[V8RMBL]

Been a while since anything has been posted in here, so here's another one for the list. I'll give you the hot tip before I go any further with this post, go to Glitterbarn and buy an oil catch can, it'll save you in the long run, but if you are like me and pressed for space and need to create something custom then here's a rough guide how I went about making one.

First step I made a nice cardboard template of what I needed, basically so I could make sure it was going to fit where I need it too.


Then from the template I made my measurements and sent the information onto our local forum welding guru and I get back something that looks like this


First thing first I had to drill out the bosses that were welded to suit the fittings I was using, because for most of the system I've been using 1/2" fittings I have decided to make life easy I'd continue going with these. The fitting I use have a 3/4" UNF thread so the holes I drilled were 17.5mm which if you click here you will be able to see that the tapping drill size is 17.5mm.



Then on the back of the tank I have a smaller hole, this is to suit a 1/4BSPT fitting, the tapping drill for this is 11.5mm


Once all the holes were drilled out, it was a matter of tapping them with the correct threads, if you have access to HSS taps then your set, but if you are using chrome taps I'd stress highly to use some sort of cutting lubricant, even CRC would be better than nothing as Aluminum can be sticky when it's being cut and Chrome taps aren't real strong...


Next job was to mark where the opening in the top is to go;


Now in the corner of the marking I used a center punch, you can use a nail to achieve the same thing, but basically I came in 3mm from the corner and made a punch mark. The idea here is to give me rounded edges in the corner.


Work your way around each corner


I've used a 6mm drill to drill the corners, hence why I came in 3mm from the edge with the center punch


I'm using a glorified milling machine for this, but you can do this with a hand held drill, the idea of the center punch is to stop the end of the drill wondering, so you should be all good with a hand held.

Any how, continue through and drill out each corner.


Next thing to do is drill a bigger hole somewhere in the waste area that will enable the Jig saw blade to enter.


Now join the holes on each corner with the jig saw, so that the center falls in


I didn't have any flat aluminum sheet to make the lid, so I used what I had lots of..lol


But because It wasn't smooth where I was to put the screws to hold the lid on, I had to make it smooth


I then cut it down to fit around the welds on the edge of the canister


I had some M8 x 1.25 dome top socket head screws, so I drilled 4 x 6.8mm holes on each corner of the lid through into the canister, this allowed me to Tap the canister to the M8 thread, I then enlarged the holes in the lid to 8.25mm to fit the screws.


Once the lid fitted ok, I then went about filling the canister up with stainless scourers, these are available from any supermarket, I got the the good ol Homebrand ones for $0.73.. Bargain..lol


Then it was a matter of just poking it into the container.


Then I made a gasket up which was just a mirror image of the lid, you may not have to worry about this if you are just breathing back to atmosphere, but because I'm using the PCV valve and running back into the engine I've gone for an air tight seal.

[PWR 051]

Looking good mate..i made a different sort of catch can today,might add to this post with my sory and how to hook one up on a V6

[V8RMBL]

PWR 051, on Jul 23 2007, 05:11 PM, said:

Looking good mate..i made a different sort of catch can today,might add to this post with my sory and how to hook one up on a V6

Yeah mate, go for gold. Anything to help any of the would be back yard mechanics to have a crack

[KITTEN]

Can you just give everyone a quick speil about why someone would want a catchcan and what they actually do?

[V8RMBL]

KITTEN, on Jul 24 2007, 10:39 AM, said:

Can you just give everyone a quick speil about why someone would want a catchcan and what they actually do?

Basically they are an Oil/Air seperator, they stop any oil that could be pumped out of the block accidently through the breather lines from going back into the engine via the throttle body.