Guide to fitting 3 port oil catch can with return to sump
 

Having just done this I was unable to find a guide so i made one :D
Who knows it might be useful to someone :)
There are some guides for 2 ports but i believe 3 port with return to sump is the correct way. Its used on plenty of big power builds and so its good enough for little old me :D My car is used mainly for b road blasting and track days so return to sump is the safest/most practical option for me.

So here's what I used:

About 2m of silicon hose the correct diameter for the catch can inlets
Another metre the diameter of the breather outlet
Hose joiners/reducers to join to existing breather pipes
2 x 12mm blanking plugs
90cm an-10 braided stainless steel hose with 90degree aeroquip fittings (kindly made up for me by Advanced Automotives :thumb:)
m20 to an-10 adapter and sump plug washer
various hose clips
an obp 3 port catch can (slightly modified)

Your going to have to drain the oil so you will need some more oil and might as well do a filter change too:
Attachment 68047

And here is my catch can:
Attachment 68048
Its from OBP. I wasn't too happy with the design of the drain hole so i welded an an-10 fitting on so its a direct leak free fit for the aeroquip fitting. It also came with a bracket welded on but this wouldn't work where i wanted it so i cut that off and mounted it using an ally bracket that came with my cold air feed and a hose clip.

So this is what I started with:
Attachment 68049
There are 3 breather hoses that you need to connect to your catch can. One on either side of the engine from the heads and one down behind the engine under the throttle body (the crank breather)
The hoses circled in red you need to cut in to and run to the catch can and the blue lines show where hoses need to be blanked off:
Attachment 68050
If you have a top mount it looks more like this:
Attachment 68051

You don't have to cut in to the hoses you could just replace them completely if you wanted.

I decided to mount the catch can on the passenger strut as its the only space there is and allows venting down the transmission tunnel easily.
I used existing holes in the bulkhead to mount it but I did have to move some airconditioning pipes out of the way a bit (removed a bolt and bent them a bit)
I cut both the head breather hoses and joined my new hose on and ran them to the catch can.
I then cut the crank breather after the t piece so the pcv is retained as this was the simplest way. I then plugged the two hoses on the air inlet.
Again red for where i joined the hoses and blue for blanked off. Drivers side head breather and crank:
Attachment 68052
and the other head breather and pipe routing:
Attachment 68053


I then attached the an-10 hose to the bottom of the can with some ptfe tape as i don't want to have to get it all out again. After all, the point of going return to sump is fit and forget. I lowered the can in and threaded the hose through the gaps.


You may as well drain the oil whilst you are doing all the above because its time to get under the car now.

I replaced the sump plug with an m20 to an-10 adapter and fitted shiney new oil filter :D:
Attachment 68054

So this is the route i took with the return hose (keeping well clear of the inner cv joint) and you can also see where I ran the breather from the catch can:
Attachment 68055
Attachment 68056

Attachment 68057


Back up top and all the silicone hoses can be joined to the catch can:
Attachment 68058


Fill her up with oil, check for any leaks and have a well deserved cuppa :D

Nice one Nick. You've obvioulsy got too much time on your hands :D

spot on bud, i was getting lost in the photos what with all the S/S bits you have !

I`ve never really read up on oil catch cans, so ignore my ignorance, whats the main purpose of it, i.e, what is better now than before you fitted it ? i would assume its for the crank case breather system and instead of being burnt off in the inlet manifold it now collects in the catch can and in your case back into the oil system ?

cheers

Was it your car with the pink wheels running at Japfest mate?

yes it was the pink panther!! :lol1:

Thought so - looked like he was having fun :lol1:

:lol1: quiet day at work today. Never have enough spare time at home tho.

Thats right, oil from the breathers reduces the octane rating of the fuel and reduces intercooler efficiency. The catch can prevents this.

How did you guess :o:lol1:

Great guide :) Got the same catch can & need to make it return to sump too. Do you think it is necessary to weld on an AN-10 fitting to the catch can drain plug fitting?

Oo cheers for that :D it's was defo on the list of things to do!

no its not necessary but i got my catch can second hand and the drain hole was a bit leaky/dodgy.

Good write up thanks.

Nice write up. Get a copy put into the Technical Topics Archive.