Copper pot scrubbers. Set of four from the grocery store. Two fit in the housing. They fit nice a snug in the filter housing.

 

Any type of "CCV catch canister" that connects back to the intake without using a "vacuum regulator" to adjust the vacuum as a function of air filter restriction versus catch canister restriction can apply either too much vacuum to the crankcase or an excessive positive pressure to the crankcase! The air filter restriction varies as a function of dirt loading and cfm volume air flow and the catch canister restriction varies as a function of oil loading and blow by volume which depends on engine load.

Here's some pictures of how I instrumented my old F350 to measure the crankcase pressure so I could keep tabs on the CCV hose restriction and on the blow by in general especially when towing long steep grades at WOT. In the pic below the gauge on the left which reads from 0" to 10" H20...



...was connected to the hose going to the oil filler tube in this pic...



...and I could also connect to the gauge on the right to measure both vacuum as well as pressure, but the large gauge is what I normally used to measure the differential pressure across the air filter element to estimate the cfm volume air flow into the turbo.

With my CCV design I had a crankcase pressure of 0.7" H20 at idle and 3.0" H20 at WOT full load which indicates that my rings were sealing well. According to Racor a new engine exhibits about a x4 increase in crankcase pressure from idle to WOT full load. An older engine nearing the end of its service life exhibits higher crankcase pressures at all throttle positions and about a x8 increase in crankcase pressure from idle to WOT full load.

So a crankcase pressure gauge is a good way of monitoring the general status of your engine, and I definitely recommend it for anyone who's attempting to improve on Ford's vacuum regulator design by routing a catch canister back into the intake as well as for anyone running their CCV hose through a catch canister that vents to the atmosphere.

The way I routed my CCV hose is shown in the pics below. I don't think the right-angle bend to go up and over the master cylinder is a good approach because 1) it increases the restriction to flow, 2) it allows condensed gunk to drain back into the wire mesh in the doghouse, and 3) the hose runs down the outside of the frame rail where the hose is subjected to lower ambient temperatures. My approach is almost a straight run that keeps the hose near the engine and tranny and terminates just past the tranny.

 

ernesteugene, didn't you find that it was better venting to atmosphere and having the 2nd vent as opposed to using the cans?

 

I was going to fab mine up but I might be interested in your setup. As soon as you get it all together, I will be happy to look at it.

 

I didn't experiment with catch cans actually installed on my truck but I did attach several crude trial designs to the end of my CCV hose to see how much they caused my crankcase pressure to increase when I revved the engine in neutral. Since I towed a lot of long steep mountain grades I decided that having the lowest possible crankcase pressure was best so I vented my CCV hose directly to the atmosphere.

I'm not sure what you mean by "having the 2nd vent"? That small hose on my oil filler neck connects to my gauge, but that's where some people install a larger fitting for a second CCV hose.

 

Did you see much benefit with a larger 2nd CCV hose?

 

I would like to know the same thing.I have always vented both sides on my old gas engines.

What about venting one side to the atmosphere and one to the intake?
Just throwing that out since were talking about different ways to do this.

 

I figure if anything was wrong with the way I have mine that I would know by now. I know what happens if the setup is to restrictive. Like I said..I've had mine for about a year now with no problems. To each his own though.

 

The way I figure it, sometimes the easiest solution is the best. I just vent to the atmosphere and call it good. At least with that you never have to worry about building to much pressure or emptying a catch can. Just a thought.

 

The green striped hose attached to the doghouse in the above pic is the one and only CCV hose venting the crankcase! That small clear hose on the oil filler tube isn't a vent because the pressure gauge that it's attached to is a closed sealed unit.

 

The notion that your mod isn't doing any harm to your engine because you haven't noticed any adverse symptoms yet is what everyone said who vented their CCV hose to their exhaust! Many people claim that eating a lot of bacon cheeseburgers doesn't seem to cause them any problems but when they take a treadmill stress test they sometimes discover otherwise!

Unless you actually measure your crankcase pressure under various operating conditions you're just guessing if your mod is working ok or not. Racor had a staff of engineers design their CCV system and they still had problems! Some damage mechanisms take many miles before obvious symptoms show up. If you tow a load up a long steep grade there's much more blow by which increases crankcase pressure compared to running empty.

 

I had forgotten about this thread but like I said before I have had zero problems with the way I have mine. When I say I know what happens when the setup you have is to restrictive, its because when I had my CCV mod vented to the air I put a little brass air supply filter on the end of the hose. This created way to much crankcase pressure and I was blowing blue smoke like I had lost every ring. Luckily I put 2 and 2 together in time to figure out the problem before I blew any seals. The little brass filter I used did not look to be that restrictive. I just stuck it on there for the heck of it.

To me venting your CCV to the atmosphere and sticking some kind of filter on the end of it is going to create more crank case pressure because you just lost all of the vacuum effect that the turbo applies to this system.

However, I have seen a CCV setup that was Cummins(I know, I know) approved that vented to the atmosphere but had a fliter system in it to remove/catch the oil. It returned the trapped oil to the crankcase. It may even be what they are running on their new engines to meet the EPA restrictions on the OTR trucks(dont know, I hadnt pulled any hoods over to check them out). They had different versions that were sold based on how much HP you have. The only difference was for the more HP you had the more filter elements were in the system.

As for the setup I am running now, I know to be able to prove to every one that it is completely safe, I should have some fancy gauges hooked to it. In my of thinking that by returning my setup to the air intake I am still getting the suction from the turbo itself which will help eleviate the problem of having to much crankcase pressure. To much pressure is definetly what I want to stay away from. This whole statement is just my opinion and feel free to correct what you see wrong with it.