So as its 85 degrees today, I thought I would go out and put together my CCV mod "CA style". So I ordered a CCV kit from RR but changed my mind and decided to go ahead and have a closed system so I went to Lowes, purchased some stuff and came up with this:


I took some grade three steel wool, unrolled a few pieces and made one large piece to fill the bottom 3/4 of the catch can:


I could not find a good place to mount it on the frame so I went a little "unconventional and mounted the top lid to one of the holes under the driver side:






So I went ahead and mounted the can:



Rotated this section of the intake so the hose would fit better and flow better:



Then finished it up so it looks like this:



I know its not as fancy as some and we are required to route the tube back to the intake to comply with the smog police so there it is. Now its off to fix my 91 gal aux fuel tank that sprung a leak yesterday...major drama

 

Every time I use steel wool (to scrub things), I find little tiny pieces of strands broken and scattered everywhere. Sort of like when hair begins to fall out, and break apart.

Since the suction is on the clean side of the filter, I wonder how much vacuum it would take to eventually draw up errant pieces of steel wool that may have broken from the mere act unfolding and re stuffing it into the cylinder?

Can these little tiny bits, like micro logs floating on a wind driven stream, drift up the walls of the return tube lubricated by capillary action, suction, and re-condensation cycles of atomized oil vapors?

It seems like a good idea that you went with a coarser steel wool that is less likely to break apart as easily as some of the finer grades. But the question remains, especially when servicing the filter media.

The CCV engineers at Parker (Racor) explained to me that part of the fouling of CCV filtration systems comes from SOOT that is borne by the oil blow by. At some point, the filtration media becomes clogged with soot, not necessarily or just saturated with oil. On systems tested with bypass oil filtration, the soot on the CCV filter media was found to be less.

The service interval for a CCV filter is accelerated by the amount of soot it is exposed to. While coarse, your steel wool is still acting as a filter media, as it is finer than what IH put in the doghouse, which has two large and immediate drain back ports into the valve cover, and therefore does not "collect" or trap as much material as a captive canister does.

It will be interesting to see how your system performs long term... how often it will need to be drained, and how long it may take before becoming restricted due to soot build up. Fortunately, your design and novel use of the molybolt through a service cap idea will make it easy for you to replace the filter media if necessary. I only hope that the steel wool fiber strands won't break up and wick up into your turbo/engine.

Thank you for rerouting your CCV back into the engine! Everyone benefits not having to breath those oil and combustion vapors, but you of course benefit the most, as you are nearest your truck more than anyone when it is running.

 

I plan on checking the drain every month or so and see how it goes. Next year at this time I am going to pull the can and see how the steel wool is coming along. I am not anticipating much if any oil in the can so we will see.

 

They still make those "Chore Boy" copper pot scrubbers.



Would that material make a "safer" choice?

Jus' thinkin' out loud........

Pop

 

You can also get bronze wool from marine suppliers, and some Lowe's and Home Depot stores.

 

I have read that many have used steel wool so that is what I selected. If there is a better option, I would like to hear it. I noticed that the steel mesh in the dog house is rather tightly compacted and is relatively the same size as what I put in the catch can. As the vapors traveled a whole 4 inches to get to this medium and after 13 years it does not show any noticeable change, would grade 3 steel wool have about the same properties of holding together? I am open to any suggestions....

 

Well, I just repped Springer Pop for his suggestion. I had the exact same product in mind, but I couldn't think of what it was called, or even how to describe it. So rather than frustrate you with "use something else", I just identified my concern about steel wool, which like real wool, has a tendency to break apart by virtue of how it is made.

The Chore Boy type pot scrubber is a continuous weave... it can't be pulled apart into separate strands like steel wool can. The steel mesh in the dog house is more like the Chore boy in it's construction.

Like I said in my post earlier, and in my reps to you for your pictorial post, it seemed like you were heading in the right direction when choosing a coarser grade over a finer, more frail and fragile grade. But steel wool, by it's nature of construction, does tend to loose strands, because while it is bound together, it is not BONDED together.

 

I will have to look around and see what I can find. I looked for those chore boy style scrubbers today at lowes and could not find them. I will look at Ralph's tomorrow (grocery store) and see what is there. At least one good thing is all I have to do is spin the lid off and change the filler so it's a quick fix.

 

Nice job Dan I think that will work out nicely for you. And I am sure it will keep them IC boots clean too. I also hope that you routed the hose coming out of the doghouse up and over the hydroboost and then down to your catch can. And like others have said I am concerned that the steel wool could be an issue down the road.

Sorry to hear about the fuel tank. That's alot of fuel I hope it wasn't full.
You did a good job of explaining it and that was a concern of mine too about steel wool coming apart at some point in time. I used the Copper scrub pads but I wish I would have used stainless steel scrub pads.

 

I've always wanted to use a couple of the copper scrubbers with some charcoal filter media sandwiched in between and wrapped around the scrubbers.


Stewart

 

UPDATE: Well thanks for the advice and my over active OCD, I went out to three different stores tonight looking for chore boy. As the local crack heads use chore boy for their crack pipes, this stuff is rather difficult to find and even when I did finally track some down, I go the stink eye from the clerk who thought I must be a well dressed crack head. Anyway, I removed the steel wool and added 6 chore boy pads that brought it up to the level of the old steel wool. I did notice a small drop of oil in the catch can and took a pic of the 2 drops of oil on the steel wool so I guess the system is working correctly.



BadDogKuzz, I routed it correctly and I even turned the inlet around so the return line has a straight shot up to the intake. Thanks for all the reps guys, makes me feel like I am doing something right every now and then. Now its back to the fuel tank *^%#&!!!

 

Those tails of steel hairs trailing off on their own in your photo above illustrate the concern about the ease of severability of the steel wool fibers.

Wow, and you move quickly too. I don't think I've arisen from my chair in between the time since I first posted my concern, and the time you managed to get out, hit the road, visit 3 stores, defend your intentions to wary store clerks, and install your correction.

Have I really been sitting here that long? That's scary! Good job though!

 

OK, I just GOTTA' know how you found out this tidbit of American trivia!

I somehow can't imagine the store clerk asking, out of the clear blue, "Hey there, are you some kind of SUPER crack-head?"

Pop

 

Maybe the crack heads don't want to inhale steel wool fibers either?

Aren't crack pipes smaller than a Chore Boy scrubber? Even a regular tobacco pipe is dwarfed by the size of that Chore Boy. I can't imagine how a crack head could cram a Chore Boy into either orifice of what the movies have shown a crack pipe to look like. If I were a store clerk, I would have given you the "It's about time more men scrubbed the pots and pans they burn food in" kind of look if you plopped three of those on my checkstand.

 

Chore boy is well known for being the "go to" filler for crack pipes. Living in San Diego, Imperial Beach, and Chula Vista, you see them all over. I also retired from SDCSO as a reserve deputy so crack heads are part of everyday conversation. You would be surprised how many younger folks automatically link the words chore boy with crack. As soon as I told my wife I needed to go buy some chore boy she jokingly said "why you planning on smokin some crack" before I even told her what I needed it for. I finally found some at a run down Walgreens and the 20 something clerk gave me this look and I said " it's for a CCV filter for my truck" and she replied "you can call it a filter if you want it's none of my business" implying that I am just another one buying chore boy and making an excuse as to why I am buying it.

Y2KW57, they cut little pieces of it off and fill the very tip of the crack pipe, just enough to hold the rock in place so they don't suck it down the tube. Among other things....