# Oil catch tanks?



## markpriorgts-t (May 23, 2004)

are they worth using or is the standard type system worth keeping

just debating on buying one and wanted to know the pro's & con's


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## KM BlackGTR (Mar 17, 2009)

*Oil catch tanks*

I'm in same position. Spoke to Rob at RIPS via e-mail this wk/end he says not good to vent oil vapour back into intake !
Now having a serious chat with myself about buying 1 of his combined catch tank washer res/vr.
Luvly bit of kit but fairly serious wonga !
Just need to convince myself to put it on the must have list.


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## Adam Kindness (Jun 22, 2002)

i think its a must on a track car... or a car thats used in anger...

On a daily road car I wouldnt bother.


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## Bucky (Mar 21, 2003)

Install a catch tank and then route the line breather line from the catch tank right to the back of the car otherwise its going to stink the cabin out.

Thats the way I had mine, at first it just went under the front wheels and the fumes came into the cabin, then the pipes were sent to the rear and the smells gone.


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## Sub Boy (Jan 28, 2008)

Bucky said:


> Install a catch tank and then route the line breather line from the catch tank right to the back of the car otherwise its going to stink the cabin out.
> 
> Thats the way I had mine, at first it just went under the front wheels and the fumes came into the cabin, then the pipes were sent to the rear and the smells gone.


+1:thumbsup:


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## markpriorgts-t (May 23, 2004)

Bucky said:


> Install a catch tank and then route the line breather line from the catch tank right to the back of the car otherwise its going to stink the cabin out.
> 
> Thats the way I had mine, at first it just went under the front wheels and the fumes came into the cabin, then the pipes were sent to the rear and the smells gone.


never thought of that mate, did similar with removing my carbon canisters


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## miragev (Apr 11, 2007)

Bucky said:


> Install a catch tank and then route the line breather line from the catch tank right to the back of the car otherwise its going to stink the cabin out.
> 
> Thats the way I had mine, at first it just went under the front wheels and the fumes came into the cabin, then the pipes were sent to the rear and the smells gone.


yes it will just as mine is doing now it smells when i open the windows strangely enough.... but the heater fan does not suck the smell inside the cabin mmmm....

my tank fills up with condensation from the engine every 2000 miles or so.. so deffo worth having without a doubt


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## GOGS 2 (Jun 21, 2009)

i think it might also stop the maf sensors from getting covered in crap


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## ru' (Feb 18, 2007)

Doesn't the OE system pipe it in well after the MAFs?


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## KM BlackGTR (Mar 17, 2009)

Yes it does. But you then sucking oil mist into rear turbo. Not ideal.


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## GOGS 2 (Jun 21, 2009)

i think the standard recirculating dumpvalves blow back into the airbox? when you lift of the throttle. when this happens maybe some of the oily crap could get on the mafs


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## KM BlackGTR (Mar 17, 2009)

No the dump valves feed back in after the mafs & not into the air-box.


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## Asphalt Jet (Oct 20, 2008)

I use the NISMO oil seperator, it has a line that feeds collected oil back to the oil pan.


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## sandstorm (Apr 15, 2008)

Unless your tracking the car or else pushing serious power i dont think id bother..


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## miragev (Apr 11, 2007)

sandstorm said:


> Unless your tracking the car or else pushing serious power i dont think id bother..


you'd be amazed how much dirty water vapour they collect ...not so much oil 

there well worth fitting..!!


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## wagzilla (Aug 9, 2008)

Asphalt Jet said:


> I use the NISMO oil seperator, it has a line that feeds collected oil back to the oil pan.


Do you have a pic of that?


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## MS33 (Jun 27, 2007)

wagzilla said:


> Do you have a pic of that?


I'd like to see that too!


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## Satansbodyguard (Oct 29, 2007)

i got a couple of pictures of the nismo catch can set up from the R34 N1 Super Taikyu car ...


they ran a branch from the cam covers to a small catch tank on the hot side that drained into a modified turbo oil drain line
then from that catch tank can to another catch tank on the other side of the engine bay which had a vent pipe going to the rear of the car


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## EPRacing (Jul 3, 2007)

I would recommand one highly. my first gtr had a Top secret catch can in it and every 6 months there is loads of crap in it. couldnt believe it until I saw it.
then my second GTR is the same when in the Dyno you can see water vaiper coming out the catch tank breather.
so when I bought my current GTR I have to put a catch can in it and while I was doing that I took all the induction pipes off and my god there is loads of oil on the base of the turbo. so I clean it all and reroute some pipes and added a few breathers and a catch can. 
Unless you take your induction pipes off you wont know how much crap is sitting in the inlet of the turbo waiting to be suck in when boosting. so I will defo recommend it.


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## bignath4607 (Aug 29, 2010)

anyone done a step by step fitting guide for catch cans yet?


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## SteffanChyzak (Sep 12, 2010)

Purple Round OIL CATCH TANK / PCV + Fitting Kit | eBay UK

What do you guys think to the ebay catch cans as mines on its last legs and I need a replacement one. These purple ones seem cool.


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## markpriorgts-t (May 23, 2004)

pretty similar to what i have on my car mate, still not piped it up yet grrr,


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## blue34 (Jul 28, 2005)

SteffanChyzak said:


> Purple Round OIL CATCH TANK / PCV + Fitting Kit | eBay UK
> 
> What do you guys think to the ebay catch cans as mines on its last legs and I need a replacement one. These purple ones seem cool.


Like someone else said, if your not running high power stick with the standard system.

Re the ebay cans, well they are quite well made but don't work too well on their own.

The inlet / outlet fittings are usually too small in comparison with the breather outlets on the RB cam covers so you end up having to use reducers or trying to stretch pipes at one end.

Worse though, there are usually no internal bafflies in the small catch tanks and what tends to happen is the water/fuel/oil vapour mix tends to go straight in and straight out again rather than actually being caught, so you will get drips coming from the breather pipe under the car, as the vapour tends to condense in the breather pipe rather than the can. So you will then need a catch can for your catch can... You could try extending the inside of one of the fittings on the ebay type can so the vapour has to go to the bottom, and if it has a removeable top you could try filling it with wire gauze, that might help.

Also avoid anything with a little air filter on top, as you will get smells in the car and get out smelling like you've been working on the car. They are for race use only really.

For a catch tank to be effective it has to be quite big and have internal baffles so the vapour has to go to the bottom of the inlet side before it can get through and back up to the exit side and so has a chance to condense.

I have fitted anodised fittings to both cam outlets and they run into a catch tank all at the same diameter. (2 fittings) The catch tank replaces the washer bottle (half is for washer water) and is baffled inside. The breather pipe (3rd fitting) runs to the rear of the car and there is also a drain pipe at the bottom (4th fitting) which can be closed off, or it can run back into the sump if I want, for normal road use.

I have tried connecting back to an intake (a 5th fitting!) but you will allways suck some oil back into the inlet even with a catch can. The other way to dispose of the vapour is to vent it back into the hot exhaust downpipe, that'll take car of it but it would most likely give more black smoke out of the back...

I'm not sure there is a perfect solution..


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## arch177 (Mar 29, 2011)

miragev said:


> you'd be amazed how much dirty water vapour they collect ...not so much oil
> 
> there well worth fitting..!!


I'l second that, It's a very good idea some of the filth that drains out of my catch tank, i certainly wouldn't want going back into my engine!!


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## godzirra (Sep 16, 2009)

I think they are well worth it.

At the moment I've left the breathers open (was wanting to find a strut bar to fit my rb26/30 then fit the hoses). 

Went for a high speed run 2 weeks ago and car was blowing huge white smoke!

At first I was devastated thinking it was the engine.

Turns out it was oil coming out the breathers and onto my hot downpipe (single turbo setup).

I'd hate to have THAT amount of oil going back into my engine to be burnt uke:. And I've even got a Tomei 1.2mm oil restrictor!


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## jimmy1234 (Nov 16, 2011)

My thoughts.

Although the rb breathers are large and take 22mm hoses, they do drop down to 16/17mm almost straight away.
On top of the fact that the pcv valve has an opening of like 5mm!
So inlet side you have a pipe of 22mm down to a hole of 5mm within 1 1/2foot, not ideal, but seems to do the job just fine.

Also exhaust side, anyone noticed when they remove the exhaust hose to the turbo inlet, this again drops the same amount in less than 1foot! And if anyone has looked into that pipe you'll see a restrictor, again of around 5mm!

So although folks say keep the breathers as large as you can, as stock they are reduced technically to 5mm to both the pcv and turbo inlet!

So IMO, any catchcan with larger in and out feeds of 5mm will and should technically work perfectly fine on a stock setup. With increased power/boost, the generic 10/15mm cans should be plenty.

I see no mention of the reasons why the stock system runs as it does, and why people choose to block the turbo inlet and pcv valve.
Both those items are in the loop to help ring seal and pull unwanted gases out of the system. By running straight to atmos both sides you have no vacuum and no help.
Vacuum is important on a breather system, bolting a turbo on further helps the cause.

I for one will be keeping it stock pcv side (maybe a small can inbetween inlet breather and pcv), but open up the pipe size to 19mm ID throughout to a custom baffled catchcan which will drop to 16mm only for the turbo inlet.
So all I'll effectively be doing to cleaning the gases on vacuum and on boost.
Do I need to go 19mm, probably not, but seemed a happy medium.

I had thought about a complicated one way valve system which would use the turbos vacuum on vacuum situations, but on boost direct that gas to atmos. Ideal setup IMO, but finding a suitable one way valve has proved near impossible.

Obviously there are other systems including using the vacuum from the exhaust to pulls out the gases, but seems a race only option I guess due to emissions.


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## .::TopSky::. (Nov 4, 2010)

A great investment for any GTR owner, or RB user.


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## BaKaJin (Aug 27, 2012)

My GTR is currently pretty stock only having intakes, exhaust and boost controller. You won't believe how much crap I collected on the maf and the piping, I cleaned them up every couple weeks. Waiting for my catch can to arrive


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## simon tompkins (Aug 14, 2005)

you will find you get a lot more condensation vapour when you have an extended sump.




simon


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## worpdrive (Oct 10, 2009)

Mark lve fitted a couple of these and instead of running a pipe to the back of the car l plumbed it into the chassis rail at the front of the car.
the chasssis rail has holes all the way along but you don't get any smell in the car.
And a plus is the oil vapour will stop any corrosion inside the rail


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## CSB (Nov 15, 2007)

any of you guys know how the triple flow cam baffles affect how much oil is being spat out? Vapour I can understand. Is there any point in fitting a catch tank if you have triple flow baffles? But still need to vent to atmosphere regardless?


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## narface (Apr 9, 2010)

Good question CSB! I'd like to know too, as I've just installed Mine's Triple Flow Cam Cover Baffle Plates and am considering whether a Nismo Oil Separator will be necessary.


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## CSB (Nov 15, 2007)

narface said:


> Good question CSB! I'd like to know too, as I've just installed Mine's Triple Flow Cam Cover Baffle Plates and am considering whether a Nismo Oil Separator will be necessary.


Yeh. Same. I'm in the process of fitting them. But I wonder if it would make the catch tank redundant? Plus I don't really like having pipes running all over the place around the engine bay. 

After reading about the nismo separator it seems like the kit only fits if you have standard turbo/setup? Very pricey though was shocked.


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## Glen (Jan 21, 2011)

CSB said:


> Yeh. Same. I'm in the process of fitting them. But I wonder if it would make the catch tank redundant? Plus I don't really like having pipes running all over the place around the engine bay.
> 
> After reading about the nismo separator it seems like the kit only fits if you have standard turbo/setup? Very pricey though was shocked.


I picked up a nismo separator super cheap and still has the nismo part number still on it.. $100 nzd is what i paid.. Without cam baffles oil is getting spat into my rear turbo. Going to do what the other bloke has done with his setup and put another catch tank in and vent to back of the car or chassis rail.


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## AH_HUH (Nov 14, 2012)

CSB said:


> any of you guys know how the triple flow cam baffles affect how much oil is being spat out? Vapour I can understand. Is there any point in fitting a catch tank if you have triple flow baffles? But still need to vent to atmosphere regardless?


i am currently using the mines triple flow baffles on my setup but i still see my catch can fill up.


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## CSB (Nov 15, 2007)

AH_HUH said:


> i am currently using the mines triple flow baffles on my setup but i still see my catch can fill up.


Is it filling up the same amount as before? As taken from the mines website:



Mines said:


> Mine's Triple Flow Cam Cover Baffle Plate always separates the gas from the oil by adopting three-layer structure that forms the gas / oil separator. This reduces the amount of oil loss by reducing flow velocity of the blow-by gas.


After installing the baffles, I would expect the amount being splurted out to be decreased, a lot. How hard do you drive the car? Cornering? deceleration?


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## ab20000 (Jun 30, 2012)

Can anybody clearly describe how these need to be fitted - have always used them on track cars and simply run them from the cam covers to a catch tank with a breather filter on. Never had any problems with fumes or anything.

For the skyline was just planning on running 2x 22mm or AN16 hose to a custom catch tank with 22mm inlets and one or two decent size breather filters. Seems to be talk of running a line to the back of the car to avoid said fumes - what do you have on the end of this piping at the rear of the car?


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## TABZ (Apr 30, 2003)

Would like to know what would be best to use and how to go about piping it.
Just built my engine and need a few parts to help finish.








.


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## Alex1710 (Sep 21, 2015)

Crap can build up no matter what state of tune, I run one for piece of mind


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## TABZ (Apr 30, 2003)

Appreciate you're trying to get your post count up, however it would help if you looked at the thread post dates.


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## CSB (Nov 15, 2007)

ab20000 said:


> Can anybody clearly describe how these need to be fitted - have always used them on track cars and simply run them from the cam covers to a catch tank with a breather filter on. Never had any problems with fumes or anything.
> 
> For the skyline was just planning on running 2x 22mm or AN16 hose to a custom catch tank with 22mm inlets and one or two decent size breather filters. Seems to be talk of running a line to the back of the car to avoid said fumes - what do you have on the end of this piping at the rear of the car?


Just leave the pipe open. I do this on my car.


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## FRRACER (Jun 23, 2013)

TABZ said:


> Appreciate you're trying to get your post count up, however it would help if you looked at the thread post dates.


Lol


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