Mishimoto's 2012+ JK Wrangler Baffled Oil Catch Can R&D
05-19-2017, 03:43 AM
#1
Former Vendor
Thread Starter
Mishimoto's 2012+ JK Wrangler Baffled Oil Catch Can R&D
Before you think you’re seeing double, yes; we have two catch can projects in the works for Jeep’s JK Wrangler, the first one being for the years of 2007-2011. I could have jammed both projects into one long series, but it would just be a disservice to you if I took that easy route. The more research I’ve done for this project, the more I realize I’m talking to two, very different markets. I’d rather each project’s focus be on that specific model-year Jeep, that way, you know that I am making these blog updates specifically for you 2012+ JK owners. Ok, the cat is out of the bag now – why don’t we get into this project?
The 3.8L and the 3.6L engines are just two different engines to non-Jeep folk, but you and I both know it goes deeper than that. The 3.6L option puts out an impressive 285hp and 260 lb-ft of torque, which is a substantial power increase from previous models. Even with a snappier engine and a change in gearing, it still looks like Chrysler hasn’t been able to escape their blow-by problems with these V6 power-plants. This is where Mishimoto steps in.
Oil blow-by is a by-product of the oil and fuel vapor that escapes the crankcase. It is produced when the high pressure on a piston’s top side pushes combustion gasses containing oil and fuel past piston rings and into the crankcase. In order to keep the crankcase depressurized, there needs to be some sort of venting for this extra content. This blow-by gets pulled back through what is known as the positive crankcase ventilation system (PCV), routed through the intake tract and back into the motor. Therein lies the problem: during the rerouting process, the vapor not only sticks to the walls of your intake system, coating it with oil and fuel, but it can also cause heavy carbon deposits over time since it is being directed right back into the engine and onto your valves.
This isn’t something that only affects cars with a higher number of miles on them. Check out the image below:
What you are seeing is an image we took of the inside of the intake manifold when we had a brand new 2016 Mazda Miata in our garage for some R&D last year. It only had about 3,300 miles on the clock, but there were traces of oil all over the intake manifold. Now, I know, I know, this is a very different application on a very different vehicle, but I just want to illustrate a point. Engine blow-by can be detrimental to any engine if it goes unchecked, no matter how new or old said engine is, so the earlier a preventative measure is introduced, the better it is for the long run. If you look at your service manual, there will be a section for when you need to have your valves serviced and while a catch can won’t eliminate the need for that entirely, it will surely prolong it.
We have seen a good amount of success using our catch can on a myriad of different applications, and we expect to see some great results on this V6 Pentastar. We have different independent sizes, but for this direct-fit application, we will be using our 2oz baffled catch can.
What makes our catch cans unique are the features we have integrated into the design. One of the most important features is the round baffle inside of the can. This baffle keeps oil from being sucked back into the system, the exact thing we are trying to prevent. This is extra-helpful here because these Jeeps see a fair amount of engine movement, even if your Jeep is used as either a daily commuter, a weekend off-roader or a vertical creek bed climber. These cans also have internal air diverters to that slow the incoming air, allowing for a more granular separation of air and oil. The gold object on the left half of our can is a serviceable, 50-micron bronze filter, to help further strain the outgoing content.
All of these features work together to give you the best filtration properties and keep blow-by out of your Jeeps engine. This is especially effective for those of you with supercharged applications. When boost is introduced into the equation, that just means more pressure inside the engine, which, in turn, causes a much higher amount of blow-by, especially on engines that were naturally aspirated from the factory. So if your Jeep has a supercharger, you should pay close attention to this project. Don’t worry, we did our research, we plan for this kit to fit perfectly fine with any supercharger application on the market.
In the next update, we will begin designing around the engine space to see how we plan to route the lines and where to mount our bracket for the can. We have some really cool tech we will use for this design, so stay tuned for when we get into the nitty-gritty of it. Thanks for reading!
-Diamaan
The 3.8L and the 3.6L engines are just two different engines to non-Jeep folk, but you and I both know it goes deeper than that. The 3.6L option puts out an impressive 285hp and 260 lb-ft of torque, which is a substantial power increase from previous models. Even with a snappier engine and a change in gearing, it still looks like Chrysler hasn’t been able to escape their blow-by problems with these V6 power-plants. This is where Mishimoto steps in.
Oil blow-by is a by-product of the oil and fuel vapor that escapes the crankcase. It is produced when the high pressure on a piston’s top side pushes combustion gasses containing oil and fuel past piston rings and into the crankcase. In order to keep the crankcase depressurized, there needs to be some sort of venting for this extra content. This blow-by gets pulled back through what is known as the positive crankcase ventilation system (PCV), routed through the intake tract and back into the motor. Therein lies the problem: during the rerouting process, the vapor not only sticks to the walls of your intake system, coating it with oil and fuel, but it can also cause heavy carbon deposits over time since it is being directed right back into the engine and onto your valves.
This isn’t something that only affects cars with a higher number of miles on them. Check out the image below:
What you are seeing is an image we took of the inside of the intake manifold when we had a brand new 2016 Mazda Miata in our garage for some R&D last year. It only had about 3,300 miles on the clock, but there were traces of oil all over the intake manifold. Now, I know, I know, this is a very different application on a very different vehicle, but I just want to illustrate a point. Engine blow-by can be detrimental to any engine if it goes unchecked, no matter how new or old said engine is, so the earlier a preventative measure is introduced, the better it is for the long run. If you look at your service manual, there will be a section for when you need to have your valves serviced and while a catch can won’t eliminate the need for that entirely, it will surely prolong it.
We have seen a good amount of success using our catch can on a myriad of different applications, and we expect to see some great results on this V6 Pentastar. We have different independent sizes, but for this direct-fit application, we will be using our 2oz baffled catch can.
What makes our catch cans unique are the features we have integrated into the design. One of the most important features is the round baffle inside of the can. This baffle keeps oil from being sucked back into the system, the exact thing we are trying to prevent. This is extra-helpful here because these Jeeps see a fair amount of engine movement, even if your Jeep is used as either a daily commuter, a weekend off-roader or a vertical creek bed climber. These cans also have internal air diverters to that slow the incoming air, allowing for a more granular separation of air and oil. The gold object on the left half of our can is a serviceable, 50-micron bronze filter, to help further strain the outgoing content.
All of these features work together to give you the best filtration properties and keep blow-by out of your Jeeps engine. This is especially effective for those of you with supercharged applications. When boost is introduced into the equation, that just means more pressure inside the engine, which, in turn, causes a much higher amount of blow-by, especially on engines that were naturally aspirated from the factory. So if your Jeep has a supercharger, you should pay close attention to this project. Don’t worry, we did our research, we plan for this kit to fit perfectly fine with any supercharger application on the market.
In the next update, we will begin designing around the engine space to see how we plan to route the lines and where to mount our bracket for the can. We have some really cool tech we will use for this design, so stay tuned for when we get into the nitty-gritty of it. Thanks for reading!
-Diamaan
05-19-2017, 04:32 AM
#2
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This is something I wish I would have done on my old oil consuming '07, and something oil consuming JK owners should look into. Luckily, my '15 doesn't have this problem, but good to know there will be an option if it ever does.
05-22-2017, 04:23 AM
#3
Former Vendor
Thread Starter
-Diamaan
08-17-2017, 09:36 AM
#4
Former Vendor
Thread Starter
Our engineering department has made some great strides in completing this catch can design as they have reached the final R&D stages. Overall strength and can rigidity were primary design goals for the kit, as we are aware of the rough and tough off-road lives many of these Wranglers live. We want to be sure that once you install this can on your car, it will stay put, no matter what rigorous environment you take your JK Wrangler through.
Bracketry starts with precise design and component fabrication. Our engineers had to be sure that our bracket would effortlessly hold our 2oz catch cans without any damage-inducing stress. In our last update, we left off with some of the cool tech we planned to use. The first tool we used was our FARO Design ScanArm.
This arm allows the engineer to literally paint an area with digital lasers into a computer file and any part that comes to mind can be designed within that area using computer-aided design software. It’s as accurate as one can get without making a physical prototype using measurements that may not be as accurate or fit well the first time around.
The next step is to make the proposed design a reality. Our engineer can do that quickly and painlessly with the use of our waterjet. Our waterjet shoots out water mixed with abrasive material at pressures of over 60,000 psi, easily cutting through sheets of metal. This is done by uploading file dimensions into the waterjet’s computer, and letting the machine cut that outline. Anything designed on a flat plane can be used and cut to extremely small tolerances and high levels of accuracy.
Above is the resulting part that came straight off the waterjet platform. With a little paint, we installed this on the Jeep so testing could begin.
Staying with the theme of rigidity, we found a way to make the bracket even stronger by reducing the amount of bolted connection points, opting for a more solid one-piece design. A personal touch was also added to the catch can lines, with our first ever attempt at screen-printed rubber lines. See below for the final version of this kit.
Our earliest test clocked about 1000 miles on our system with both highway and city driving logged. The JK spat out just over 20 milliliters of blow by. This is a relatively average amount amongst most of our projects, and we do this to make sure that our cans are doing something for the system. But this wasn’t the most interesting part. The above beaker sat motionless on my desk for several weeks (about 5-6 weeks) after I recorded the first test, awaiting the results from our second test. Once I went to pour out the blow-by so one of our engineers could use the beaker, I noticed something odd. There was stuff sticking to the bottom of the beaker.
(I'd suggest going to our blog for a higher-res version of the above image)
The passing time must have let whatever solid particles and contaminants inside the fluid, but invisible to the naked eye, settle to the bottom. This is precisely the stuff catch cans help prevent from accumulating on your intake walls, manifold and valves. That solid stuff that is clumped together sticks to your valves and causes the carbon deposits. While the fluid consists of a fuel and oil mixture, the fuel can get burned off easier than the heavier substances like oil, oil vapor and other contaminants inside the system. They hang around the system and collect around places you wouldn’t want them to.
To keep this experiment going, we performed one more 1000+ mileage test to see if we could continue collecting blow-by content throughout the summer and if the content would change. This time, opening the catch can revealed a decent amount more than the initial test, with the fluid just about to top 50 milliliters.
Seeing this amount of consistency in how much content was caught proved to us that we have a kit that works. This catch can kit will only fit the 2012+ Jeep Wrangler JK with the 3.6L engine, but we do have a kit for the 2007-2011 3.8L Wrangler that is now available for presale. Feel free to check out the engineering we did on that project. The presale for this kit will go live soon though, so keep an eye out for it! Thanks for following along.
-Diamaan
Bracketry starts with precise design and component fabrication. Our engineers had to be sure that our bracket would effortlessly hold our 2oz catch cans without any damage-inducing stress. In our last update, we left off with some of the cool tech we planned to use. The first tool we used was our FARO Design ScanArm.
This arm allows the engineer to literally paint an area with digital lasers into a computer file and any part that comes to mind can be designed within that area using computer-aided design software. It’s as accurate as one can get without making a physical prototype using measurements that may not be as accurate or fit well the first time around.
The next step is to make the proposed design a reality. Our engineer can do that quickly and painlessly with the use of our waterjet. Our waterjet shoots out water mixed with abrasive material at pressures of over 60,000 psi, easily cutting through sheets of metal. This is done by uploading file dimensions into the waterjet’s computer, and letting the machine cut that outline. Anything designed on a flat plane can be used and cut to extremely small tolerances and high levels of accuracy.
Above is the resulting part that came straight off the waterjet platform. With a little paint, we installed this on the Jeep so testing could begin.
Staying with the theme of rigidity, we found a way to make the bracket even stronger by reducing the amount of bolted connection points, opting for a more solid one-piece design. A personal touch was also added to the catch can lines, with our first ever attempt at screen-printed rubber lines. See below for the final version of this kit.
Our earliest test clocked about 1000 miles on our system with both highway and city driving logged. The JK spat out just over 20 milliliters of blow by. This is a relatively average amount amongst most of our projects, and we do this to make sure that our cans are doing something for the system. But this wasn’t the most interesting part. The above beaker sat motionless on my desk for several weeks (about 5-6 weeks) after I recorded the first test, awaiting the results from our second test. Once I went to pour out the blow-by so one of our engineers could use the beaker, I noticed something odd. There was stuff sticking to the bottom of the beaker.
(I'd suggest going to our blog for a higher-res version of the above image)
The passing time must have let whatever solid particles and contaminants inside the fluid, but invisible to the naked eye, settle to the bottom. This is precisely the stuff catch cans help prevent from accumulating on your intake walls, manifold and valves. That solid stuff that is clumped together sticks to your valves and causes the carbon deposits. While the fluid consists of a fuel and oil mixture, the fuel can get burned off easier than the heavier substances like oil, oil vapor and other contaminants inside the system. They hang around the system and collect around places you wouldn’t want them to.
To keep this experiment going, we performed one more 1000+ mileage test to see if we could continue collecting blow-by content throughout the summer and if the content would change. This time, opening the catch can revealed a decent amount more than the initial test, with the fluid just about to top 50 milliliters.
Seeing this amount of consistency in how much content was caught proved to us that we have a kit that works. This catch can kit will only fit the 2012+ Jeep Wrangler JK with the 3.6L engine, but we do have a kit for the 2007-2011 3.8L Wrangler that is now available for presale. Feel free to check out the engineering we did on that project. The presale for this kit will go live soon though, so keep an eye out for it! Thanks for following along.
-Diamaan
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08-24-2017, 06:18 AM
#8
Former Vendor
Thread Starter
-Steve
P.S. Hi, my name is Steve and I'll be taking over this project while Diamaan transitions to a new role here at Mishimoto. Feel free to ask any questions or share any feedback, I'm here to help!
