Oil Catch Can, Eliminate that knock!

Excellent work, can't wait to see what the 2nd can will catch

 

Not as fancy, but effective.

 

Will that pass visual state inspection in your state?

 

No Inspection in Oregon.
All they do in some County's is plug in to the OBDII
They Don't open the hood, they don't look under the car, they don't look in the glove box for a Ice Cream Maker.

That is all

 

Yeah right:, switched all the plumbing back to 3/8" ID today.

 

And...., I'm fabricating another slotted bracket right now, gonna shift the cans 1" to the right. As-is, the left side can is almost hitting the AC compressor, at a couple of points. Food for thought: the cans are solidly mounted on the lower control beam, and the engine (and AC compressor and whatever) is spring mounted, can shift a little.

 

Mendel happened to have the second catch can laying about. The point of this, I think, is for us to learn how much oil a single can fails to catch.

 

Catchama Can Can

 

Bracket Mark I, background, and bracket Mark II, foreground. The two left-end slots are not needed, but they're not running into anything, and maybe in future I might need them, in another application. This was basically to shift everything 1" to right, as you stand at front of car, get more clearance from the AC compressor components. Worked a charm, btw.

 

Me too, that's the primary object. There's an interesting video (linked below), putting a Moroso can in series with RX Performance. When the RX is second, it picks up almost 50% more. And hey, if you've got an extra Moroso sitting around.

Anyway, I'm guessing 70% plus 20%? (Guessing 10% makes it by both.) We'll see.

 

Is that screwed to that cross-beam?

 

Bolted, with four 5/16" diameter bolts. I drilled 3/8" diameter holes through top flange of cross-beam. I'll provide more details/comment in a sec, but Shiba Inu is demanding walk.

Ok, maybe he isn't:

In hindsight, self-tapping screws might have been easier, and secure enough. Or some sort of rivet nut. But what I noticed: there's largish openings in the bottom flange of the beam, for miniscule weight reduction, drainage, or something; I don't know.

Anyway: it's possible to drill holes** through the top flange (from above, reaching down, intake manifold off, coolant hoses shifted a bit), then fish bolts up through the bottom flange openings. A good trick (in hindsight) for accomplishing this: fish a bolt through the opening, up through the drilled hole, and secure it temporarily with a nut, spun full down. Repeat for the other 3 bolts. Stuff rags into the beam cavity, to prevent the bolts from falling back down. Remove the nuts on top.

Now you've got what amounts to four studs protruding from top flange. A little loose, since it's only packed rags keeping them from falling down, but that's good enough if you're careful.

The first time around, I then dropped my slotted angle bracket directly on the bolts, installed and torqued nuts. And then, the next time or two I was jacking up the car using the front/central jacking point, I was hearing creaking sounds. I then realized: that jacking point is on the underside of that beam, maybe six inches over. The beam is strong enough, but it flexes.

So back to the four studs protruding from top flange:

This time I first put on rubber washers*, then matching metal washers*, then the bracket, then a regular washer and a nut. Spun the nut down, but only finger-tight. Then put on a second nut, put a open-end wrench on the lower nut, restrained it (easy to do with pattern of four bolts), put a socket with ratchet wrench on the top nut, and torqued the second nut against the first. This effectively gives a you a finger-tight connection with a locknut.

By the time you do all four bolts thus, the bracket is very solid, but has a slight amount of give, and there's no more creaks and groans when jacking with the front/central jacking point.

* These two items from a toilet base install kit, readily available hardware store item.

** I marked the holes carefully, centre punched (no small feat, reaching down, used some tricky extension), then first drilled small diameter holes, and finally the 3/8" diameter.

There are more eloquent ways to do this, say get what's called a "blind threaded stud", but they're hard to come by. I'm still thinking about it, but this worked, and it's solid.

Another attachment option I've noticed: the Prius doesn't have a conventional starter, and the engine (also used on Corolla) has a blanking plate where the starter motor would be. It's on the front side of engine, just at the junction of engine block and transaxle. Just something to consider. Still that beam has worked for me, easy access when doing oil changes with the engine underpanel completely off.

Here I was just finished drilling. You can see green masking tape, indicating roughly where the bottom flange openings are. I placed the slotted angle roughly where it would work, then traced all it's openings with a pencil. In hindsight, slightly more to the right would be good, say 1/2"~3/4".



First bracket in:



My slotted-angle "candy store":

Vancouver, Surrey, Calgary and Edmonton Industrial warehouse equipment and storage products - Commander Warehouse Equipment

 

OH NO! You drilled holes in the frame! DANGER! DANGER! Will Robinson!
Now the frame with break as you're driving at 90mph! You'll spin, then roll, and cause 20
other cars to crash causing a major tie up on the high way!
Oh the humanities!!!!!

 

What me worry?



Seriously, doing it again, I might go with self-tapping screws into smaller diameter holes. Lay a rectangle of rubber mat under the slotted angle too.

 

Some other options for low mounting, on the engine block. One plus with any of these, they're mounted on the engine, so move completely in tandem:



The top 3 flagged locations are at the PCV cover plate (not installed), and the hatched zone is where there's a bolted-on blanking plate (not installed), since the Prius doesn't have a conventional starter.

 

I was kinda shocked and disappointed to find this in my catch can on my first check.

1,600 miles in 25 days... &*#@$%^!

I was expecting to do this every oil change, not once a month.

I guess I'm gonna need a bigger can. It is deceptively small, there's probably a little less than a cup in there. It's very watery.

 

Which brand of gasoline are you filling up with?

 

Whichever brand the gas station I pull into when I need gas has.

It does smell (not that strongly) like gas... Is this a common thing?

 

Common. Looks like high levels of condensation especially parked outside overnight in the cold giving it the light brown color.