Yeah. Everyone is making catchcans out of PVC pipe, Monster cans and everything else lately, so I though I would jump on the band wagon. I made two of these (one for me, one for ??) because it was fun, I had the idea, and wanted to see how it turned out. I like them! On to the DIY.
Tools required
- Drill
- Step-drill bit
- 1/4" NPT tap (optional, but nice)
- JB Weld
- 14mm and 16mm sockets
- box cutter
- some way of cutting plastic, I used a die grinder
Materials and price
- one Fake SIGG Aluminum drinking bottle $5
- one 1/4" NPT Ball valve - $2
- two 1/4" 90° push fittings - $2
- two 1/4" NPT hose barb - $1
- one 1/4" NPT male-to-male adapter and nut - $1.50
- two 1/4" NPT to -6AN fittings - $6
- breather filter - $8
- 6mm OD clear tubing - $.25
Total Materials price = $25.25 - This is more expensive than you would pay in the states because I live in England (for now) and everything is stupid expensive here.
On to the DIY, this was really easy, but I like DIYs. Here's all of the parts I used, except for the tubing and the NPT nut. This is for a vented catchcan setup that does not/not plumb back into an intake source. If you want to run this as an air/liquid separator in a positive vacuum evac setup, you have to remove the breather filter and plug the hole.
The bottle
Ball valve, joiner and NPT hose barb
90° push in fittings (for the sight line)
First thing you want to do is connect the male-to-male joiner, ball valve and hose barb together. Just grab a 14mm socket or wrench and tighten them down and it will look like this.
Now grab your die grinder and cut the little ring off the bottle cap so it's flat. like so:
Attach the step drill bit to your drill and make the hole in the cap for the ball valve to connect to. Make the hole a touch on the small side because your tap will make it the right size for the ball valve.
Thread the ball valve assembly on to the cap and use the 1/4" NPT nut on the back side of the cap to secure it. If you don't have a 1/4" NPT tap, just take your time with the hole and don't make it too big. Your fitting will be stronger than plastic, so if it's too small, you can still run it down. Even if it's too big, that's OK for this step because of the nut on the other side.
Grab your drill and drill two holes in line with each other at the top and bottom of the can for the sight line. If you don't have the NPT tap, hole size is important here. You can always make the hole bigger, not smaller.
Done.
Thread the push-fittings in to the holes and cut the clear tubing to the appropriate length. Then, just push the tubing into each of the fittings like so:
Drill another hole in the top of the can for your breather filter and run your other 1/4" NPT hose barb into it.
Drill two more holes for your NPT-to-AN fittings. I put them on the side as that looked the best. Tap the holes and run the fittings in. Again, if you don't have a tap, just make the holes a little small and let the fittings tap themselves.
If you decide to run this catchcan into a
pre throttle body vacuum source, I set it up so you minimize the risk of sucking the crappy liquid into the intake and you only get the gassy (combustible) vapors. I ran a 6mm ID line off the bottom fitting - to be used as the inlet of the can - so it goes to the bottom part of the can also has some steel wool in it. That line, plus the steel wool will help minimize the chance of any oily liquid getting into your intake charge. A vented can should have a pre-TB vac source otherwise the vent will allow too much air into the IM and create a vac leak. Here's the tube I was talking about.
And the finished product! The ball valve makes emptying the catchcan a lot easier, and what's even better is that you can mount this in your engine bay using a standard bicycle bottle cage! PM me if you want to buy this can pictured here for $35 shipped.
