Carbon Fiber CAI's (and those cute little breather filters)

[turbo2gb]

I've got a carbon fiber intake arriving soon which uses a little filter on the valve cover instead of using the hose which ran from the intake to the valve cover. I pasted a piece of an article below from another thread which states that the cute little breather filter can be detrimental to engine performance.

Anybody have any input on that?


Below is an excerpt of the Import Tuner magazine article Oil Catch Cans

Will Oil Catch Cans Yield More Power?

Here's Why:
Catch cans fit between a port in an engine's valve cover and its intake and use the vacuum from an engine's intake to draw blow-by contaminants (oil, fuel, and exhaust gas that seep past the valve seals during combustion) out of the cylinder head and into a reservoir where they can be manually disposed of. In doing so, they also create low pressure within the head, allowing components to move more freely, decreasing parasitic loss. In many OEM applications, a simple vacuum hose is placed between the valve cover and the intake, which alleviates excess cylinder-head pressure and draws contaminates out of the cylinder head, but at the cost of re-circulating them throughout the intake tract; soiling intake manifolds, fuel injectors, valves, and decreasing intercooling performance of force-induced cars. Even more detrimental is when those cute little breather filters are used instead, that neither vent excess blow-by pressure as much as a vacuum-driven alternative, nor stint the build-up of contaminants in the cylinder head-doubly robbing power.

[Super T]

Yeah dude, you're cornfused... the cute little breather thingie on your car is the inlet, you still have the vacuum system in place between your PCV valve and the manifold - you're golden.
What they're talking about is cars with NO PCV system and JUST a vent.

[Warlock]

The 'cute little filter' is the 'in' side at low idle, under WOT its the otherside that really makes the fumes, (where the catch can goes)

[crhemi]

If that where the case there would be one on the other head/valve cover...no?

[Super T]

If that where the case there would be one on the other head/valve cover...no?

No. Air goes in the drivers side, down all the way through the crankcase and back out the pass side through the PCV valve and into the manifold.

[crhemi]

Thanks, I was thinking backwards on the driverside.

[1FST4DR]

Exactly what SuperT stated...

[MAGNUM8R]

My new CF Airhammer came with the cute little breather, seems to work just great.

If it's robbong power I would never know, my Magnum with 110K miles sure woke up with the new intake!

[Warlock]

My new CF Airhammer came with the cute little breather, seems to work just great.

If it's robbong power I would never know, my Magnum with 110K miles sure woke up with the new intake!

I'm about to find the difference on my stainless and a CFAH Pheonix

[aries4life]

I completely removed my PCV system from the intake path. Put a breather on the output of PCV valve housing, vaccum cap on it's input to the intake manifold, breather on the oil fill output and a vaccum cap on the intake filter box port. I did this to remove a rediculous amount of oil from the intake stream which can cause predetonation. I ran a 13.5 today. 'Nuff said.

[Super T]

I completely removed my PCV system from the intake path. Put a breather on the output of PCV valve housing, vaccum cap on it's input to the intake manifold, breather on the oil fill output and a vaccum cap on the intake filter box port. I did this to remove a rediculous amount of oil from the intake stream which can cause predetonation. I ran a 13.5 today. 'Nuff said.

That was counterproductive IMHO. Get a damn catch can and do it the right way, what you did is kinda like amputating an arm for a broken wrist.