Glad I got a catch can

[Ace0751]

Originally Posted by Angrybird 12

I have the Elite Catch can now and had an RX, the Elite catches more oil and is easier to empty.
Just wondering what he had and has now.

I also have the RX and I think it is pretty easy, I just emptied mine a few days ago all I did was turned the lever and that was that. Don't know where I put the tube to empty it with lol but put a cup under it and a lot came out since the last time I emptied it and that was in july. So to anyone that is considering purchasing one, it does what it needs to do it keeps the engine clean for the most part. If you plan on storing it for the winter then I would get one for all the condensation that may build up when you start it in the spring or if you drive it during the winter.

[ZL1-V]

Watch the ZL1 video where the hood is open and they are checking the compartment. It has a catch can installed. I have one and it collects oil as it is designed to. But then again I rev the car to redline or near it. It's "better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it"! It seems the owners that drive their cars harder take advantage of it.

[ChrisBlair]

Originally Posted by Angrybird 12

Well if you think about it engine fuel systems today are a lot different than those made in the 60's and 70's.

You don't say?

This is why GM makes a top end cleaner, isn't it? I don't need to worry about direct injection.

Anyway, my point was that the engines needed rebuild due to mechanical failure before carbon buildup was an issue. Heck, valve recession was more of an issue on the original engine, and until '90 I could get leaded gas easy. The LS series has been out now for some time and my understanding is that we know how to address these problems. Like I say, the catch can has a benefit, but I am not worried because I don't have one.

[Angrybird 12]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

You don't say?

This is why GM makes a top end cleaner, isn't it? I don't need to worry about direct injection.

Anyway, my point was that the engines needed rebuild due to mechanical failure before carbon buildup was an issue. Heck, valve recession was more of an issue on the original engine, and until '90 I could get leaded gas easy. The LS series has been out now for some time and my understanding is that we know how to address these problems. Like I say, the catch can has a benefit, but I am not worried because I don't have one.

You said you didn't see there was any tech reason to have one and I was illustrating why they are useful in today's engines compared to the older engines that you were referring to.....

[paul84043]

A catch can is cheap insurance. If it cost $500 I wouldn't have one except on a diesel engine.
There is simply too much variance in engines to be able to draw any kind of comparison. You can take two of the exact same engine side by side, one will have hardly any oil returning through the PCV line, the other can have a ton.
It also depends on how much WOT driving you do, that's where a catch can really earns its keep.
$150 bucks, 20 minutes to install, looks cool and I get the gut feeling that it's helping my engine when I pour 3/4 of a cup out of the CC.
Maybe it's a placebo, I don't really care.
I also only use high pressure halogen blinker fluid, but that's another discussion.

[ChrisBlair]

Originally Posted by Angrybird 12

You said you didn't see there was any tech reason to have one and I was illustrating why they are useful in today's engines compared to the older engines that you were referring to.....

Well no, I didn't say that I saw no tech reason. In fact I pointed out a tech reason: oil mist. I have to say that unfortunately you mis-read my post. I said, and I quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

.....

Catch cans don't hurt. I won't say there's no tech reason behind them. I'm not panicked becasue my LS3 doesn't have one. If I'm "in there" doing something anyway, I'll pick one up and install it.

Please don't try to school me when you have simply misunderstood what I said. It's frustrating to have to defend myself against things I didn't say.

It also gives other people the impression I am advocating or disparaging things I am not.

[christianchevell]

WOW... Chris once I tore down a engine, then another, then another, then another,etc etc etc .... FACT: the oil catch can is needed, I am especially getting higher results with conventional oil with high ZDDP in the catch can while I break in my 428. Yes its designed to condense the oil vapor from fouling the intake tract and thus is very different from a old school PCV system which would just dump the vapor back in to condense around the valves it was such a direct route if done that way and then foul them more...as Blow by is Blow BY.....but also it mainly vented the crap gasses on top of the dirty side valve cover right into the environment.... why recycle and clean the gasses further was the old school way as just dealing with the EPA crap sucked and only has gotten worse and worse...why just wait for the CAFE standards to hit in 2017....... Blow by is Not good and has to be dealt with ... Only to keep a engine in tip top shape ....or it can be ignored like in the old days : though ignorance is no excuse.... SO you all that do not want a catch can fine.... It only comes really down the road when its really that bad and say whens someday the car is up for sale and someone knowledgeable looks at it and says wow ran XXXXX miles with no catch can, knock about a grand off the value....

And back in the day it was easy to run the crap out of engines being Iron blocks and all, I remember as a young kid watching my grandpa replace his fuelie head 327 in his 65 impala wagon with a rebuild. When I finally inherited the car many, many years later the 327 was .060 over and not rebuild-able but ran for years and years for me and I finally swapped in a 350/350 combo I got from a chevy RV and stuffed a used RV@ cam in it and sold the original working power glide, and the double hump fuelie heads. And of all the engines I really did up they were all decked out with chrome valve covers edelbrock intakes, headers, cams, HEI's, etc etc..........

And by god if they had catch cans back in the day we would have bought them and coveted them and dipped them in chrome....... And wondered what the problem was with the idiots who did not use them. Or why they vented the blow by gasses with a open vent on top of the valve covers like 99%..... which is where the friggin oil goes...all over the outside of the dirty side valve covers..... And that would be why cleaning the engine there was always a lot of oil on the dirty sides valve covers when a engines properly vented and the engines getting worn out rings........

I am old school..........

[el ess A]

They still should make the old style down draft PCV systems with the road tube (pipe runs down to bottom outside of engine where venturi tube effect draws off the oil vapors UNDER the car). Result? No rusted undersides and oil slicked streets. Just throw more rocks on the road to resurface, no need for more oil. Plus you don't have to empty the catch can!!!

[Moto-Mojo]

Originally Posted by paul84043

And...... ?

Hydrogen generators, vortex generators, ion generators, Acetone in the fuel tank, cow magnets around your fuel line to "organize the gasoline molecules", ectoplasm traps, water injectors - for cleaning those nasty carbon deposits that a catch can prevents from happening... All of these were 'must have' devices at one time or another. All were advertised to 'really work" too.

Just sayin'...I remain a skeptic for now.

[JLSuperfly]

The more catch cans you have, the better.

[two_wheel_mayhem]

I'm looking at used Silverados, some of them have 250 -300,000 miles and no catch cans. Actually no LS motored Silverado I have seen has a catch can on it. I wish they would knock off a thousand dollars.

I think your LS motor will be fine, likely the whole car will be shit before the engine is bad. If the engine does fail it's not gonna be because of lack of a catch can. Port fuel injection is not a new thing.

Real race cars have catch cans, they vent to the atmosphere because you don't really want any of that stuff in there if you run hard. These new catch cans are gimmicky, pricey.

[paul84043]

If you don't want one. Don't put one on.

Simple as that.

[Avenging Orange]

(With much sarcasm) OMG! What will you do!? Take it directly to the dealer....do not pass go, do not collect $200!

[two_wheel_mayhem]

Originally Posted by paul84043

If you don't want one. Don't put one on.

Simple as that.

I wouldn't mind having one, it's just not the emergency must-have item that people are trying to make it out to be.

I also believe the new expensive ones are drastically over-engineered to present a wow factor that really isn't that effective. As in, they still let a ton of vapor get through. I've considered producing my own without the bling, they can be very simple yet effective.