I'm new to the board and any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

there was a pretty good artilce on http://www.theoldone.com site.

 

lol... buy mine from my old LSVT-T setup....

Plus search the archives for 'catch can' THere have been posts as of recent.

 

Thank you.

 

A search would have yielded this:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=331750


In an engine, there are many pockets of air. Two pockets of air will be discussed in this article: the area between the valve cover and valve seals, and the area between the piston rings and oil pan. Within these two air pockets, oil is used to lubricate the moving parts of the engine. As the engine internals rotate, oil mixes with air and becomes oil vapor.

In a perfect world, these two lubrication areas would not pressurize. However, in real life compression leaks by valve seals and piston rings in what is called blow-by. Blow-by introduces pressure into the two pockets of air and oil (the head and the crankcase). In addition, heat from combustion causes air molecules to expand which also causes the pressure to increase in these two air pockets. If no ventilation system were employed to release this pressure, it would find the point of least resistance to escape, which could be through oil seals...or worse.


http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...d.gif.orig.gif

To relieve this pressure, a system called the Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) is used. It is a closed system that takes the pressurized oil vapor from these two lubrication areas and introduces it back into the combustion chamber, by way of vacuum that comes from the intake charge. It is necessary for the system to be a closed system, otherwise the vacuum will not work. Using what is commonly called a breather filter on your valve cover allows the system to be open to ambient air. The vacuum-driven PCV system will cease to work and this can damage an engine.



The valve cover has a thirty-degree fitting and the intake has an opposing thirty-degree fitting which are connected by a hose. Air is sucked into the valve cover from the intake tube. This intake tube air flows down through the block to the crankcase, where it makes its way to the Honda breather chamber. Most B-series engines use a baffled breather chamber located at the back of the block, underneath the intake manifold. The purpose of this breather chamber is to separate air from oil. The oil is returned to the crankcase while the air continues on to the PCV valve. The PCV valve contains a spring-loaded plunger. When the engine starts, the plunger in the PCV valve is lifted in proportion to intake manifold vacuum and air is drawn directly into the intake manifold. The process then starts all over again.

However, the factory system often can not always do an efficient job of filtering out oil from air. Modified engines with higher compression, turbochargers, or superchargers can be too much for the existing PCV system. As a result, oil mixed with higher-octane gasoline can effectively lower the octane rating of the mixture. In simplified terms, octane is used to rate the resistance to knock of a substance. In high compression or high boost applications, unexpectedly lowering the octane rating can cause detonation that is fatal to an engine if undetected. By the same token, removing this oil from the combustion process allows higher compression and higher boost applications to be run more reliably. What can be done to make the Honda breather chamber system more effective?

A catch can is typically cylindrical in shape and has an inlet fitting, outlet fitting, and internal baffling which further filters out oil from air. Nicer catch cans can come with internal baffling already in place; an external viewing glass to check the oil level; and sometimes come with a drain valve which allows the user to drain oil from the catch can without having to remove it. Brand names include Jaz, Cusco, and Moroso among others, but any container that is suitable to hold a vacuum, tapping in fittings, and the environment of an engine bay will work. If baffling is not included with a kit, the user will have to install a material to catch the oil as it goes through the catch can but which will not release free particles into the engine. I have heard of steel wool being used for a filtering medium, but the idea of steel wool bits floating around in an engine is sure to make an engine builder cringe.

A typical Honda catch can set-up is used in addition to the existing Honda breather chamber system. The catch can inlet attaches to the PCV valve by a hose. The oil and air vapor is drawn into the catch can and the relatively clean air releases back into the intake charge via an existing fitting on the intake manifold. Reinforced clear hoses are typically used to connect the whole system. These hoses are used because the vacuum has been known to collapse standard hoses and because the clear hose is convenient to view that the system is working properly.



Another variation of a Honda catch can set-up moves the PCV valve onto the catch-can itself. The inlet comes from the Honda breather chamber and typically connects to the side of the catch-can. A PCV valve is sealed onto the top of the catch can, and the outlet connects from the PCV valve to the existing intake manifold fitting. A good write-up of this set-up can be found here: http://www.geocities.com/bretq/DIY_O...tructions.html

 

That's an excellent thread....

Just to add, as a former driver of multiple boosted honda setups. I have found that a open loop catch can system runs just fine and also prevents any oil/vapor from re-entering the combustion chamber (which promote detonation)

I ran a open loop system, venting to atmosphere for extended periods of time, and this system performed better than the closed loop, leaving no signs of oil residue in the T/B or I/M.

X2

 

The whole point of the system is to keep pressure from building up and blowing out a seal, it seems to me that any vent you put on there would keep it from blowing a seal. My 65 mustang just had basically an upside down metal cup with tension prongs to hold it on the fill tube. So yeah, I don't see why an open loop system wouldn't be good.

 

open loop systems are great.

they're just illegal.

the whole point of a pcv system is to recirculate the vent fumes. if you don't care about legallity then go with it. but if you want to pass your next inspection (ya i know how often does that happen unless your in cali) better stick with closed loop.