Oil Catch Can for the Head Breather Vent

[Hethel_Haus]

My '73 Elan +2S 130/5 came equipped with aftermarket air filters for the Dellorto DHLA40s. The breather vent out of the head consists of rubber tubing with a 90 degree elbow at the end of the hose wedged inbetween the air filters (white elbow in the attached photo). I suppose a good bit gets sucked into the carbs this way but the engine on this side looks pretty oiled, perhaps blown out the end of the breather.

My question is - has anyone ever installed an oil catch can somewhere for a Plus 2 hooked up to the breather vent? There is plenty of room ahead of the radiator but it would be difficult to get to the catch can to inspect and drain. Comments with photos on how others have dealt with this problem would be appreciated.

Cheers!
Steve

[andyelan]

Hi Steve

Can't really help you too much with positioning of a catch tank as my car now has the standard breather arrangement , however one suggestion I can make is don't push the breather pipie down the back of the engine. If you do you'll fill the car with fumes and, on a RHD, get oil through the hole for the steering column which will then get all over the carpet and pedals.

Regards
Andy

[terryp]

Mine is in the front, with the tube going under the carbs, then side of the radiator and then mounted near the horns
Terry

[peterako]

Hi Steve,

I've put my catch tank tank in the engine bay beside the rad on the passenger side.
I can drain the tank reasonably easily with it here.

Will try and post pics if you need them.

I've had to route the breather pipes from the head over the cam covers roughly in line with the oil cap to the catch tank.

The breather is on the front side of the rad on the top of the passenger side wheel arch.

I was a bit worried about the headlight being oil filmed. So far it hasn't been a problem.

One of the better tweeks to my car has been to add a catch-tank/breather.
Car is no longer asthmatic

Take care,
Peter

[billwill]

How often do you find that you need to drain the oil catcher tank?

I was thinking of converting mine to a catcher tank too as I hated the fouling up that occurs on the rear spark plug.

[Harvey]

Steve,

Although you have probably solved your problem by now I offer the following catch bottle arrangement that I am using on my '71 Plus 2S. I purchased a one pint plastic Nalgene bottle and cut a hole in the side toward the top just large enough to admit plastic tubing that is an interference fit into the engine breather hole. The tubing runs to the bottom of the bottle and is cut at an angle so that it breathes properly and the top of the bottle is left open for the same reason. The tubing has enough rigidity to hold the bottle in place as it rests on the bodywork just to the rear of the Strombergs. The bodywork angle will hold the bottle with the open top elevated above the bottle bottom. I empty and clean out the bottle whenever it accumulates an ounce or two or fluid. If you are interested in this breather catch bottle arrangement I will send you a picture in another post.

This clever idea came from Ken Gray of Dave Bean Engineering who lives only 15 miles away from my house in Northern California (am I lucky or what?)

Harvey Lee

[RichC]

I did a simple job and replaced the 4inch piece of rubber hose from head to the carbs with one that was about 1 metre long , looping down underneath the carbs before coming up and joining them in same place as before . Gives the oil a chance to condense.
Easy to empty by lifting and allowing to drain back into block , however i haven't collected much oil in it yet .
RichC

[Sea Ranch]

Harvey,

I for one would like to see pix of your catch can arrangement, please and thank you!

And yes, you are a lucky fellow being so close to Ken and Dave Bean!!!

Thanks,

Randy

[Harvey]

Randy,

Here are a couple pictures (I hope) of the Nalgene bottle breather arrangement that Ken made for me.

Harvey Lee

[Sea Ranch]

Ah . . . I get it. Thanks so much for sharing, Harvey. Brilliant, as the British say

[Harvey]

Sea Ranch,

Glad to finally be able to contribute something to the cause. Credit must really be given to Ken Gray at Dave Bean Engineering. He's a wonderful resource that I call upon whenever I'm looking for clever solutions to Lotus issues.

The hole in the bottle is just below the neck. I found no need to secure the bottle because the large diameter plastic hose fits into the bottle securely and the bottle rests against the ledge of the engine compartment. Since the bottle bottom is lower than the top no fluid can spill out of the open top so long as you remember to empty it before it fills up.

Harvey Lee

[Sea Ranch]

Right. And presumably the vent pressure is such that it doesn't "spray" oil film into and then back out of the bottle.

Every car has this issue but you don't often get to see the pressure that's "breathing" into your air box.

But this would keep the airbox much cleaner.

Thanks for your "contribution"!!!!!

[robertverhey]

Forgive an old codger for asking, but are these really necessary on a healthy engine? Of all the twink motors I've ever owned, even worn ones, I've never seen the need for this, and sending the fumes into the engine to be burnt via the standard setup seems an entirely sensible thing to do. Certainly better than venting to the atmosphere, as some of these setups do.....

Robert

[Sea Ranch]

My understanding is the issue comes up with non-standard air cleaner boxes and no place to route the breather tube for recirculation to the intake . . . no?

[jimj]

When I first got my Elan the engine was very worn, pumping oily mist into the airbox seriously affecting smooth running. I got a bicycle drinks bottle and mounting bracket and positioned it below the carbs and connected a longer tube from the head into the bottle. The result was excellent, but, there`s always a but: returning from the Nice area as we hit the steep, windy, bits of the Route Napoleon the car broke down. We freewheeled to a convenient garage (being English I don`t use the word "shop") changed plugs, fixed, set off, same again, came back, changed fuel pump, same again, plug leads, etc. all day. Eventually our insurance paid for us to fly home and the car came on a transporter 3 weeks later. I drove the car off the transporter and the engine ran without problem and continued to do so.
After much head scratching, I checked the oil catch bottle and the condensed oil was almost up to the tube, presumably the incline and cornering forces were immersing the end of the tube. I emptied the oil and all was well. As Pete would say; "*%!*".
Jim