$20 Ebay Catch Can Made Better. DIY.

[Morphs]

I decided to buy one of the cheap $20 ebay catch cans instead of shelling out for a $100 + good one. I received the can and was pretty impressed by the quality of the can itself, but the rest of the design left allot to be desired.

Here's the exact can I purchased. http://www.ebay.com/itm/151097038368...84.m1497.l2649



I quickly realized it needed some work. First off, the inlet and outlet nipples end at the lid, and at the same level. I was afraid there would be a ton of short cycling of the airflow, basically rendering the majority of a catch cans purpose useless. No problem, I'll just make an extension for the inlet nipple, that will dump the dirty air more towards the bottom of the can, and as far away from the outlet as possible. I will also make a baffle out of some .025" sheet aluminum to separate the in/out sides, to further help the issue, and cram some filter material in there to help condense the oil particles and keep anything nasty from entering the intake. Also, the tubing supplied with these is crap. I needs to be replaced with a quality hose, and the drain plug looked like it would be a pain to get to, so it will be replaced with a quick drain. So, I started reading tons of posts about other catch can mods, and with the help of others that have done this before me, I came up with what I feel should be as good as you can get out these ebay cans, for a small investment of time and money.



Here's the can and it's included essentials.





Lid removed, so you can see what going on inside it. Not much!!

[Morphs]

The first step was to install and bend the intake tube. I used 3/8" dia. copper tubing and drilled out the nipple with a 3/8" bit. I went 1/2" deep.



Nipple after it was drilled out.





Tube glued in and ready to be bent, cut to size and relief holes drilled.





Tube being bent with a spring bender to eliminate kinks.





Done.





Tube cut to size and relief holes drilled.





The tube was the glued int the nipple with jb weld and then coated the connection at the nipple with grey rtv once the jb weld was cured.

[Morphs]

The next step was to make a template for the baffle insert. I just used some thin cardboard.



The rough template.





In the lid.





In the body.





Final fit and placement.

[Morphs]

Once the rough shape of the template perfectly fits inside the can, make the necessary cuts to give the two chambers an airway. Also, the flap made from cutting the airway doubles as the filter base for the stainless mesh to rest on.



Template trimmed with filter base holes marked.





I also decided to add a deflector to the inlet side. This piece may or may not help in the condensation of oil out of the dirty air and or splashing of accumulated oil in the can. But I figured it wouldn't hurt.



Here is the deflector template shown with the baffle.





The two pieces get bent and attached together like this.





This is how it looks when installed in the can.

[Morphs]

Next, make an aluminum version of the template you just put together.

I used a sheet of .025" that I picked up from home depot for under $10.

Simply trace the template onto the aluminum and cut it out with tin snips. any rough edges, or size modifications can easily be made with 120 grit sandpaper. Once its a perfect fit inside the can, drill the vent holes in the filter base, bend the parts at the correct angles(filter base=90 deg. deflector = approx. 60 deg. Once the parts are cut and adjusted to fit, glue the deflector piece to the baffle with jb weld. Clamp them together and let cure over night.



This is what it should look like when it's done.





This shot shows the bend angles and glue points better.

[Morphs]

While the baffle/deflector connection is curing, I addressed the drain plug. I decided to go with a quick drain that I picked up at the local auto parts store for 11 bucks and some change. To drain, you simple hold a cup under the can, and push the knurled, gold part up and twist it clockwise. it locks in place and drains. once empty you just do the opposite, and it seals back in place with a spring and two o-rings.



Pic of the valve installed. I couldn't find the right thread size and pitch, so I bought a size bigger than the cans factory plug and drilled/tapped the can to fit. I also used a little grey rtv on both sides of the crush washer to insure a tight seal, since this should never get taken out.





In the package.

[Morphs]

Now its time to put it all together. First, clean off the contact cement looking gasket material that you found when you took the can apart, so you have a clean area for the rtv to make a good seal when you put the can back together. Next, slide the baffle/deflector assembly into the can, making sure it's oriented in the proper position to equally separate the two halves of the lid, and insuring the intake tube side of the lid is in the deflector side of the baffle. This position will vary, depending on your particular installation in the car. So, you need to figure out where you want the viewing tube and hose attachments now. Once you know the positioning of the baffle, slide it into the can and rtv it in place. I used a long stick and tried to be as clean as possible, but it's very tight in there, and makes making this job look pretty almost impossible. I focused more on making sure it would be secure and both chambers were as sealed off from one another as possible.



In place and ready to get a solid rtv treatment.





All sealed up. Let this cure for a few hours... Almost done!

[Morphs]

The last step is to place the stainless steel scrub pad filter material inside the can and prepare the lid for final installation. I also wanted the extra insurance of a final filter material after the scrub pad, so I found some aquarium power head filters at the pet store that seemed like they would be perfect. I tested the filter for heat tolerance by dunking it in 300 deg. vegetable oil for a few minutes and it held up fine.

I cut one piece of the power head filter to cap the stainless filter chamber in the can, and another piece to fit directly over the outlet nipple in the lid,

after I packed the filter chamber with the stainless filter(one pad fit perfectly after it's stretched out and separated a bit.) The filter in the lid is just rough cut to size and attached with rtv. Once cured, the filter can be final trimmed with a razor blade before the lid is attached to the can. The pictures should explain it better.



The stainless scrub pads used for the filter material.





One of the pads installed into the filter chamber side of the can.





The aquarium power head filter material used as the final filter.





Rough installation of the final filter inside the lid with rtv.









The filter material trimmed up with a razor blade after the rtv cured. Also, apply a fresh bead of rtv that will seal the baffle to the lid(disregard the filter material by the cooper tube. That was excess that I didn't trim off. The fresh rtv for the baffle to lid connection is on a clean surface of the lid.





Final filter cap pressed in place on top of the stainless filter, and a bead of rtv for the lid connection.





Carefully line the lid up with the body, and re-attach it with the original bolts. Clean off the excess rtv that got all over the place when you tightened the lid down, and admire your new and improved ebay catch can. This whole modification took me about 3 hours(not including jb weld and rtv cure time,) and cost around $25. I already had the rtv, jb weld, and basic tools this mod required, so those items weren't included in the cost. With all the ebay catch can threads out there, I hope this can be of use to someone.

[Morphs]

Here's the download link for the baffle and deflector template. Print it with no scaling on 8.5" x 11" and it should come out the right size. I put some dimension lines on it to verify.



http://postimg.org/image/ym3zf2rmv/



And here's the direct pdf.

[Morphs]

Reserved for install pics in the car