captain chaos
Well-known member
After inspecting my airbox and finding a ton of oily crap in there I decided I needed to do the breather mod (DUH 
). Thing is, I don't want to be able to see it. To me the need for a catch can is a design flaw on Harley's behalf and I don't want to see it staring at me. So, I started thinking. I came up with a catch can with a breather in it so no external cone filter was needed (keeping it compact enough to hide). I got the idea from how the breather is setup on old cars with the filter pushed into the valve covers.
What I did was use some 1 1/2" PVC pipe I had (about 2 1/2" ) and capped both ends. On one end I put a barbed fitting and ran a drain hose down to the left side right where the drain plugs were for the swingarm and the primary. It's tucked up nice and neat and is barely even noticeable. This end is to be pushed on TIGHT to the PVC pipe so theres no leaks. Plug the drain and that's that.
On the other cap I drilled a 1/2" hole in the middle to push the 3/8 hose through. It's a TIGHT fit but I got it in there (cutting an angle on the end of the hose helps get it to squeeze through).
Then I drilled a series a 1/4" holes in a circular pattern around the 1/2" hole in the middle. These would be my "breather" holes. I packed the second cap with some fiberglass packing I had laying around to act as a filter. I also considered using a sponge filter for a lawn mower since their designed to be oil saturated and won't break down from the oil mist. The I pushed the second cap on snug so that it traps the filter in there and doesn't allow it to move around. Then I bent up a bracket to allow me to mount it to the bike. The screws in the bracket not only hold the can but they also keep the second cap from being able to work it's way loose.
After that, route the hoses, zip tie things off and that's it. [cool] the can has a pretty good capacity and shouldn't need emptied very often. Also, with it mounted under the seat it is all but invisible from the outside. Hopefully it works out ok. Time will tell.
). Thing is, I don't want to be able to see it. To me the need for a catch can is a design flaw on Harley's behalf and I don't want to see it staring at me. So, I started thinking. I came up with a catch can with a breather in it so no external cone filter was needed (keeping it compact enough to hide). I got the idea from how the breather is setup on old cars with the filter pushed into the valve covers.What I did was use some 1 1/2" PVC pipe I had (about 2 1/2" ) and capped both ends. On one end I put a barbed fitting and ran a drain hose down to the left side right where the drain plugs were for the swingarm and the primary. It's tucked up nice and neat and is barely even noticeable. This end is to be pushed on TIGHT to the PVC pipe so theres no leaks. Plug the drain and that's that.
On the other cap I drilled a 1/2" hole in the middle to push the 3/8 hose through. It's a TIGHT fit but I got it in there (cutting an angle on the end of the hose helps get it to squeeze through).
Then I drilled a series a 1/4" holes in a circular pattern around the 1/2" hole in the middle. These would be my "breather" holes. I packed the second cap with some fiberglass packing I had laying around to act as a filter. I also considered using a sponge filter for a lawn mower since their designed to be oil saturated and won't break down from the oil mist. The I pushed the second cap on snug so that it traps the filter in there and doesn't allow it to move around. Then I bent up a bracket to allow me to mount it to the bike. The screws in the bracket not only hold the can but they also keep the second cap from being able to work it's way loose.
After that, route the hoses, zip tie things off and that's it. [cool] the can has a pretty good capacity and shouldn't need emptied very often. Also, with it mounted under the seat it is all but invisible from the outside. Hopefully it works out ok. Time will tell.
