Oil Catch-Can for ST162 Celica (3S-GE)

[Andrew162]

My DIY for a troublesome oil catch-can.


When the goods arrived. All ok, except the design of the bracketry and the plumbing angles. You can only just see the single mounting bracket at the back of the can (ignore the bird seed that it's sitting on. )



How I originally set about mounting the can onto the firewall, which is the only real place I can mount mine without any issues. Later I had to redesign the shape of the bracket from being a reflex-300* bend to a more modest 140* bend, accounting for the slant of the firewall and the mounting position of the bracket to the can. To get this mounted onto the firewall, I first had to use a hammer and centre-punch to start the location of the hole, and later a self-drilling screw to fix the bracket to the firewall. The bracket is 3mm thick galvanised steel so was a tad tricky to bend and drill through as well.


Finally I had the positioning of the can mounted just the way I wanted it, which is kind of like a balancing act between the front-left brake line (underneath), the strut brace (top) and the bracket holding the can in place laterally. Here I've plumbed up the hoses to the respective fittings. The top of this can doesn't open on this one, so no option for steel wool or whatever to put inside it. I'm guessing that the breather makes up for this.




And that's how it all sits now. Looks like it was made to go there, but not without some fuss along the way.

Project Notes:
Time taken to complete this project: ~1 hour
Difficulty of this project: Easium (easy/medium)
Recommended Tools: a dodgy eBay store member, a hammer and centre-punch (combine all those three together and you have a winning recipe), flat screwdriver, phillips screwdriver, drill, bolt & washers, self-drilling screw, razor blade.
Total cost of this project: $80 for the can, hose and fittings, the rest were all sundries that I got from around the garage.

I know that a few people have done this with their 162's already with varying positions for mounting and all very creative, but I just didn't have the space.

[Andrew162]

update: I've since removed the breather filter from the catch-can and blocked off the top with a plug. the fumes were noxious.

[The Last Streetfighter]

Nice pics and explanation. I think that breather would be illegal for road use anyway.
Did you just use a yellow zinc plated screw to attach teh bracket to your wheel well? Reckon it will corrode and look dodgy (someone did that a number of times in my engine bay.)

Trev

[Andrew162]

yeah the breather is illegal for road use, but running around in a car as stock-looking as mine is, I guess no one would pick it unless they looked for it (or were behind me and smelled it) regardless, I had to remove it. seems to be working pretty well now anyway.

I'm not sure about the screw used to attach it to the firewall, but I have a lot of these same self-drilling screws fixed into the outside of my shed and nothing has corroded so far.

Thanks for the input.