Danny5
Its over 39000!
After reading about blowby in this post from BNR, adding an oil catch can has been high on my priority list.
After 9k miles, blowby is leaking into the turbo inlet
There isn't a lot of room in the engine bay to install a catch can, but there appears to be some space next to the airbox on the firewall. In order to access this area, we have to open up the cowl and mount to the sheet metal.
This area is also home to your front struts. If you plan on installing coilovers or drop springs, you need to access the top hats to get your springs out.
Take a small screwdriver and pry up the caps on the windshield wipers.
Expose the 15mm nuts holding on the windshield wipers. Remove these and you can pull the wipers up and off. I used vice grips with one side of the jaw on the stud, and the other underneath the wiper arm to pry them off without visible damage.
On either end of the cowl are a rubber flap, a foam pad, and a nylon rivet
The cowl has 4 nylon rivets. Once these are removed, you can remove this piece by working one side, and then the other.
Here is the tophat for the driver strut. I've never seen a design that doesn't bolt in, so this is probably pressed into the body.
Removing the dust cover exposes the top of the strut piston. Using an open ended wrench, and really big Torx driver, you can unbolt the top of the strut from the car.
5 10mm bolts remove a firewall cover. Wires go through the cover to the windshield wiper motor, so I just moved it aside. I used an existing hole and an automotive bolt/spacer to mount the catch can mount to the firewall.
I clearanced the secondary plastic cover with a 1" hole bit. This way the cover still bolts flush against the sheet metal.
With the secondary plastic piece back in place, the catch can is then mounted to the firewall.
With everything reassembled, it was time to splice into the vent hose. I trimmed out a lot of the center section, connected the supplied hose with hose clamps, and hooked everything into the catch can.
Hopefully we can rest a little bit easier and keep sludge out of the turbo inlet!
After 9k miles, blowby is leaking into the turbo inlet
There isn't a lot of room in the engine bay to install a catch can, but there appears to be some space next to the airbox on the firewall. In order to access this area, we have to open up the cowl and mount to the sheet metal.
This area is also home to your front struts. If you plan on installing coilovers or drop springs, you need to access the top hats to get your springs out.
Take a small screwdriver and pry up the caps on the windshield wipers.
Expose the 15mm nuts holding on the windshield wipers. Remove these and you can pull the wipers up and off. I used vice grips with one side of the jaw on the stud, and the other underneath the wiper arm to pry them off without visible damage.
On either end of the cowl are a rubber flap, a foam pad, and a nylon rivet
The cowl has 4 nylon rivets. Once these are removed, you can remove this piece by working one side, and then the other.
Here is the tophat for the driver strut. I've never seen a design that doesn't bolt in, so this is probably pressed into the body.
Removing the dust cover exposes the top of the strut piston. Using an open ended wrench, and really big Torx driver, you can unbolt the top of the strut from the car.
5 10mm bolts remove a firewall cover. Wires go through the cover to the windshield wiper motor, so I just moved it aside. I used an existing hole and an automotive bolt/spacer to mount the catch can mount to the firewall.
I clearanced the secondary plastic cover with a 1" hole bit. This way the cover still bolts flush against the sheet metal.
With the secondary plastic piece back in place, the catch can is then mounted to the firewall.
With everything reassembled, it was time to splice into the vent hose. I trimmed out a lot of the center section, connected the supplied hose with hose clamps, and hooked everything into the catch can.
Hopefully we can rest a little bit easier and keep sludge out of the turbo inlet!
