Krank Vent replacments
 

Kracka Vents!!!

As some of you know, I'm a big fan of Krank Vents since I have seen many benefits in using them both from my personal use and reviews written by others. They are a great product, but a tad ridiculous at $110. Rather than suck it up and drop the cash I decided to source my own that meet all the proper specs!

Benefits I have personally experienced:

Crankcase vacuum (basically suctions the oil dipstick in)
Smoother idle
Increased MPG
Increased throttle response
and much less oil consumption (due to the piston rings sealing better)

Dyno-tests are also showing a 3whp gain on N/A S2000's and up to 20whp on turbocharged S2000's. These work the same way on all cars, N/A or FI. These should help to eliminate some minor oil seepage/leaks such as the oil cap, valve cover gasket, etc. along with preventing the dipstick from popping out under boost. Long story short, these basically prevent air from entering the crankcase from a leaky PCV valve or the breather port.

I'm running a set on my car and so far they are behaving exactly as I expected. One goes between the PCV valve and intake manifold, and the other goes between the valve cover breather port and your intake/breather filter, catch can, etc.

Here are a few pictures:

http://www.dsmstyle.com/photopost/data/547/IMGP1147.JPG

http://www.dsmstyle.com/photopost/data/547/IMGP1151.JPG

Re: Krank Vent replacments
 

Chris has been raving about these G-D krank vents to me forever, and when he told me he found a comparable solution I told him to give me some or I would beat his ass! :)

Seriously though, I have had crap leaking out of my valve-cover drain hose that goes to the factory intake pipe for over a year now, and I decided it was time to take care of it. I got me a pair of these and a nice fancy ebay oil catch can and with a little bit of hose from craig at my local o'riely I was good to go.

Install was simple, pretty obvious here, just scored some 3/8 hose, 1/2 inch might be better for the big side...
http://www.scheides.com/albums/aquam...5638.sized.jpg

See all of the crap on my lower radiator pipe? YUCK!
http://www.scheides.com/albums/aquam...5639.sized.jpg

Wonder what was coming out of there? Here ya go!
http://www.scheides.com/albums/aquam...5645.sized.jpg

I ran the two valve cover outlets into a 3/8" brass T-fitting and then into one hose into my catch can:
http://www.scheides.com/albums/aquam...5646.sized.jpg

Catch can has a small filter I picked up at checker, I may also fill it with some steel wool.

http://www.scheides.com/albums/evo8/IMG_0179.sized.jpg

http://www.scheides.com/albums/evo8/IMG_0180.sized.jpg

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Now we just need to get a vacuum source to that can, Scheides!

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http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/h63.pdf

I am just posting this for people wondering how the PCV valve works. It provides good basic info about the system (even if it is Toyota).

After reading this something came to my attention

"A plugged crankcase breather hose may cause the engine to consume oil because of the increased level of crankcase vacuum."

It doesn't go into detail as to why but wondering if the check valve by the breather hose is really necessary?

I highly recommend the check valve (with a catch can!) by the PCV valve as the PCV valve tend to leak and cause most of the symptoms that you have listed.

Also if you haven't figured it out by the article, you still need a working PCV valve in the car (or should have one)

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So your not going to tell us where you got them?

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I am confused.

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Creating a vacuum is the purpose of these things; if anything, they'll reduce oil consumption, not increase it. A plugged breather hose would cause a crankcase vacuum in certain circumstances, but also crankcase pressure in others. I'm guessing the increased oil consumption is from the pressure periods.

Re: Krank Vent replacments
 

So whats the price?

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If someone was interested in getting a set they could PM me since I have a few extras laying around my apt, but these will mainly be just for myself and a few others.

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So who actually makes these? What was their initial use for? Or did you design and make these yourself?

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A company in China makes the valve and searching around for something that fit my specs I found these.

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Are these hoses capable of being used with this Kracka Vent?

Click

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It looks like they would be. From what I can tell this is just a high-strength nylon/rubber hose.

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why can't i just put a hose of the side of my VC and on the PCV and run it into a catch can?
sorry i have always been confused on these things, the only real thing i know is that it needs a vacuum.
Also i have it setup like i asked above and my catch can was about 3/4 full.

Re: Krank Vent replacments
 

You are correct about the KV by the PCV more or less acting as a "backup" for the stock PCV valve. It does the same thing, only better. On the valve cover breather port the KV doesn't suck any air/gas/fumes out of the crankcase, it just prevents air from entering thus helping to create a vacuum (when one KV is open and letting air out, the other is closed and not letting air in). This system works best with a vacuum source hooked up to both; intake manifold to PCV side and intake pipe to breather side.

Right now I have a little K&N filter on my KV coming off the breather (as pictured above), but in time when my setup is complete it will be going to a catch-can then routed back to my intake. This will be done as soon as I get my mini-battery kit allowing me room to mount my catch-can.

Re: Krank Vent replacments
 

Is that big metal tank thing your catch can? Couldn't you just use something small like this?

Re: Krank Vent replacments
 

I have the same catch-can that Scheides has, which is the aluminum tank next to his battery. Using a fuel filter as in the picture above isn't really a "catch-can" and isn't the idea setup for a few reasons. 1. It doesn't catch most of what a true catch-can does, and 2. Try blowing through a small air filter and one of those fuel filters. Much more back pressure is created by the fuel filter since the filtering medium is designed for gasoline, not air. Under boost (when the PCV valve is shut), the fuel filter is making it much harder for pressure to escape from the crankcase.

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Especially when the media is soaked in oil. One with SS mesh in the fuel filter may work alright.

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Something small like what? All I see is blue....

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^lol yea that pic gives me a headache too but it's all I could find. Where can I find one of these metal catch cans or how are they made?

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Scheides and I both got ours on eBay for a little under $30 shipped. It is best to lightly pack some steel wool in them to help catch and condensate the vapors.

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They are actually extremely difficult to find. I'll let you in on a secret though, there's a place online called ebay, and you type in "catch can" and you can usually find 1 or 2 or 50 of them.

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^dude i tried it and i got like 10 pages of results, now i have one in my car. Its sweet.

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yeah, I was being sarcastic brownski!

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There's one thing I just noticed Chris that contradicts what I've heard in the past. I've always understood that you don't want to place a check valve inline between the VC and the intake pipe. Leaving that line open should better help ventilate the dirty blow-by air out, by not only allowing the old air to go out the PCV line, but by also allowing fresh air from the intake in. By putting one in line with the Intake & VC, I understand that at idle you'll create a much stronger vacuum under idling or low throttle conditions, but I don't understand the benefit of that. It wouldn't ventilate the dirty blowby air out of there as well as if you had the open line allowing in fresh air. That dirty air is bad for the oil, and you want to get that out of there as quickly as possible. If it's creating excessive vacuum at idle, enough that it's actually difficult to remove your dipstick, that seems like it may actually be bad. My CCV system is one of the little things I was going to improve upon this summer, so I actually read up a bit on this subject not too long ago. But my plan only involved using a check valve (as a back up to the PCV) between the VC and the IM. Here's a nice little MS Paint version of what I planned on doing to give a visual idea, using 2 catch cans.

Edit - picture added.

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I think I asked the same question here and thats what it also stated on the link below.

One of the things that KV supposed to do is stop oil leaks

What the Krank Vent does to stop oil leaks coming from the Valve cover and other places is create a vacuum inside the oil pan and other oil areas when under regular driving conditions. remember when you are driving on the highway that the car creates vacuum. So even if you do have a leaky seal, you will be pulling air through that seal to prevent oil from leaking by.

This was my question too if it harms the car to have a vacuum inside the oil pan. Maybe not right away but overtime I wondered if this would cause a problem to the seals. Especially to an old DSM with original seals. It doesn't recommend it in the article that i posted. So I am also wondering how important is fresh air that comes into the engine through the VC is. I would think that it would dirty up the oil a little more.

So Halon I think what you have is actually the ideal situation setup to have instead of the check valve on the VC. If you have leaky seals, just fix the seals.

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I'll post when I'm not full of alcohol :)

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So was i homey.

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Even with the 2 valves, if you have a proper setup, you will always have a vacuum source to the valve cover evacuating any dirty air, blowby, or other gasses. Like anything else in the automotive community there will always be differing opinions (i.e. engine break-in procedures) and that is fine; these KV's are just the opinion and route that I have chosen for my cars. I like the idea of a vacuum in my crankcase to reduce resistance on my crank and pistons. Now another thing I have noticed, is that since I installed the KV's on my Evo my mileage has gone up about 2-3mpg. I noticed this exact same thing on my S2k. I have no way to prove with 100% certainty that it was caused by the KV's, but my driving style did not change and it was an immediate observation I made with both cars.

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Yes you are correct that with your 2 valves, you will always have vacuum. But all that 2nd valve is doing is staying closed when your boost gauge is showing a vacuum condition. I'm not saying what you are doing is wrong, I'm simply asking the question as this is different then what I've heard in the past. Having too much vacuum in your crankcase I had understood as being possibly harmful to the motor as it may start causing oil to be pulled away from components. You want vacuum, but not excessive amounts. Both of our setups should act identical while in boost, whether it be mild acceleration, or WOT, both equally battling the "dip stick popping out" issue.

But if you leave out that 2nd valve, you will also still have vacuum during idle or low throttle conditions, but not as much. You will have similar vacuum to what you had stock. Again, what is the advantage of having even more vacuum while at idle or during light acceleration (no boost, constant vacuum). With both setups, you have the same vacuum source wtill, that vacuum source being the Intake Manifold. But in addition to that, if you don't put in that 2nd valve, you will also be drawing in clean air through that port connected to your inake. I didn't quite understand the whole picture right away, but someone once put it in simple terms that made me completely understand.

It was explained that you're not only trying to release pressure build up as efficiently as possible, but you're also trying to ventilate that dirty air out of there as quickly and efficiently as possible, because it's that dirty blow-by air that likes to cause build up on components, and also causes your oil to breakdown quicker. So he gave 3 scenarios to better explain:

Say you are a young teenager smoking in your bedroom. Your mom calls and says she is coming home early. Not wanting her to find out you were smoking, what is the best way to ventilate that room as quickly as possible?

Option 1: Crack a window and let the air go out the window. (Compare this to just running hoses out of your valve cover to the ground to just allow the pressure a way out.)

Option 2: Crack the same window, but hook a fan up that's blowing out that window to help draw air out of room. (Compare this to your 2 valve setup).

Option 3: Do the same as option 2, but also open up the window on the other side of the room, and hook a fan up taking fresh air from outside and blowing it into the room. (Compare that to setup in the picture I made, allowing air to not only escape out the PCV line, but also draw in air through the intake.)

Made perfect sense to me. Based on my research on the subject, my setup will be using only 1 check valve in line with the PCV. Plasic ones can be had for a buck plus shipping from USPlastic.com. I plan on running the brass one from McMaster Carr for $10 plus shipping unless I'm able to find a nice aluminum one.

Again not saying what you are doing is wrong, I'm just simply stating what I've found in my research, and how I'll be doing it. To each their own!

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While we're talking about this, I've been looking at the different catch cans available online. Has anyone found a place that sells a 2 in 1 kind of catch can? To do my setup, I need to have 2 catch cans, but that takes up space. If someone had a single catch can, maybe a hair larger then a normal one, but had a divider inside it making it actually 2 catch cans in 1, to help save on space. Anyone seen anything like that before? The only one I've found close to that is this one, http://www.saikoumichi.com/DC3_page.htm, but it's just 2 welded together, so not really much for space savings there, but getting closer. I have 4 6" sections of 2.5" piping sitting at home. Maybe I can just find someone to weld some caps on them and voila, catch cans. I do also have an empty seafoam can at home that could be cleaned up with a coat of powder :)

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Good work Brandon, I will definitly be picking up that dual catch can and setting it up the way you have it in your diagram. I easily have the room for it.

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I've been searching these check valves since I started reading this thread because I found it interesting and found this...

http://www.kepner.com/check_valves.htm

This check valve does the same thing right, and from the reading on the site, it comes in a SS version and they have a MN distributer in Roseville.

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Brandon, you enjoy your setup and I'll enjoy mine :)

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Bman we could take care of that for you.

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And we can live in harmony :)

Aaron, whatcha reffering to, making me a dual chambered catch can?

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^yepp

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You got aluminum tiggin abilities? Sweet! I have 4 pieces of 6" long 2.5" aluminum tubes. We could whip two of them up so we each have one.

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its cool, i just got to get gas

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A dual-chambered can would be great. I'll be thinking up ways to make a divider inside mine.