I added a small handfull of stainless steel scouring pad(the kind with out soap added) in the line coming from the valve cover grommet and going to the separator. My hope is that the entrained oil vapors/droplets will collide with the loose packed SS scouring pad and assist the separation process. They use this type setup on the TDI valvecovers already:
Your install looks good, and all tubes are hooked up correctly. I did want to ask how tight the line to the bottom of the separator hooks on? I can't tell all that well, but the photo looks like that liquid drain line might be loose?
Where did you get the 90 degree fitting that you have coming out of the ccv valve cover hole? I need one of those.I promised to show some pictures of my cyclonic CCV system. It is almost the same as Josh's, but I have not added a drain to the inter cooler. I also still need to add some hose clamps to my hoses. I found out the hard way that the old CCV grommet is brittle and can snap off. I was driving my car when all of the sudden I could smell a pretty rank smell. I pulled over to see oil all over my engine. I bought a new grommet and all has been well.
I plan to make a mount so that it will bolt to the air cleaner housing. For now it is just installed with zip ties. Once I get the mount made I should be able to get my engine cover back on. The hoses sit up too high and rub on the cover.
You can still see the mess I made of my engine when the grommet let loose.
Here you can see the catch can I am using. It is a baby food jar, the larger size. It is just resting there in place. Real easy to get to as you can see I removed in it for the next picture.
And here is how much oil I have accumulated over the last 5000 miles or so. Seems like quite a bit to me, but I am not sure how much it really is.
I have yet to remove my intercooler and intake hoses to see how clean they are. I am assuming this is helping, but time will tell.
It would be nice if you had some reports that indicate that fuel mileage went up because of them. Not sure if you have been able to determine that as of yet?
Thanks for the confirmation on the size, and mentioning an additional source for the elbow. I am still trying to figure out how I can fabricate a bracket that will allow me to secure it to the existing vacuum pump hardware. It looks like I may be able to shorten my hoses up that go to the separator, and perhaps rotate the separator so the bottom outlet goes towards the fire wall. This will put the inlet/outlet line on a more level plane that may help eliminate the lines rubbing on the engine cover. That would also mean I would need to install an elbow or something on the separator drain that would bring the effluent towards the battery area where I can once again use my glass catch container.
Thanks for the confirmation on the size, and mentioning an additional source for the elbow. I am still trying to figure out how I can fabricate a bracket that will allow me to secure it to the existing vacuum pump hardware. It looks like I may be able to shorten my hoses up that go to the separator, and perhaps rotate the separator so the bottom outlet goes towards the fire wall. This will put the inlet/outlet line on a more level plane that may help eliminate the lines rubbing on the engine cover. That would also mean I would need to install an elbow or something on the separator drain that would bring the effluent towards the battery area where I can once again use my glass catch container.
Also, it appears that my addition of the SS scrubbing pad to the separator inlet is making a difference in separation efficiency. I've only had it on for a couple hundred miles but I am already seeing more liquid in my catch container than I normally would. Time will tell a more complete story however. Also I have been noticing that I am not seeing liquid oil in my clear Teflon tube that comes from the lower intercooler and emptys into my separator. I used to see slugs of oil every now and again that let me know it was working. I thought the line might be plugged, so I checked it all out and it wasn't plugged at all. My separator might be working well enough that slowly over time the accumulated oil in the intercooler is becoming non existent! This phenomeon has taken some time(15-20K miles) so don't expect over night results like this
No problem, hope it helps you out a bit. Super cool swap you have going there!
I would recommend adding stainless steel scouring pad/mesh to the inlet of the separator like I mentioned above. This is the kind you would find in Walmart in the cleaning section. Get the kind that you can pull apart gently and make sure it doesn't contain any friable shavings that could come loose. I'm about 1700 miles away from my 10K mile oil change and I will have some post SS scour pad installation oil separation numbers to share. What I can say is that the separation efficiency seems to have doubled since adding the SS scour pad material. FWIW
