiator support for routing, shown by the blue arrow.

 

Hope you don't get pulled over and busted for running a portable moonshine still!
Seriously, that's a great theory, keep us posted of its progress!

 

Yep, mason jars and copper tubing!!

 

Here's something to think about. Try using a power steering cooler. I use to use one like this to cool the fuel going to the carb on a stock car I ran many years ago.
NOS 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 & XL Power Steering Cooler 7-Litre OEM FoMoCo 66 | eBay
Back then you could go to any junk yard and find them. They were small and could fit really anyplace.
Maybe this would condense vapor better than all the tubing.
There are other versions of small cooler available also.

 

This kit is much less than the vintage $199.00 one and includes the hoses!


Dorman 918-301 Power Steering Cooler

 

The catch can system operates at very little negative pressure. Both power steering and fuel systems operate at much higher positive pressure.

My concern is the low spots would be very difficult, if not impossible, to avoid with a cooler, causing blockage in the lines.

Maybe my concern is unfounded, but I'd rather be cautious. I'd rather have a little vapor get past the catch can, than have a blockage, causing excessive crankcase pressure.

I believe that most of the time(cruising and boosting), this operates at 0-4" of vacuum. At idle and just off idle, we see more vacuum in the intake-side line.

Anyway, just my thoughts. Keep the ideas comin' though! If we can use an idea, or part of an idea, either directly or as inspiration to another idea, we can continue to improve.

 

I only used that to show how small it was and yeah the one you show is a bargain. If a condenser is used to cool feon gas for the AC why couldn't you use one to cool oil vapor and collect it?

 

My brain screamed, transmission fluid cooling, for the automatic transmission fluid, now it's screaming, coffee and donuts!!
Yeah any valleys, or low spots for the oil and stuff to collect would be a problem