DIY | Radium Catch Can | Video | Full Technical Info

[Frost]

Originally Posted by utekineir

Think of it this way, you're buying a baffled can tin can with some steel wool and mesh, bracket, fittings and hoses directly from the manufacturer for 100% of retail, over $200 each, and then paying shipping on top.

And yet somehow just about every online vendor can turn a profit being a middle man and including shipping on orders over 150-200 on items sold under msrp.

I'm sure its a great product and is roughly the hollow baffled container equivalent to a rolls royce, and hell i spent $150 on prova mirrors and another $20 for window urethane to glue them in. Clearly my angus has been peppered, and is willing for the right overpriced item.

Catch cans though, despite the claims otherwise they aren't exactly this black art of complexity.

Look, profit is involved and everyone has to understand money has to be made to keep the people designing and making this stuff in business. They need to recoup their design costs and it's their right to put whatever price they want and charge for whatever they want.

The only thing we can do as consumers, is to vote with our hard earned dollars. If you don't like it, don't buy it.

That being said, I think there is a lot more to the catch can than what you think it is. I agree, it isn't as much black magic as most people make it out to be but I really appreciate the fine work Radium has done on the machining and overall fit and finish of their product.

I've seen the Cusco catch can in person - while I haven't had the chance to rip one apart, it feels like shit. It feels like someone skimped, rushed a product to market and is making a fortune on that. While I haven't held a Radium unit, from the photos, it has seals by means of o-rings, looks like it has heft (from Dezoris' video) and just looks solid.

I work in machining and manufacturing for items MUCH heavier duty and I appreciate the detailed efforts from Radium. Is it expensive? Yes - but I value the work I paid for more so than others.

Am I sucker for buying it? Maybe in the view of the others, yes but not me.

[utekineir]

Originally Posted by Frost

Look, profit is involved and everyone has to understand money has to be made to keep the people designing and making this stuff in business. They need to recoup their design costs and it's their right to put whatever price they want and charge for whatever they want.

The only thing we can do as consumers, is to vote with our hard earned dollars. If you don't like it, don't buy it.

That being said, I think there is a lot more to the catch can than what you think it is. I agree, it isn't as much black magic as most people make it out to be but I really appreciate the fine work Radium has done on the machining and overall fit and finish of their product.

I've seen the Cusco catch can in person - while I haven't had the chance to rip one apart, it feels like shit. It feels like someone skimped, rushed a product to market and is making a fortune on that. While I haven't held a Radium unit, from the photos, it has seals by means of o-rings, looks like it has heft (from Dezoris' video) and just looks solid.

I work in machining and manufacturing for items MUCH heavier duty and I appreciate the detailed efforts from Radium. Is it expensive? Yes - but I value the work I paid for more so than others.

Am I sucker for buying it? Maybe in the view of the others, yes but not me.

The point I was trying to illustrate is that clearly there are plenty of well designed products on the market sold by middlemen at a discount from "msrp" with free shipping where both the manufacturer and vendor make enough profit to stay in business. Use rasceng products on ft86speedfactory for example.

It's a great can I'm sure. But to be sitting basically at the top of the price structure of the market (assuming dual cans) and to be charging for shipping at 100% msrp.

A net $450 is a pretty goddamn good chunk of money for 2 cans, fittings, brackets and hose. The cans weren't designed to be sold on just this car the majority of development cost is spread far wider than just this platform.

[AdrianG]

There aren't plenty of well designed catch cans though. Many, like the cusco, are little more than aesthetic.

One that is functional is the Crawford AOS, I believe is around the same price point as the dual Radium kit.

- AdrianG

[Frost]

I was originally really liking the Crawford unit but I don't like the idea of feeding crap back into the sump. The other options for catch cans as @AdrianG has mentioned, are few and far between.

[utekineir]

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143629

This has been my favorite

[Frost]

Originally Posted by utekineir

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143629

This has been my favorite

Excellent attempt but all PVC? I would worry about sealing issues. I was hoping it was a machined piece of metal or something.

[utekineir]

Originally Posted by Frost

Excellent attempt but all PVC? I would worry about sealing issues. I was hoping it was a machined piece of metal or something.

Have you looked at the pressure ratings of PVC?


Just spent about $35 at Home Depot on some supplies. Going to be using baskets and strainers with some material inside at the inlet and outlet of a 1.5" y pipe

[Frost]

Originally Posted by utekineir

Have you looked at the pressure ratings of PVC?


Just spent about $35 at Home Depot on some supplies. Going to be using baskets and strainers with some material inside at the inlet and outlet of a 1.5" y pipe

It's not the pressure ratings I'm worried about - it's the repeated exposure to hot-cold cycling.

[that_guy]

Companies exist based purely on a supply/demand equation. Radium has just enough demand and a low enough supply to allow them to charge what they do. Could they sell more for less? Very likely, yes. But they choose to brand themselves as a premium product and therefore charge a premium price. There are always people willing to pay for that, it's just making sure you know the true number.

I for one don't feel like hacking things up. I've made a lot of things for cars before, but that was when I was poor and in university. Now I have money and choose to spend that money on nice products that fit and work as intended. So for people like myself, and clearly others here, Radium products work for us. We accept the higher cost because we see higher value. But value is in the eye of the beholder, so it's understood that not everyone sees these the same way. But there is no need to belittle people because they choose to spend their money on something that someone else might not. That is their choice to make at the end of the day.

[utekineir]

Originally Posted by Frost

It's not the pressure ratings I'm worried about - it's the repeated exposure to hot-cold cycling.

Modern high efficiency furnaces use pvc piping instead of venting through a chimney. If pvc can handle the testing requirements necessary for that sort of approval/liability that it probably can handle being off to the side of an engine bay.

anyway, i started a diy catch can think tank thread to work out some sort of solution that my cheap ass can be happy with

and to stop trolling in this one.

[Vracer111]

Originally Posted by utekineir

The point I was trying to illustrate is that clearly there are plenty of well designed products on the market sold by middlemen at a discount from "msrp" with free shipping where both the manufacturer and vendor make enough profit to stay in business. Use rasceng products on ft86speedfactory for example.

It's a great can I'm sure. But to be sitting basically at the top of the price structure of the market (assuming dual cans) and to be charging for shipping at 100% msrp.

A net $450 is a pretty goddamn good chunk of money for 2 cans, fittings, brackets and hose. The cans weren't designed to be sold on just this car the majority of development cost is spread far wider than just this platform.

I will say the Radium products are premium designed and produced products. By premium, I am talking of aerospace quality design and finish of their products: extremely well machined piece parts (the cup and top block assemblies which thread together to form the can are both machined parts from billet blocks...) with excellent grade stainless hardware. If you want better and nicer than OEM, you go with Radium. I'm actually surprised they are not more expensive than they are, especially compared to the other options out there which are not even close in quality yet not a great amount less in price. In hand gun terms, Radium products would be comparable to an HK, you pay a premium for a premium piece.

[Dezoris]

Radium designed race and track tested parts for Lotus cars. They are now moving into other markets. If you are worried about cost clearly these are not the cans for you.
Its a boutique brand, and their quality is top tier, in this case you get what you pay for. Its expensive yes, but this is a shop run by two people not some big team.

[Dezoris]

Originally Posted by utekineir

Modern high efficiency furnaces use pvc piping instead of venting through a chimney. If pvc can handle the testing requirements necessary for that sort of approval/liability that it probably can handle being off to the side of an engine bay.

anyway, i started a diy catch can think tank thread to work out some sort of solution that my cheap ass can be happy with

and to stop trolling in this one.

You have to remember that PVC is not particulary the best material for underhood conditions and also the fact that it will be exposed and catching unspent fuel which will break down the pvc which is temperature dependant. It will out gas and liquiy. The pvc and vapors will route back into your intake manifold at that point. Worse than having the unspent fuel and blow by oil routed there.

[utekineir]

Originally Posted by Dezoris

You have to remember that PVC is not particulary the best material for underhood conditions and also the fact that it will be exposed and catching unspent fuel which will break down the pvc which is temperature dependant. It will out gas and liquiy. The pvc and vapors will route back into your intake manifold at that point. Worse than having the unspent fuel and blow by oil routed there.

You make an interesting point. Butt this link does too. I think it's worth a try, made a thread for it a few nights ago so I don't have to troll in here.

Also. Furnace exhaust/soot is hot acidic disgusting shit

effects of Schedule 40 PVC and gas