hi chaps,
just been doing a search for oil catch tanks, i cannot find the thread i am looking for. there was one where one of you fine people was showing a mocal catch tank installation. please can someone point me in the right direction?
As i am all in pieces at the moment, fitting remote thermostat and other goodies I would like to do the oil catch tank as well. especially after seeing the terrible burning car pics on the german private site… exige.de
the story for the non german readers… the gearbox oil breather has spat out loads of oil, see the shiney floor.(probable reason for authors’friends fire) this is shown in the first pic. the diagnosis is, all is too hot, gear change bad, and oil everywhere.
the temperatures are measured before and after changes, which include cutting out the phoney rear vents, lowering the diffuser rear mounts, shortening the heat shield to allow airflow,(apparantly series on mk.2) and wrapping the exhaust. and much lower temps afterwards. many ways to skin a cat…
anyway i want a catch tank, if not only for the engine bay bling. so please a link. thank you.
hi fluffy, i have seen the tank on dtweeks. lots of colours to choose from! i will add a barage of questions into your reply if i may.
Demon Tweeks Mocal 1ltr, (mines red with the outlet on the left about �100)
----- many tanks have the k&n type filter on top. i see none here therefore is the cap breathable?
8mm hose and 10mm hose ---- why two diameters?
----is this tank for the gearbox as well or just the engine?
Change one of the outlets on the tank for a smaller size(ask AndyD about this)
---- is this to match the 8mm and 10 mm pipes from the engine??
Velcro (for easy removal to empty it and saves weight and time making a bracket)
---- where is there room on the right??
Stick it to the Alloy in the back of the car on the right hand side.
hi fluffy, i have seen the tank on dtweeks. lots of colours to choose from! i will add a barage of questions into your reply if i may.
Demon Tweeks Mocal 1ltr, (mines red with the outlet on the left about �100)
----- many tanks have the k&n type filter on top. i see none here therefore is the cap breathable? [color:“red”]Yes [/color]
8mm hose and 10mm hose ---- why two diameters? [color:“red”] The outlets on the cam cover are different sizes [/color]
----is this tank for the gearbox as well or just the engine? [color:“red”] I only have it for the engine, if you want one for the Gearbox aswell ask SeanB about his Pro Alloy tank [/color]
Change one of the outlets on the tank for a smaller size(ask AndyD about this)
---- is this to match the 8mm and 10 mm pipes from the engine?? [color:“red”] you got it [/color]
Velcro (for easy removal to empty it and saves weight and time making a bracket)
---- where is there room on the right?? [color:“red”]take the black triangle shaped side trim off (2 clips and 1 screw ) you’ll see the flat alloy [/color]
Stick it to the Alloy in the back of the car on the right hand side.
Easy job and looks tidy when done.
---- do you have a few piccies please? [color:“red”] sorry I don’t but i’ll try to take some [/color]
Calling SeanB or other yoda’s: can you tell me how you solved the gearbox breather tank installation please. ( original k series jobbie.)
i don’t see a reason why i cannot join the two engine pipes together with a union somewhere close to the engine then run this to the catch tank. then run the gearbox pipe to the catch tank. therefore one catch tank for both gearbox and engine. whadayathink?
Mitch, I bought a catch tank from Pro alloy. I mounted it in the rear on the gearbox side to the ally side pieces that hold the rear clam up.
I like you joined both of the engine breathers together and sent it to the catch tank. I then also sent the gearbox breather to the catch tank.
Thankfully I had some issues and I disconected the engine breather lines, now they just vent to atmosphere with no pipes on them, thankfully my engine doesn’t breath so I don’t get anything blowing out.
However, my gearbox breathes loads, and it blows out of the hole on the catch tank that I used to connect the engine breather too, which if I had the engine breather pipes connected it would have blown gearbox oil into the engine.
My next plan is to have a breather tank with two seperate chambers for the gearbox and engine. Both sides will vent to atmosphere. I am also going to put a return on the gearbox side, so any oil that is blown out can drain back into the gearbox, I don’t think the return is something that you neceserily need worry about as I am sure a standard PG1 doesn’t breath anywhere near as much as the Quaife sequential box.
If you do go for a return, make sure you are returning below the oil level, else you will have pressure blowing up the return line as well and it wont allow any oil to actually flow down the return.
But I would deffo go for a seperate catch tank for gearbox and engine.
Pro alloy are knocking me up somethiing now with two seperate chambers, two seperate site glasses, seperate drain offs and atmosphere breathers etc. As soon as I have it I will post up some pics as it may be of interest.
Sean,
please forgive me for possibly missing the obvious, but how can the gearbox breathe a lot?
from where does the air/gas come from?
I understand you have a Quaife box with a cooling circuit, but as long as the circuit is sealed and doesn’t suck air from the outside, there shouldn’t be any pressurization (unlike engines, where there is cylinder blow-by).
Are you sure the oil pump is ok?
hi sean, thanks for your information. there are a few points i am not clear with. if all the pipes are vented to atmosphere there is no problem. that is clear. if the engine breathers and g’box are fed to the same tank, as long as the tank is not pressurised (which it shouldn’t be to relieve pressure) there should be no problem.
is the cap on the mocal catch tank for example, vented with a mesh? it must be i think. as most custom fabricated tanks feature a k&n style filter to catch the smog from the condensing oil. without a breather there will no pressure relief.
A lot of the breathing from a gearbox is due to heat and that I guess. All gearboxes have a small breather, however when I got the quaife sequential it came with a 20ish mm push fitting on the top and instruction to run this to a catch tank. I monitor the temperature of the gearbox oil and it rockets up to 88 ish when the cooler pump turns on and keeps it under control. However during testing with no pump, it easily goes over 100. I don’t know how high it would go as I kind of chickened out.
All i know is that it throws out loads. By loads I mean about half a litre over a race weekend.
Yes the catch tank has two large mesh vents to atmosphere, but it still blew oil out of the other input into the catch tank that the engine pipework would have been connected to.