| Author | Message | ||
     Mark_weiss |
I did not like the mess that the stock breather setup made inside the throttle body, air cleaner housing, or on the intake air temp sensor. Initially I tried routing the breather to an external catch tank, but after a year or so decided that I did not like that approach either. This is the new setup. Simple and effective. After 2k miles, no sludge on the butterfly, the IAT is clean, very little sludge on the housing floor, and no smell of crankcase vapor.  (Message edited by Mark_weiss on February 21, 2013) | ||
| Red450 |
Out of curiosity, what didn't you like about running the catch-can? | ||
| Mark_weiss |
Appearance was not too bad, the can was attached to the oil cooler mount. Still, more hoses and stuff. My key objection was smell. Pretty commonly, when sitting at a stop, the smell of crankcase vapor was very apparent. That got old. I did not have a vapor return line to the airbox. I did not tee my vent lines and so had both breather valves running hose overboard to the can. There simply was not enough room to run return hoses back to the airbox, so my can vented (through a filter) to the atmosphere. Often enough to be annoying, it smelled bad. The new setup seems to solve both issues. With the vents directed forward, the IAT and inside of the intake stack stay clean. No smell. More environmentally friendly too. | ||
| Red450 |
I agree, the smell does get a bit old. I've thought about extending my vent to the rear of the bike instead of it's current location, above the shifter.  | ||
| Motorbike |
Mark_weiss, I see what you did but I don't understand how that solves the original issue of moisture and oil vapors (splooge) going into the throttle body. You still have splooge coming out of the plastic tee and it still gets sucked into the intake, right? I agree about the hot oil smell while idling in traffic. Seems like that stuff got up into my helmet and would stay there. Guess I would rather have the engine breathe that in instead of me. I put mine back to 100% stock on the breathers. Thanks. | ||
| Buellerxt |
Do you guys get that smell when moving along or just in stop and go traffic? I haven't noticed it but I don't commute on the bike and am rarely in stop and go traffic. I have noticed the slight build up on the air intake and clean that out when checking the air cleaner. I'll pay closer attention when on the bike today. Thanks. | ||
| Mark_weiss |
The smell was only an issue in stop and go, or very slow, traffic. My catch can was just above the chin spoiler, so most movement carried the smell away. With the breathers now directed straight forward, all of the heavy splooge (not very much at all) ends up on the floor of the airbox, or maybe absorbed by the air filter media (there are two new darker spots). Anything that makes its way into the engine does not seem to be "wet" as there are no traces in the air horn. I find it also notable that the IAT stays clean and dry now. I think that part of the previous issue was that vapor was sprayed at the bottom of the airbox lid where it would condense and drip. That no longer occurs and everything appears to be much cleaner and drier. | ||
| Buellerxt |
Good work, Mark!  | ||
| Teeps |
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| Natexlh1000 |
I did what teeps did to my X1. The only downside is the spatters like to go into my rim on the highway. Condensation/babysnot used to dribble on my right foot since it was new. Since my 2008 XB12X doesn't dribble on my foot, I leave mine alone. | ||
| Uly_man |
On my 06 bike I just teed them together under the airbox plate and run the tube to the front of the can. All the water/oil vapour runs down the pipe and just burns off with no smoke or at least none I noticed. It worked great. On the 10 bike I moved them to the outside (left) side of the air filter. This is ok with a cleanable type filter. It works but I may change it to the other version as I am now getting a little "gunk" running out of the box. On both bikes I get a smoother idle and better "pick up" on the throttle. | ||
| Arcticktm |
Just a note for those with open vent near rear tire. If you have a high crankcase pressure event, you could end up with oil coming out that line (maybe a lot). Getting that on your rear tire = not fun. Happened to me on an old CB750 and made the exit ramp VERY exciting, since I had no idea it was happening, and it came with an open vent. I switched to open on my Uly, but stopped the vent line just below/behind the shifter, in hopes that was far enough to the side to avoid coating the rear tire if something this bad ever happened. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Mine just vents out the tailpipe as carbon. I'm just guessing here but maybe the smoother idle and better pick up is kind of like when we were little kids with brand new tennis shoes on and claiming that they made you run faster and jump higher. | ||
| Arcticktm |
I certainly don't claim any performance benefit for the open breather. Just liked getting the mess out of the intake. BTW, my 7 year old just got new shoes, and he absolutely said they made him faster in gym class. Didn't mention jumping higher, though! | ||
| Uly_man |
EG I can see what you are saying. Perception is not all or "whatever". I did, however, prove this helped on both my bikes. I monitor every aspect of how my bikes run "day-in-day-out" (I know its VERY anal) which is how I have solved the many running faults both my bikes have had and, in turn, passed to those who it may be of help. All of this has been done via VERY close notes on all of these issues. Although I may pass an opinion on some things I only pass FACTS on proven (by me) issues. People can take them as they wish or not. Its there bike to do so. Thats it. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Uly_man, I haven't tried a breather mod so I really can't say either way. When I was a little kid I remember telling my folks that my new shoes made me faster and jump higher. And, every time I put on new tires my ULY most definitely handles better because it. | ||
| Glenn |
I did the mod a long time ago on my 2007 and had it discharge near the rear shock. It didn't work all that well there as far as a mess was concerned. It made a big difference in low RPM performance and stopped the stumble it had. It could also have been that I had low mileage at the time. I'd guess 6k or so and not really broken in. A couple of years ago I changed this following a thread that Ronmold started http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142838/626211.html    | ||
| Etennuly |
I ran my breather hoses to a "Y" and into a clear plastic fuel filter just above the primary cover, then a hose back under the swing arm to let it drip on the top of the back muffler chamber. I did not notice it running any differently. I was getting that nasty smell sometimes. The original rubber hoses were rotting and cracked. I replaced them with fuel hose. It could be an issue if something bad fails in the engine. Perhaps a broken ring or a hole in a piston. THAT would put some oil on the rear tire for sure! | ||
| Teeps |
Natexlh1000 Posted on Friday, February 22, 2013 The only downside is the spatters like to go into my rim on the highway. Mine gets a little spatter on the rim, too. Provides a reason to wipe wheels occasionally. | ||
| Etennuly |
It'll keep them from rusting!  | ||
| Griffmeister |
Reminds me of my 71 Triumph Daytona. Never really knew that much mechanically about the bike at the time but there was a plastic tube that ran all the way around the rear fender and exited past the license plate. One day on the highway the scavenger pump got something in it that scored it up pretty bad. Half of the oil tank got pumped out of this tube onto the highway in short order. Turns out this is a crankcase vent and it's position behind the rear tire probably saved my ass when my dry sump turned into a wet sump. Ahhh.., the memories. Thanks guys.  | ||
| Uly_man |
The idea behind this mod is to try and stop the engine burning oil and water vapour. On old cars they used to put it into a catch can or on the positive side of the air filter. Now it is put on the negative side of the air filter for the EPA. If you run it without a catch can you need to place the end of the pipe in a position no oil and gunk can hit the back tire. Cold air is more dense so you may get more gunk. The gunk is a mix of oil and water. The effects/results will vary from (XB) bike to bike and local conditions. | ||
| Schwara |
I notice a huge difference in the winter. In the summer I only empty the can every once in a while. In the winter it seems to fill up with mostly water pretty quickly and I empty it after about every hour of run time. It could go longer but I had the can actually fill up once and then the spoog starting coming out of the filter. I don't remember where I found these pictures but mine is pretty similar, silver instead of blue, & I also didn't mess with the fitting in the center of the catch can ... which by the way is a $6 water separator from Harbor Freight. It works great, gives me visual feedback, and is easy to remove / dump / & then put back on.    | ||
| B3av3r |
Sorry to bump such an old thread, but I have a cusrious question for the OP... Are you still running this set-up? What are your long term thoughts, now that it's been two years since the mod? | ||
| Mark_weiss |
I'm still running the same setup and am completely satisfied with the results. No mess in the airbox, no extra cleaning, no drips, no smell, no extra plumbing, no maintenance. Seems to be win-win. | ||
| Tpehak |
Hey guys, what do you think if I will extend the breather hoses and route them directly into the intake?  |
