The "Catch Can" Explained!

[RJT-SS]

Good write-up but no.....read that one before I bought my headers. I am specifically talking about the exhaust from behind the cats (or no cats) to the tailpipes. I was thinking that it would start by explaining what headers do from a volume and tone perspective; then get into things like X-pipe vs H-pipe, what does the resonator do, how do the stock mufflers work, hemholtz resonator (J-pipes), volume vs tone, etc., etc. Maybe this topic is too subjective but it is a very popular one.

[Apex Motorsports]

Originally Posted by RJT-SS

Good write-up but no.....read that one before I bought my headers. I am specifically talking about the exhaust from behind the cats (or no cats) to the tailpipes. I was thinking that it would start by explaining what headers do from a volume and tone perspective; then get into things like X-pipe vs H-pipe, what does the resonator do, how do the stock mufflers work, hemholtz resonator (J-pipes), volume vs tone, etc., etc. Maybe this topic is too subjective but it is a very popular one.

Ooohhhh. I thought you were referencing one you had already read. That would be a big one to tackle. It might be best to tackle it as several posts. I'll take a look at it.

[RJT-SS]

Thanks!

[carrs_crew]

There it is.....Tracy and Apex Chase helping out again....you guys ever take a break....

Great work guys!!!

[SC2150]

For those waiting for the RX can, and yes, still a wait, your waiting for the only can that traps all or nearly all the oil....pull through is NOT what you want, you don't want any oil ingestion.

Here is an example of what the RX can is capable of even in some cases where the oil ingestion has caused rings to stick and not seal properly:

Hey Tracy, Just wanted to thank you, and everyone at RevXtreme. I bought a catch can from you, for my 2005 CTS. Well since installing it i'm not consuming any oil anymore. I've had a close eye on the oil level since i have installed it and it hasn't used a drop. I don't know how or what that catch can has done to prevent the oil consumption. (I've read your tech tips article and understand the concept of how a catch can work.) I guess i am just baffeled that it something so simple like that could work.

Anyway just wanted to thank you. I was at my last wits end with this car and was about to put it back on the market, after the dealer replaced two motors under warrenty.

I'll be purchasing another catch can from you in the future. I have a 2000 Camaro SS that is getting a turbo as we speak, as a fun project street car.

But thanks again. It was definetly worth the wait.

Gabe Moulden

[jackcobra]

I called dealer asked about catch can they got back to me in two hours.they said that a 2012 ss did not need one.The guys with super chargers said u need one.so installed one vented both sides after three months got no oil in can.Took of car and sold it.Can anyone prove otherwise. thanks jack

[Firefighter]

Well my 2013 has two catch cans. The factory 1LE "clean side" and an Elite "dirty side". The 1LE can drains back into the valve cover it is supposedly only for maybe 3% of the oil. The Elite CC got emptied after 600 miles or so when I did my first oil change it had about 2-3cc of oil in it. That was at 1500 miles now the car has about 2900 miles and the can has about 4-5cc in it.

Come to your own conclusions but I KNOW the Catch Cans are more than a good idea on the LS motors.

I suggest you may have had the can plumbed backwards.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[Apex Motorsports]

Originally Posted by jackcobra

I called dealer asked about catch can they got back to me in two hours.they said that a 2012 ss did not need one.The guys with super chargers said u need one.so installed one vented both sides after three months got no oil in can.Took of car and sold it.Can anyone prove otherwise. thanks jack

This is not hocus pocus. Anyone who has dealt with myself or anyone else at Apex Motorsports knows we do not deal in that sort of thing. It is simply the nature of modern engines and it has been studied and very well documented. The "power and MPG robbing gunk" they refer to in a lot of the gasoline commercials these days is exactly what we are taking about. GM has technical service bulletins on this problem and they (and every other auto manufacturer) recommend you come in every 12-15k miles and spend $150-$450 on TB and upper induction cleaning to remove the "gunk" caused by the oil ingestion (restore MPG and power is how they word it). This is what a catch can prevents.

Pull off your throttle body and take a look inside your intake manifold. This Camaro was days old.



Ameer Haider, GM’s assistant chief engineer for V6 engines, certainly knows the problem, telling AutoObserver, “DI engines are prone to forming oily deposits on the intake valves, unlike in port fuel-injected engines, where a constant spray of fuel into the port allows any deposits to wash away. With DI engines, the fuel gets injected directly into the combustion chamber, so there isn't a chance for the deposits to wash away.”

Deposits on LLT intake valves after 28,000 miles without a catch can.



The LLT intake manifold on the left runs a catch can, the one of the right does not.



I can not say why you didn't catch any oil in your catch can, there are any number of reasons why that could be and you didn't provide enough info to try and diagnose it. But here on Camaro5 there are hundreds of photos from members showing off what they have drained from their catch cans. Here are a few I found with a quick search.

[SC2150]

Originally Posted by jackcobra

I called dealer asked about catch can they got back to me in two hours.they said that a 2012 ss did not need one.The guys with super chargers said u need one.so installed one vented both sides after three months got no oil in can.Took of car and sold it.Can anyone prove otherwise. thanks jack

You state "vented both sides". That sounds like you defeated the evacuation process.....can you go into more detail, and what can you used? Exactly how it was routed...

Thx!

[CBRpilot]

Saikou Micchi shows a cutaway of their product. I'd like to see the same for RX before I make my decision. This is neat to me because I work in O&G and deal with filter separators and coalescing filters on a daily basis, so the idea is very intuitive to me.

Also, what type of material and what density are you using for your packing? Do you have the ability to take it out and clean it every so often?

Edit: I see that the bottom of the can is threaded and utilizes an o-ring seal. Doesn't this make for a messy clean up/emptying process if the bottom of the can is not easy to access?

Double edit: What type of flow rates does the PCV system see? Would you say it's about like blowing out through whatever size tubing the system uses at a moderate rate, huffing and puffing, or barely blowing through? I ask because if it's a medium or slower rate, the design could use inverted V-shaped baffles to do initial coalescing of liquids, and the filter portion wouldn't clog nearly as fast. Just some food for thought.

[Nutbutt]

I went with the Saikou Micchi due to the two step system, and the ability to customize for my FI system. I had the RX on my coupe but decided to change on my vert. For the price you can't match a custom Saikou Micchi catch can. They can do other drain system, you just have to ask. Every can is custom.

[SC2150]

Nut...it appears your running the clean and the dirty side together? Let me know details how that is evacuating/flushing the damaging compounds from the crankcase.

The SM is the best can just below the RX in pull through testing. It drains with the same drain the RX can does, but only has media in the main chamber and no flow controlling cheackvalves. Still, it is the optimine size (any smaller will allow pull through no matter what) and that is one of its best features.

Think of the way the crankcase evac is designed from the factory. Clean filtered fresh air enters (on the v6) the drivers side valve cover, where it is drawn past the rockers and valvetrain, down into the crankcase where it is flushing, and pushing the damaging combustion byproducts along with and up the passenger side, past the valvetrain there and out the rear of the passengerside valve cover. This keeps all the damaging compounds from ever staying in the crankcase (think a room with a open window on one side, and a fan in a window on the opposite drawing out the stale air in the room replacing it with fresh constantly).

Now, if you mix the clean side tube into a can with the dirty side tube, you have defeated any evacuation/flushing and are only venting pressure and water vapor with it.

Follow? Let me know details on how your running it if I am missing anything on your setup. Lets go over details on this so I understand how your keeping the engine from premature wear from the compounds left in the crankcase.



Here is the RX can dissected. 4 chambers, 3 steps, and the oil laden vapors are never mixed with the separated vapors with 14" between the inlet and outlet:





The vapors travel down a separate down tube that passes through the outlet chambers center, then is perforated allowing the vapors to evenly disperse into the coalescing chamber where 95% of the oil is separated into droplets that exit the bottom into the condensing chamber. Then the vapors are drawn past the lower disc baffle into a condensing chamber where they are forced to contact the entire outer surface to cool and condense any remaining oil to droplets that fall back into the collection chamber for disposal later. They finally pass the upper disc baffle into the separate outlet chamber where they can slow once more and exit the outlet valve(s) where any backflow, or reversion is stopped when at WOT and vacuum is not present to maintain the flow in one direction.

No other can on the market has these features, these steps, and keeping all cleaned vapors totally separate from the oil laden ones entering the can.

[sub zero]

i found RX dual and single valves , wich one i should go for ?

[The Stig]

Originally Posted by sub zero

i found RX dual and single valves , wich one i should go for ?

Single