Stainless wool inside breather box?

[cat007]

Hi all

My breather box isn't baffled, so I was thinking of stuffing a whole bunch of stainless steal kitchen scrubbers into it.

Is this the best idea? Short of getting a breather box with baffles of course....

[Mr Ree]

Yes, good quality, thick steel wool is ok to use as a baffle, but dont go near the more fragile brillo pad type bizzo.

Obviously it pays to rinse out the steelos in lots of water before installing them, as they often have loose bits and pieces in them, which you dont want making its way back into your snails mouth

[cat007]

Yes, good quality, thick steel wool is ok to use as a baffle, but dont go near the more fragile brillo pad type bizzo.

Obviously it pays to rinse out the steelos in lots of water before installing them, as they often have loose bits and pieces in them, which you dont want making its way back into your snails mouth

That's assuming I'm venting back to intake....which I don't plan on doing just yet

[DexGT]

I use the goldilocks ones as being made from brass they don't rust .

[Mr Ree]

Yes, good quality, thick steel wool is ok to use as a baffle, but dont go near the more fragile brillo pad type bizzo.

Obviously it pays to rinse out the steelos in lots of water before installing them, as they often have loose bits and pieces in them, which you dont want making its way back into your snails mouth

That's assuming I'm venting back to intake....which I don't plan on doing just yet

Why? It just makes no sense to not run it properly.

Its one hose, and a fitting welded to your intake, then your system will work as designed.

[cat007]

Because I don't want my intake and intercooler lines coated in oil....

[GDII]

Isn't that what the steel wool/baffles in a breather box/catch can does? Removes oil vapor from the air to stop it going back into the intake?

[cat007]

Isn't that what the steel wool/baffles in a breather box/catch can does? Removes oil vapor from the air to stop it going back into the intake?

Good point.
So then if I go the steel wool route, how much should I put in there? Lightly packed or really crammed in?

Cheers

[Bazda]

Circulating back into the intake means sucking hot air in from the engine.

[cat007]

Circulating back into the intake means sucking hot air in from the engine.

However this has been proved to not really be an issue. Or at least really not enough to worth worrying about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCi2yo4UqPI

The intake air was warmer but by the time the air has passed through the intercooler and entered the engine - the air temp is about the same....

[Crucible]

I think mr ree was meaning running vac hose to turbo intake, between air filter and comp housing so it will pass through intercooler.

[matt dunn]

IMO the point of a catch can is to prevent oil vapour from entering the engine

as oil vapours are really bad at casuing detonation.

Also no matter how much steel wool you have in there,
under full load it will not remove all the oil vapour from the air,

so if you are going to vent the catch can back in,
you might as well not have one.

[jondee86]

In the beginning God created the internal combustion engine with a
crankcase that vented to atmosphere, and it was good. Then man invented
air pollution, and the Devil invented the EPA who mandated venting into the
intake tract to burn the evil engine fumes.

People who race their cars decided that blowing heaps of oil and fumes into
the intake tract was not good, and race authorities decided puking oil onto
the track was not good, so the Coke bottle catch can was born. Since max
street cred requires fitting a shiney catch can to match your racing oil filler
cap, but not being badass enough to risk a ticket for violating the EPA rules,
the recirculating catchcan was born.

To improve the efficiency of the basic empty catch can, you need to convert
it into an impingement filter by adding a media that forces the fume to
change direction many times, and provides a big increase in surface area
for oil vapour to condense and coalesce into drops which drain to the bottom
of the can. So yeah, pack it loosly with a coarse "Goldilocks" type product. Vent
it back into the intake, or put a filter on the outlet and vent to atmosphere.

Cheers... jondee86

[Crucible]

The other option is running the breather into the exhaust through a one way valve. I have seen this on alot of V8s where they run one of each bank via small baffles and into the collector on an angle. Supposidly creates a small vacuum in the crankcase from what ive been told, makes sense.

[Mr Ree]

Bingo ^

I cant see why people struggle to grasp the concept that most modern engines run better with some vaccuum on the crank case.

FMS failure, ring distortion etc, are all things to be considered.

Each to their own though...

[Crucible]

IMG_2014031512635.jpg (70.26 KiB) Viewed 5730 times

Click on pic for full image^

You can pick the valves up from v8 speed shops. Nothing stopping you from running it from a catch can packed with wool aswell if there was worry about oil burning in exhaust. The tube going into the exh is cut on a 45deg angle so the opening is facing away from exh gases so it creates a vacuum pocket etc.

[jondee86]

Kind of interesting...
http://www.summitracing.com/int/search/part-type/crankcase-evacuation-systems
... but somewhat unconvincing. Most of them say "not to be used on vehicles with
mufflers". And this would seem to indicate that the scavenging effect is minimal,
and not sufficient to overcome the backpressure of the muffler.

Cheers... jondee86

[Crucible]

Run resonators instead of mufflers.

In most turbo applications you would anyhow..well I would, did. Especially if the turbo is on the larger side. Any slight vac in the crankcase is better than 0 or positive, no?

[cat007]

Run resonators instead of mufflers.

In most turbo applications you would anyhow..well I would, did. Especially if the turbo is on the larger side. Any slight vac in the crankcase is better than 0 or positive, no?

What resonator would you recommend and still be legal?

[Crucible]

I ran three large ones on my old trueno, two in the centre and stainless one at the back, no mufflers. Was reosonably quiet, enough to pass a wof and take out the annoying cackle.