Finished fabrication for my catch can, off to welding!

Bmwfixerguy1

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Jun 5, 2017
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I guess I never provided updates. Catch can has been installed for 1-2 months, and has been trouble free. I don't have any oil smell or leaks.

It's working really well. If I unplug the airflow tube you can see and smell the airflow just being evacuated due to crankcase pressure, and that's without any vacuum. I'm not getting any residual oil into my intake tract either. Draining the catch can gives very little oil surprisingly, but quite a bit of water from condensation buildup. There is still some oil.

At about 5,000 miles I drained the can, and got roughly 6oz of fluid. It caramel colored, maybe a bit more brown.

Overall I'm really happy with it. I believe the reduction in valve cover leaks will be significant.

Good to hear! To yours knowledge has anyone to Yes with a vacuum pump yet?
 

The Convert

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Jun 4, 2017
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Catch cans are very difficult to get data points on. The important things you want to know is, is the can getting oil? That's easy to check, I'll open the drain valve in a few days and see. Next, is the oil staying in the catch can? So I'll disconnect the large vacuum source line and check to see if it's dry, and disconnect it from the inlet tube, make sure that connection is dry. Are you smelling oil? There shouldn't be any oil smells under any driving conditions.

The last thing, and this is the best test but also the most difficult, is getting a pressure/vacuum reading from the valve cover and/or crankcase. So not only is this difficult to get, but it isn't important at idle and free-rev, you really want to see it under throttle, under load. So you'd need to datalog. Maybe someday when I drill my valve cover to add more ports, but not going to do that right now.

The ADE fittings disappointed me. The fittings are different sizes, the PCV valve one being an 8, and other a 10. There's no reason not to make them both 10s, which would be a lot easier and slightly more effective. I stepped mine up to 10 immediately after the fitting. The smaller fitting from ADE, the 8 one, is also machined wildly incorrectly. The flange angle is supposed to be 37 degrees, and it isn't, it is far steeper, more like 65. I'm wondering if it isn't 53 degrees, and the manufacturer cut it opposite. Either way it's wrong. Not a huge deal since it shouldn't be under pressure, but it is more prone to leaking the way it is. I'll report back if I find leaks.

If you want one, you're going to have to pay for it! I'd need $500 per can, and that does not include the ADE fittings. But I could customize it in almost any way you'd like, and it'd be powder coated however you'd like.
Ecstuning sells an oem Bmw oil cap tool that has a vacuum nipple on it for measuring crank case vacuum. It's almost $100 iirc, but if you have a boost gauge that reads vacuum as well, just swap the line over, cap the now open nipple, and go for a drive.
 

Bmwfixerguy1

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Jun 5, 2017
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07 335i MT
Ecstuning sells an oem Bmw oil cap tool that has a vacuum nipple on it for measuring crank case vacuum. It's almost $100 iirc, but if you have a boost gauge that reads vacuum as well, just swap the line over, cap the now open nipple, and go for a drive.

We use a slack tube.. Its a line with a column of water in it that measures the ccv
You can use a similar set up to balance a multi carb set up too lol.. In case you needed to for like a single turbo carb swap lol