My take on a crankcase breather.... with a catch can.

[O's Fan Rich]

I wanted to add a breather, but also wanted an oil catch can...

I wanted to hide it, too.

Yes, I realize the vapors will still be sucked into the engine, but not the oil and at least it'll be twice filtered!

 

[hulkss]

Nicely done.

 

[TomA]

Nice that looks factory good job

 

[fishin1789]

Hey O's Fan Rich,

How is the breather oil catch can working out for you? Has it stopped the oil from blowing back onto the rear exhaust heat shield? Where did you get the parts? Can you supply a parts list? I'm SICK of cleaning oil off my bike from that POS factory system! Your system looks really nice!

 

[azglocker]

I too am interested. Crank case filters are easy to find at the auto shop (I should have 1 or 2 around here somewhere) but I've never seen a catch can like that. It looks like it would need checking occasionally but that's a small tradeoff.

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[O's Fan Rich]

I sourced the parts on Amazon and K&N.
The can is a 2oz aluminum flask. It has a small keychain attachment on it. It's long and narrow.
The filter is a rear axle breather filter from K&N.
I took the air cleaner assembly off the bike.
I removed the keychain thingy from the lid of the flask.
Drilled a 3/16 hole for the tubing to fit tightly into into the flask lid.
I bent the tubing to run from the rubber "T" of the breather to the can location.
The can is connected to the cleaner using heavy duty outdoor velcro, the white plastic stuff.
I then soldered the tube into the lid making sure the tube would go about 1/3 down the can.
I drilled a 3/16 hole into the top side of the flask.
I bent the tubing to run around to the side of the flask.
The tubing runs into the flask about 1/2, it just needs to be shorter than the lid tube.
3/16 hose connects to the tube and runs to the breather.
I had to make a "custom" adapter for the hose. I took a 3/8 hose uniion and a 3/36 plastic nipple and connected them together using Q-Bond ( fantastic stuff,btw).
The breather clamps on and stays put as is, or you could use a tie wrap after drilling holes if you'd like.
I got about $25.00 in it.
Hope this helps, guys.
Oh, yeah, I also filled the can about 1/2 way with stainless steel from one of those stainless steel pot scrubbers. It helps to add surface are for the fumes to condense on.

 

[O's Fan Rich]

Hey O's Fan Rich,

How is the breather oil catch can working out for you? Has it stopped the oil from blowing back onto the rear exhaust heat shield? Where did you get the parts? Can you supply a parts list? I'm SICK of cleaning oil off my bike from that POS factory system! Your system looks really nice!

It's working well. I still get a slight wiff now and then, but no oil mess any more.

 

[azglocker]

Thanks for the info. A slight whiff is OK with me. I had external breathers on my Suzuki cruiser and she always smelled like oil. That's just the tradeoff of having it not sucked back in and burnt off.

You mentioned that your tubes poke into the flask, but I wonder if it would be possible to thread two 1/4"npt x 1/4" barb fittings into the top the flask so that it can be removed easily for inspection/emptying. Worst case would be brazing the fittings on so they don't strip out. This way you could just remove the hoses and pour any can contents out as needed.

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[Happy Glider]

My take on a crankcase breather.... with a catch can.

That's a nice setup-biker ingenuity!! Here're some pics of what I did. You mentioned you wanted it hidden and I can appreciate that. Mine's not hidden but I don't think it's hideous! I started with the can venting through a small filter/muffler but the fumes bothered me too much so I went with another hose that just drops down under the bike like the fuel vent and overflow.


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[O's Fan Rich]

Thanks for the info. A slight whiff is OK with me. I had external breathers on my Suzuki cruiser and she always smelled like oil. That's just the tradeoff of having it not sucked back in and burnt off.

You mentioned that your tubes poke into the flask, but I wonder if it would be possible to thread two 1/4"npt x 1/4" barb fittings into the top the flask so that it can be removed easily for inspection/emptying. Worst case would be brazing the fittings on so they don't strip out. This way you could just remove the hoses and pour any can contents out as needed.

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I got you on that, and it may work.
The reason I used the tube protruding into the flask is to force the vapors to circulate inside, hitting the stainless, condensing, before exhausting.
With the nipples, the vapors could exit without condensing.
Just my brain work.... may not be engineering sound.

 

[azglocker]

Hey that makes two of us. I don't know which would work better, or if the forced circulation would help the condensation of oil. Expanding on that idea, if there were a feasible way to put some wicking material in the can that too may help catch the oil vapor before it continues to the vent filter. If you could stuff a breather filter in a can, then have the can Vented to atmosphere (maybe through a second filter, though not sure if necessary) that could act as your condensing media. At this point it may be too large to fit in the ac housing though.

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[O's Fan Rich]

This is what I use inside the can. Of course I had to separate it to get it small enough.
I also use this in large expansion areas in my air compressor lines. In FL you have to do all you can to remove moisture.
So far it works great.