Baal
03-28-2010, 07:49 PM
Before I bought my Ss during the Buell fire sale last fall, I spent some time poking around the Buell forums. I found them to be a great source of information (and entertainment). After I got the bike, I kept reading about preferred/popular fixes and mods. It became pretty apparent that the breather hose re-route was a must-do, and thanks to the excellent thread here, easy to do.
My own inclination with modifications is to try to make them as clean as possible. I don’t like things that look bodged together or tacked on, or mismatched. I’m told that I might be a bit anal-retentive, but I dunno. In any case, I knew that I’d want a catch can for the collected liquid from the crankcase blowby. Now, I’ll admit some admiration for the various ingenious catch can setups, Red Bull cans, PVC, used con…, er, pop bottle blanks, etc.. I also liked the simplicity of just using the length of hose as a reservoir with a drain cock on the end. But, once I’d seen the pieces that ASB and Drummer sell, I decided that I wanted something that tidy.
I managed to not buy one though, and then I saw the catchcan that our own jet6 had fabbed up for himself. Several of us encouraged him to make some more, and a lucky few of us have been able to get one for ourselves. I got mine a couple weeks ago, and after getting it powder coated, I installed it last week.
http://www.buellxb.com/buell_images/5127_20100328124141_L.jpg
The catch can itself is made from stainless steel. Matt (jet6) welds them up, attaches the inlet and filter tubes, then hand finishes the seams. Since it’s stainless, and the finish is so good, you could mount it up as it comes in and have it to brag about. I went for the stealth approach, and had it satin black powder coated. Installation is relatively easy. The two screw points that mount the oil cooler are used. The mounting plate is angled so that the tank tucks back tight against the oil cooler bracket. The top of the tank is beveled to mimic the angle of that bracket. In black, if you didn’t know it was aftermarket, you’d have no reason to suspect it wasn’t factory.
http://www.buellxb.com/buell_images/5127_20100328124159_L.jpg
Two tubes run from the back of the tank. The top, longer one is angled slightly inboard so that the filter clears the back of the oil cooler. The bottom one is the inlet from the breather hoses. Positioning them that way keeps any liquid that runs down the hoses from finding its way to the filter. When you mount the catchcan, these tubes go through the hole in the oil cooler bracket. On the bottom, a stainless drain bung screws in. I installed it with some of the same sealing compound used on the oil drain plugs. It seems to close pretty securely. I haven’t had to drain anything yet.
http://www.buellxb.com/buell_images/5127_20100328124219_L.jpg
One thing I really liked when I saw jet6’s setup was the filter that he used. I had searched on my own for something that was a little less obvious than the K&N style breather filters out there. The one he uses is a “Monza” filter, that comes in various colors; I chose black.
http://www.buellxb.com/buell_images/5127_20100328124239_L.jpg
The housing is anodized aluminum, and contains a washable foam filter. The hex caps are cosmetic. To remove the filter, you hold the widest part of the mounting collar and the top unscrews. Don’t pull the whole filter housing off the rubber mount; you’ll have to take the whole thing off to get it back together (DAMHIK). The housing does rotate on the mount, so if you don’t want the logo showing, you can hide it. The back vents are covered by a metal screen plate. The openings look kind of like the radioactivity symbol, which I found cool. The inlet of the filter mount is slightly larger than the tube from the tank, but Matt provides a piece of tubing to shim up the difference. A nice stainless clamp keeps it in place.
http://www.buellxb.com/buell_images/5127_20100328124307_L.jpg
Mounting suggestions: You can run the vent hose however you like. I took the most direct way, which brought the hose between the frame and the front cylinder. I didn’t want a lot of hose length to possibly collect spooge. I looped it back a little and then onto the tank. The attachment tube isn’t barbed, but the hose is secure with a fuel injection clamp. (I used those because there’s not a sharp end of the hose clamp left sticking out. I would recommend that you remove the left side cooling scoop to hook things up. You just have more room to work. You may also want to take the oil cooler scoop off for the same reason. First, mount the catchcan. Attach the inlet hose first, then the filter. Then put the scoop back on. If you don’t use washers, the OE oil cooler screws should work. I wanted washers, and felt like a few more threads worth of attachment would be better. Two ¼-20 X ¾ stainless socket head screws from the local hardware took care of that. The profanity came in when I went to replace the oil cooler screws. I’m guessing that the tension on the oil cooler lines is what did it, but the oil cooler shifted out by a few millimeters, which kept the screws from threading in, especially the bottom one. Those screw holes are such that there is NO way to see them. They’re too far inboard and behind the cooler to see from the back, and there’s not enough room to get your head in between the wheel and what you’re looking at. I had to use an Allen wrench as a drift to determine which way things had shifted. Then I had to reach through to the other side of the bike and hold it then push in with my knee (sitting on the ground) to get things lined up. It really wasn’t that bad, but for a bit, I was cursing Matt and the rest of Australia too!
Did I mention that Matt’s an Aussie? Truthfully that adds some to my satisfaction with this mod. Knowing that a Buell enthusiast made it himself, then shipped it here to the States is just cool. Plus, it looks the business and works well. Now, if you’re lucky, maybe you can persuade him to make you one.
My own inclination with modifications is to try to make them as clean as possible. I don’t like things that look bodged together or tacked on, or mismatched. I’m told that I might be a bit anal-retentive, but I dunno. In any case, I knew that I’d want a catch can for the collected liquid from the crankcase blowby. Now, I’ll admit some admiration for the various ingenious catch can setups, Red Bull cans, PVC, used con…, er, pop bottle blanks, etc.. I also liked the simplicity of just using the length of hose as a reservoir with a drain cock on the end. But, once I’d seen the pieces that ASB and Drummer sell, I decided that I wanted something that tidy.
I managed to not buy one though, and then I saw the catchcan that our own jet6 had fabbed up for himself. Several of us encouraged him to make some more, and a lucky few of us have been able to get one for ourselves. I got mine a couple weeks ago, and after getting it powder coated, I installed it last week.
http://www.buellxb.com/buell_images/5127_20100328124141_L.jpg
The catch can itself is made from stainless steel. Matt (jet6) welds them up, attaches the inlet and filter tubes, then hand finishes the seams. Since it’s stainless, and the finish is so good, you could mount it up as it comes in and have it to brag about. I went for the stealth approach, and had it satin black powder coated. Installation is relatively easy. The two screw points that mount the oil cooler are used. The mounting plate is angled so that the tank tucks back tight against the oil cooler bracket. The top of the tank is beveled to mimic the angle of that bracket. In black, if you didn’t know it was aftermarket, you’d have no reason to suspect it wasn’t factory.
http://www.buellxb.com/buell_images/5127_20100328124159_L.jpg
Two tubes run from the back of the tank. The top, longer one is angled slightly inboard so that the filter clears the back of the oil cooler. The bottom one is the inlet from the breather hoses. Positioning them that way keeps any liquid that runs down the hoses from finding its way to the filter. When you mount the catchcan, these tubes go through the hole in the oil cooler bracket. On the bottom, a stainless drain bung screws in. I installed it with some of the same sealing compound used on the oil drain plugs. It seems to close pretty securely. I haven’t had to drain anything yet.
http://www.buellxb.com/buell_images/5127_20100328124219_L.jpg
One thing I really liked when I saw jet6’s setup was the filter that he used. I had searched on my own for something that was a little less obvious than the K&N style breather filters out there. The one he uses is a “Monza” filter, that comes in various colors; I chose black.
http://www.buellxb.com/buell_images/5127_20100328124239_L.jpg
The housing is anodized aluminum, and contains a washable foam filter. The hex caps are cosmetic. To remove the filter, you hold the widest part of the mounting collar and the top unscrews. Don’t pull the whole filter housing off the rubber mount; you’ll have to take the whole thing off to get it back together (DAMHIK). The housing does rotate on the mount, so if you don’t want the logo showing, you can hide it. The back vents are covered by a metal screen plate. The openings look kind of like the radioactivity symbol, which I found cool. The inlet of the filter mount is slightly larger than the tube from the tank, but Matt provides a piece of tubing to shim up the difference. A nice stainless clamp keeps it in place.
http://www.buellxb.com/buell_images/5127_20100328124307_L.jpg
Mounting suggestions: You can run the vent hose however you like. I took the most direct way, which brought the hose between the frame and the front cylinder. I didn’t want a lot of hose length to possibly collect spooge. I looped it back a little and then onto the tank. The attachment tube isn’t barbed, but the hose is secure with a fuel injection clamp. (I used those because there’s not a sharp end of the hose clamp left sticking out. I would recommend that you remove the left side cooling scoop to hook things up. You just have more room to work. You may also want to take the oil cooler scoop off for the same reason. First, mount the catchcan. Attach the inlet hose first, then the filter. Then put the scoop back on. If you don’t use washers, the OE oil cooler screws should work. I wanted washers, and felt like a few more threads worth of attachment would be better. Two ¼-20 X ¾ stainless socket head screws from the local hardware took care of that. The profanity came in when I went to replace the oil cooler screws. I’m guessing that the tension on the oil cooler lines is what did it, but the oil cooler shifted out by a few millimeters, which kept the screws from threading in, especially the bottom one. Those screw holes are such that there is NO way to see them. They’re too far inboard and behind the cooler to see from the back, and there’s not enough room to get your head in between the wheel and what you’re looking at. I had to use an Allen wrench as a drift to determine which way things had shifted. Then I had to reach through to the other side of the bike and hold it then push in with my knee (sitting on the ground) to get things lined up. It really wasn’t that bad, but for a bit, I was cursing Matt and the rest of Australia too!
Did I mention that Matt’s an Aussie? Truthfully that adds some to my satisfaction with this mod. Knowing that a Buell enthusiast made it himself, then shipped it here to the States is just cool. Plus, it looks the business and works well. Now, if you’re lucky, maybe you can persuade him to make you one.