360 DIY: Install catch cans to prevent overfilling the engine oil

So what exactly is this doing? It's only easy to overfill the oil if you don't follow the correct procedure

John.

 

Yes it's easy to over fill the oil system. Just keep putting in oil after it's up to the full mark. It's just as easy to put power steering fluid into the cooling system. Just unscrew the coolant expansion tank cap and pour power steering fluid in. It's easy to pump gas all over the ground too.

It's easy to do a lot of things in life if you aren't paying attention or aren't following the instructions or if you aren't using common sense.

At the risk of sounding harsh, I'm pretty sure I won't add catch cans to my 360 until after I finish putting on a 7" lift kit, 35" mud tires, and a trailer hitch.

 

To the original poster -- where do you end up mounting these in the end?

 

I guess if it works for you.
I wont be adding yellow and blue bits to my engine bay.

 

Good idea actually. Could you post up more pictures, especially on the mounting points and inlet/outlet connections?

Thanks in advance.

 

I suspect he DID read the posting just like I did. And his question is the same as mine. Why are you doing this?

It seems to me you're fixing a problem which doesn't exist in the real world. You can hardly argue that your catch cans are a styling improvement. Plus, I have to assume they aren't free. It makes no sense to steeleJ and me either.

And to the posters who think this is a great idea, I ask you: How many times have you overfilled the oil system? If the answer is more than once, I then have to ask: Why, and what's more important, why don't you stop doing it?

Maybe I'm missing something, but here's how I see it. Yes, if someone knows nothing about dry sump oil systems and/or refuses to read the owners manual he might overfill the oil system............ ONCE. But who does that apply to? When is the last time you bought gas and told the convenience store clerk to run out and check the oil and add a few quarts if it looks low? I don't know any Ferrari owner who does this.

Certainly everyone reading this post and anyone capable of adding catch cans to their Ferrari either already knows how or is capable of learning how to correctly check and top up the oil. Doesn't that instantly negate the need for these catch cans? I mean, once you learn how to check the oil, is it a skill you can't remember because it's just to complicated? No offense intended, but frankly, I just don't get it.

 

It's almost too bad you can have the cans fabricated out of clear lexan. That way you could see how much oil is being sucked into the intake! OTOH, they would also be clear and "less visible". These probably could also be sprayed matte black and mounted on either side of the engine bay above the cats using the lower screws that hold on the engine side panels for less visibility...

 

Cool. Thanks heaps for the detailed information. Saved me quite a bit of headaches with the hose sizes too.

Cheers.

 

Please post pictures, sounds perfect for winter driving here in the Midwest USA.

 

...Rube Goldberg would be proud of you!!

I am quite familiar with those catch cans ($20 on ebay), we used one on our Chump car though we did upgrade the hoses as engine heat did a number on the hoses....I understand your reticence to spend $1.8K for the updated Ferrari part, however; using dime store parts, not securing the plastic hoses (that turn into butter when hot) is a recipe for disaster....All you are doing is adding many new failure points to address a problem that does exist. It's your car so you are entitled to do whatever you want with it but suggesting this as a DYI to other owners is a bad idea.

At the very least you could have picked up something more stylist, this is what I use on my (cheap) race car (Nascar parts are cheap on Ebay - less than $100) - though is does require wiggins fittings and ss line (for a good reason)
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No I did read it, but i'm with Mozella, those that are able to install catch cans can correctly check and fill the oil, it's like the engine bay fans in the other trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist thread, completely pointless! And ugly.

John

 

I got to ask...since no one else has -

Did you slightly overfill to see your cans working ? Seems like one thing that you would do......

 

A solution for a non-existent problem.

 

Winner of what? I am thoroughly confused as to what your system accomplishes - is it designed to make idiot-proof the oil level for the oil system - ie, if you put 3 liters more than you should. will your system automatically purge those 3 liters out or do you still have to syphon that extra oil? Please elucidate what your system does differently than following the OM instruction and using the dipstick? Also how the new aerator is different from the old one when it come to overfilling?

 

I had to read up on the things so now I understand that the concept of "catch cans" is to keep the intake air "cleaner" by allowing the particles of oil in the crankcase ventilation system to settle in the "cans". Is this right? The people that seem to profess these things state that car companies don't install them because it is more maintenance.
I thought car companies love extra maintenance, well at least Ferrari, so I am not sure I can buy into this.

Are you saying that the redesign in the first post was done to get more oil out of the intake system?