fabricating liquid recovery tanks from scratch

flubyux2

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Apr 2, 2005
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im thinking about making my own oil vapor catch can for my car and possibly a combination coolant/power steering tank for my friends car. im changing up the PCV orientation on my car. ill get pics when its all done but for now, im keeping the specifics under wraps because i just want it to show it all at once.

id like to make a square or rectangular pcv oil catch can with a baffle inside, sight tube on the side, -6an inlet and outlet and fill it with open cell foam (like fish tank filter elements/outerwears air filter pre-filters/fuel cell foam, etc). my questions are, which way to orient the baffle and inlets/outlets in relation to eachother; where do i find those swivel elbow fittings and clear vinyl tubing to make the sight tube. the rest of the fabrication should be a breeze cuz my friend's shop has a press brake, shears, notcher, metal worker, mill, lathe, tig, etc.
 

A-model_

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Jun 7, 2006
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Look around for internally baffled Catch Cans . What material do you plan on doing the resevoirs? aluminun would be the most logical , but hardest to weld, and would look super dope once its all tig welded. Do you have any experience welding?
 

flubyux2

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Apr 2, 2005
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poodles, good call. i forgot about how much heat could pull out of the crankcase. shouldnt be much more than 250* or so... but yeah. besides, the foam could break down where as the stainless steel wool pot/pan scrubbies wont.

and i would be bending up the main tank out of aluminum flat stock and tig welding it. i just got started on the tig work but my friend can turn out good welds when he wants too... assuming im not asking him to weld to crappy/old or cast aluminum. the welds on mm valve covers were a huge pain in the ass. im not sure where i could place the tank on a stock car. theres not a whole lot of spare room in the mk3 bay that wouldnt require you sacrificing one part or another. people with emissions testing probably couldnt use this. im thinking ill put it by the ABS unit and somehow incorporate it with a polished cover to hide everything in that corner of the bay.
 

CRE

7M-GE + MAFT Pro + T = :D
Oct 24, 2005
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I would dump the porous filter media in favor of multiple corrugated metal baffles. Greater area for the oil's inertia to carry it out of the airflow and doesn't need to be cleaned or replaced frequently, just drain the tank. That or a light liquid filter media and a submerged PCV inlet.
 

flubyux2

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Apr 2, 2005
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hmm, yeah, i like the idea of that. is there any down side to having the inlet tube possibly submerged in liquid... and resulting in a percolation/bubbler effect? all i can imagine is just increased restriction.
 

shaeff

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Mar 30, 2005
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How much blow-by do you have? I'd assume, by your above post that you have quite a bit?
 

flubyux2

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Apr 2, 2005
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idk, im not sure. i don thave anything on my valve covers right now and i just have 2 circles of oil film coating my hood above the nipples. the circle over the exhaust side is bigger than the intake side. i think alot could be subjective... it seems to chug like a toy train but my diesel truck and my dads flat head ford did/do the same thing. none of them have a pcv system to speak of, just vented crank case so all the displaced air of the pistons moving comes right out the covers... i dont loose much oil, if thats any indication. im only about a qt low after 5000 miles or so on a change.