+2S Mystery Canister

[lotocone]

On a '71 Elan Plus 2S I recently looked at there was a silver aluminium canister, about four inches in diameter, on the left side firewall (bulkhead?) with a couple of hoses connected. One (smaller) hose connected to the bottom and a larger hose, that had been cut and left unplugged, connected at the top.

What is the purpose of this cannister and what is the effect of the top hose not going anywhere?

Thanks in advance.

--
Ken Claiborne
26/4396
So California


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[TimMullen]

***@***.***e:

It sounds like the evaporative canister - it's part of the emission control
system. On my Elan Sprint, it's mounted on the left side of the radiator
support frame. It has three hoses connected, one on the top, one in the middle,
and one on the bottom. According to my shop manual (it's hard to follow the
tubes with a quick check without removing the bonnet), the top hose/tube goes to
the airbox connection, the middle one goes to the fuel tank catch tank, and the
third one goes to the ports on the top rear of each of the Strombergs. The idea
is that instead of the fuel vapors venting to the atmosphere, the vapors are
absorbed by the charcoal in the canister. When the engine is running, the carb
vents suck the fumes back out of the charcoal, and into the engine.

One warning - they can be fragile, and you can break up the charcoal inside of
you do things wrong (then the charcoal can pass through the hoses and plug the
carb port). Also, when I re-did my Elan, they were no longer available
(although you could use another design if necessary) and it took me a while to
find one. I believe the canisters were made by Ford - don't know which model
though. You can see the one on my Elan in the first engine picture at
<http://users.erols.com/elans4/elan.htm>.

Most cars have the canisters, although they are usually made of plastic with all
the hoses coming out of the top.

Tim Mullen

Chantilly, VA
72 Elan Sprint