Let me start this off with a little overview. First off,
THIS THING WORKS. I'm very happy with it overall. However, there were some things I had to do myself to have the whole thing functioning properly. I was skeptical about this thing at first, as it claimed to "raise horsepower" (
) among the things it would actually do. It was also aimed towards an "IMPORT" audience, although it was listed as universal (all the kits are the same, whether its for your Civic or Corolla ahahah!
The one I bought was supposedly for Nissans, but the same as all the others. I bought the cheapest I could find!
) An oil separator on our cars goes in between the driver's side valve cover and the intake manifold. It separates the aerated oil that would go through the intake manifold & be reburned... Causing "gunking" around your CMCVs (very bad!). It's done for emissions reasons, but we drive Mustangs - Do we care about that?
After learning about the recirculation of this harmful oil/dirt/etc, after doing some research, I decided I would need to put one in my '
Stang eventually. It would help the engine run CLEAN and last longer... WOOT! The price was RIDICULOUS though - UPR oil catch can for $100!? I mean, in the scheme of things, not so bad, but surely there could be something cheaper? I saw some DIY oil catch cans, but I thought... Why not check eBay? Sure enough... 100's of results. They didn't look terrible, and with many having the price tag of only
$20... I had to make a thread on here asking about them. Not too many words of advice or feedback. I figured, What the hell, it's only $20! And ordered a red ebaY oil catch can. (They sell tons of colors - black, red, silver, blue, etc.)
(By the way, there are a TON of pictures & they'll be mentioned throughout this - I'll attach them)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
It arrived in the mail in about 3 days from ordering. $20 with free 3 day shipping is hard to beat!
Anyways, it was in a nice box. This thing was ENORMOUS. I opened it up, to find an ENORMOUS red can covered in bubble wrap. E-NOR-MOUS. I couldn't believe it! The pictures on ebaY do it NO justice. The UPR & other catch cans are only a few inches big... Look at the pic of it next to a ruler!
There was some skinny blue hose, about 2 inches of thicker blue hose with some clamps on it, a nice metal adapter piece, another adapter piece with NO holes in it (manufacturing error I think...
), a few more clamps, some 1 sided foam, 2 brackets, and 2 screws. (More pics below)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Problems with the kit for my car:
After messing around with the whole kit, searching around for a place to mount it in the engine bay (I have the stock airbox), and looking at hose sizes... I discovered the following:
I needed to make a bracket to mount this (more info on the bracket I made in another post)
I need to replace this terrible blue hose I need 2 more nuts/bolts I need 2 more clamps This thing isn't airtight! Agh!
First off, I read on a Corvette forum that this blue hose works okay in a cool engine, but once you get the engine warmed up it'll collapse on itself from heat & vacuum. That's not good!
So I needed to replace that with something that could withstand heat and vacuum.
To mount the clamps together, you need 4 nuts/bolts. The kit only came with 2...
Anyways, I had some lying around and put it together easily.
Because one of the adapter pieces wasn't drilled through (
; you get what you pay for), I decided on doing the next best thing, if not better - Pushing the smaller hose into the larger one. I needed 2 more clamps for this and bought some.
To see if it was airtight, I put the metal plug in the bottom, covered one of the valves with my finger, then blew into the other. Damnit. It's NOT airtight! There was air coming out from the little clear "display hose" on the side of it.
It was an easy fix though - Some Gorilla Glue & it was good. (You DON'T want unmetered air in the engine!
).
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Extra Materials needed:
(WARNING: The following sizes for hoses are specific to my application so I'd recommend you buy a little extra)
- 2 feet 1/2" heater hose : $4 (I bought 3, way too much)
- 6 inches of 5/16" heater hose : $2
- 4 semi-large clamps : $4
- 2 extra nuts/bolts : (probably like $0.10 somewhere, I didn't have to buy them)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Installation instructions:
The S197 GT has a 1/2" size hose, and the ebaY oil separator has 5/16" valves on it. In order to fix this problem, a few inches of the 5/16" put on the oil separator valves, tightened with clamps will do the trick. You can then fit the loose end of the 5/16"
into the 1/2" heater hose. Then use another clamp to tighten the point they intersect tight enough so they won't come apart. Take each end of the now long 1/2" heater hose to the manifold & valve covers & measure out how much you need - the more the better.
The valve in the middle of the can goes out, to the manifold. The valve to the "right/left" of the middle valve is the in valve, and goes to the valve cover. Cut each to your needing; then slide the 1/2" heater hose directly onto the manifold & valve cover then tighten each on with 2 more clamps. Tighten ALL the clamps up TIGHT - You don't want anything coming apart while you're driving. Check everything over; don't forget about the little metal plug that screws into the bottom! I put the stock hose piece in my car in a bag (it had quite a bit of gross oil in it...) along with a flathead screw driver and some microfiber clothes in case something went wrong & I needed it to be back to stock. I'd recommend everyone do this, even though I had no problems. It's good insurance however!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
RESULTS.
I've had this on for over a week now. That's about 200 miles of driving. (The first day I went WOT up to about 80, and apparently that's when the most blow-by happens.) I became impatient & checked it today: WOW. It works (PICSSS!!)! Because of some design in the can, I wasn't able to pour anything out, but I was able to see it all by putting the can on its side & seeing it through the clear tube (gross). There couldn't have been more than 2 tablespoons of oil, but once more is in there, I should be able to get it out. I really liked to see it was working! $30 all together well spent!
Luckily I only have close to 5000 miles on my
Stang, so this should help keep the engine healthy a lot longer! If every 200 miles = 2 tablespoons, I'll probably only have to empty it out every 1000-1500 miles... This tank is enormous!
(More on the clamp & placement in another post!)
ebaY Oil Separator - Install & Review for 2008 Mustang GT 
About the mounting bracket: 
