On a quest for the elusive "Dry AeroVee"

[Bryan Cotton]

Bryan,
That filter /catch can from Amazon looks neat. Just ordered one for my CAMit 3300. I get very little oil on belly with what I have, but this looks like it might be an improvement. Thanks

David A.

Glad to help. The can looks pretty good, but I may need different fittings. They are some odd metric size.

I'm considering routing the bottom port to the valve cover to drain oil back in. I think it will work with this design. Any opinions?

[Bryan Cotton]

From the drawing it seems like the hose barb fittings are 3/8" NPT. I've ordered some elbows and a 3/8" NPT to 1/4" hose barb for the bottom. Should come tomorrow and I'll report how they fit.

[Bryan Cotton]

I found some AN fittings at our EAA chapter hangar. Black fitting is in, brass elbow is out. I think it's safe to say that 3/8 NPT is correct. Drain on bottom. There is a hose clamp on the bottom that has been drilled and dimpled for a flush 3/16" bolt. I'll get some support to an adel clamp on the motor mount. I'm going to figure out a way to attach the separator to the strip where the cowl 1/4 turn fasteners are.

[Bryan Cotton]

Mounting stuff is a lot easier if there is no tank, floor, or windshield. Here is my bracket. I put the can in the lathe and turned off the pilot on the top. The pilot was for their nifty steel mounting bracket. I also turned down the plug on the top.

The plug is hitting one of the 1/4 turn fastener sockets. I need to turn it down a little more, or maybe I'll turn the head off completely and glue the remains into the top.

[Bryan Cotton]

I slotted the head and turned off the hex. Now I have clearance. Trying to keep this as high as possible for gravity to be able to do its job on the oil.

[DCASonex]

Do not know about AeroVee vents, but on my old Jabiru and current CAMit 3300 simply routing the vent hose up as high as possible along side the fuel filler, before turning down to the catch can kept most of the oil in the engine.

1/2" ID rubber hoses should clamp very well to 12 mm nipples for very low pressure applications such as vent lines.

David A.

[daleandee]

On my previous Sonex with an Aerovee I had the vent line up high on the fuel filler box. This allowed me to put a 90º brass fitting into the line and that went through the side of the filler box. It had a screw on cap and I used this to add oil by back feeding it through the vent line when it was low and only needed a little top off. This kept me from having to cut a large opening in the cowling or remove it when needing to add oil. Used mostly on cross country flights as I was meticulous about keeping the level correct as the little VW doesn't have a great oil reserve to begin with.

FWIW ...

Dale
3.0 Corvair tail wheel

[Bryan Cotton]

Installation done except for the 1/4" barb fitting in the valve cover for drain back.

Here is the separator mounted and hoses attached.

Wider view. I have to do the 10 hour head torque/valve adjustment. I'll put in a 1/4" barb fitting for the drain when I have the valve cover off.

[DCASonex]

Received my oil catch can from Amazon yesterday, the one Bryan is using, and while it is a nicely machined bit, I have decided it is not going into my plane.

It weighs a ton. Machined from solid blocks of aluminum, and I have too much weight on nose as it is.

Far more important, the bronze filter looks like it will effectively become a cork when covered with a small bit of oil. I assume the inlet should be the unobstructed port with small deflector inside to cause the incoming oil misted air to swirl, that makes the bronze filter in the outlet. It is lower down in the tank and if oil rises to or splashes on it, it will effectively block the venting, The little drain valve has no way to hold it closed, and handle is horizontal when closed making it more likely that it can vibrate to open position.

Looks great, but will remain in its box.

David A.

[Bryan Cotton]

I weighed it at about a pound. I'm on the tail heavy side - too much weight in the seats and I have to make sure my fuel level doesn't drop below a certain level. I had considered taking some aluminum off the top. Not sure how much I took off on the lathe. I skipped the drain valve and instead plumbed it back into the valve cover with 1/4" fuel line. If I was going to do the catch/drain method I was going to put a straight barb fitting on the bottom and a B&S plastic fuel shutoff valve where I could get to it through the cowl outlet. I also put some stainless scrubber material right below the bronze filter, but not obstructing the inlet by the deflector.

If I could go back in time I'd install the one daleandee linked from ACS:

I purchased one of these for my Corvair but haven't needed it yet:

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... eather.php

Got my rockers back on, valves adjusted, and here is my drain:

Hope to be able to provide a progress report soon.