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Catch Tank and wire wool
Slater - 21/6/21 at 01:50 PM

Here is my catch tank, it's a SIG bottle fed from the cam cover, the flow is directed down into the bottom of the bottle via a smaller pipe inside then back up and out through the filter. However I do get some oil out of the filter which goes over the ali firewall and makes a mess. Engine is a Silvertop 1.8 zetec and the crankcase breather is blanked off.

I have seen some catch tanks with some sort of internal baffles or wire wool that I'm guessing capture the oil droplets. So had an idea to shove some wire wool inside the SIG bottle and see if that improves things...

Good idea or not?

[img] Catch Tank 3 21Jun21
Catch Tank 3 21Jun21
[/img]


cliftyhanger - 21/6/21 at 04:39 PM

It can help condense vapour.
Not normal wire wool, but a stainless scourer (for washing up etc) is ideal.


adithorp - 21/6/21 at 06:29 PM

+1 for scourer pad.


Slater - 22/6/21 at 08:20 AM

OK thanks chaps, I'll try a SS scouring pad, that's Locost for sure.


snapper - 22/6/21 at 08:40 AM

It looks like the oil in is a simple T piece, oil will take the easy route and come out the filter, I had the same issue, also your pipe looks very small, I run 13mm & 16mm internal diameter hose


adithorp - 22/6/21 at 09:19 AM

Hadn't looked at the picture before. You really need an inlet pipe into the bottle going almost to the bottom and a separate outlet from the top. Otherwise a lot will go straight the the outlet.

Also what hose have you used. If (as it looks) it's just coolant hose, it'll very quickly swell and rot. It needs to be oil resistant.

[Edited on 22/6/21 by adithorp]


Slater - 22/6/21 at 01:52 PM

Hi, yes it's an old coolant hose, but it's been there for 10+ yrs and still looks OK.

As per my post there is an internal pipe going down to bottom of the bottle so the oily air can't take the easy path and go straight up out of the filter.

I'll put some SS scourers in there and see if it makes a difference. I'll report back in a few weeks.


David Jenkins - 22/6/21 at 03:08 PM

I'm watching this with interest as I'm swapping back to my bike carbs (again!) and will need a catch tank. My old one wasn't too good, and the ones available on ebay are just 'meh' - there are only about 3 models available, none of which suit my needs as they're all designed for 'IN' from the crankcase and 'OUT' to the inlet manifold. This won't work with my manifold as there are 4 separate inlets (I could improvise, but it really wouldn't work nicely).

I have a horrible feeling that I'm going to have to make something as space is limited... I'm not afraid of a bit of metalwork, but it's yet another job to be done... I might be buying a few SS pan scourers though!


Deckman001 - 22/6/21 at 04:16 PM

Hi all, I've recently fitted a new oil filler cap with an outlet pipe from Burtons, I also fitted a CRV ? replacement part that removed the crank case vent bit of metal. So the filler cap connects to my catch tank, and the pipework is tee'd off down to connect to the crankcase vent pipe. The catch tank is also fitted with a small air filter.
When the engine ran before the changes, I had a mist of oil pumping out of the small holes in the old filler cap along with from the catch tank vent.
I now have a small bit of mist coming out from only the catch tank vent so It seams to work very well indeed. I have no wire wool in the catch tank, but I will assess this once I take a few drives out in the locost.

Jason


Charlie_Zetec - 22/6/21 at 04:31 PM

I see you've used a 'T' piece for the joint, which is what I originally ran into a SIG bottle a (long) while ago on a previous vehicle. I changed to a 'Y' shaped piece, thus directing the oil downwards, which stopped any splatter that I previously had.... But as someone said, the longer the pipe or tube heads into the bottle, the better.


Slater - 24/6/21 at 09:16 AM

I've put 3 of these bad boys into the tank, I'll give it 1 week or so and report back on the results.

Under £2 spent and it will hopefully transform the handling of the car. Maybe I've found the next snake oil.....

[img] Catch Tank 4 24jun21
Catch Tank 4 24jun21
[/img]


adithorp - 24/6/21 at 10:47 AM

You didn't specify snake oil. You'll need a special scourer for that


Slater - 25/6/21 at 08:53 AM

Here is a diagram of the inside of the tank as in the photos the flow path is not clear.

It's a concentric tube design with an annulus seal just above the inlet T, so vapour is forced down into the bottle.

[img] Catch Tank 5 25Jun21
Catch Tank 5 25Jun21
[/img]


adithorp - 25/6/21 at 09:16 AM

The breather/filter needs to come out from the top and the inlet should be the one to the bottom. Any oil mist then goes through the pan scrub where it mostly gets caught/drains down, and only gas gets up to the outlet
Any oil will be at the bottom and in your design gets forced up into the breather/filter.


cliftyhanger - 25/6/21 at 03:48 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Slater
I've put 3 of these bad boys into the tank, I'll give it 1 week or so and report back on the results.

Under £2 spent and it will hopefully transform the handling of the car. Maybe I've found the next snake oil.....

[img] Catch Tank 4 24jun21
Catch Tank 4 24jun21
[/img]


Posh ones! Mine came from the pound shop. And you get 6. So 3 left over for a valentines/birthday/christmas gift for the lady wife;


Slater - 26/6/21 at 12:07 PM

quote:

The breather/filter needs to come out from the top and the inlet should be the one to the bottom. Any oil mist then goes through the pan scrub where it mostly gets caught/drains down, and only gas gets up to the outlet
Any oil will be at the bottom and in your design gets forced up into the breather/filter.



Good point Mr adithorp, I'll see if I can maybe change the direction of flow on the concentric tubes somehow, or shorten the skinny pipe so it's never immersed in the oil. And also check/drain the tank more frequently. But now overall I think I need two separate ports, inlet and outlet, for best solution.


adithorp - 26/6/21 at 02:32 PM

Just swap the inlet pipe and filter around.


Slater - 28/6/21 at 08:28 AM

quote:

Just swap the inlet pipe and filter around.



Yep, good plan. I did think of that too....in the middle of the night.

Here it is, I now need to wait for some decent weather to try it out.


[img] Catch Tank 6 28Jun21
Catch Tank 6 28Jun21
[/img]


Slater - 9/7/21 at 01:58 PM

I can happily now report, after doing some miles, that it's all sorted.......no more oily mess on my firewall.

The pan scourers and swapping the inlet/outlet round have certainly worked. Any crap in the tank does not get pushed up the wee pipe, thanks for the advice Mr Adithorp!


adithorp - 9/7/21 at 05:31 PM