Verus Engineering Air Oil Separator - Information and Release

[VerusEric]

It is finally time for us to release our air oil separator kit for the FRS/BRZ. Below is some information regarding the kit and options, please feel free to ask any questions. We are approximately 2 weeks away from having our first production run ready for purchase.

Our air oil separator design began 5 years ago, before Velox Motorsports even existed. It has been an area of study I have personally worked on for this timeframe and it has gone through 5 design revisions and 2 complete redesigns. Various versions have been on our shop car for over 15k miles, FT-86 SpeedFactory’s Time Attack build, and a local high horsepower build as well. We have finally consistently captured ALL oil entering the AOS and the outlet tubes are bone dry consistently as well.


Assembled unit




Coalescent filters installed


Sonic cleaned stainless mesh, nestled in its final resting place in the AOS


Coolant passage port uncovered


Coolant banjo bolts installed.








Production raw units


3D printed prototype




CAD photos




Installed photos

Overall Goals of the Air Oil Separator
-Ensure no oil/oil vapor makes its way out of the unit.
-Allow an optional drain-back system back into the engine for service free function.
-Allow the use of coolant to heat the air oil separator up to engine bay temps to reduce condensation build up.
-Have a system that can be installed without a tune and in a variety of formats.

How do we ensure no oil/oil vapor exit the unit?
-We use (4) coalescent filters, on both inlet and outlet
-Coalescent filters are designed specifically for removing oil/oil vapor from air.
-These coalescent filters can flow 57 SCFM while filtering particles down to 5 micron.
-We have found that oil vapor, which engines produce at times, is 3 microns, so further filtering is required.
-The unit has internal baffles which causes more of the oil to separate out of the airflow.
-The unit then has stainless steel mesh to further filter out any remaining oil vapor.





Optional Drain Back System
-By using our drain back system, the AOS can be used for years of service free life. No need to drain, open it up, or do anything but drive the car!
-This is optional, only those that want this function can purchase this add-on. The AOS works as a typical drain style unit out of the box.




Drain system, including 1-way check valve that threads into our rear cam block off plate.


Installed on car from the bottom.

Optional Coolant Heater
-As hot air/oil/water enter a cold aluminum unit, condensation forms on the walls. This causes the nasty slurry/foaming sludge some catch cans experience.
-With our simple to add coolant kit, you can run engine coolant through the back side of the can, heating it up to the engine’s temperature, greatly reducing this phenomenon.
-This is a larger issue in cold climates, not so much an issue in hotter climates.

[IMG][/IMG]
Back side, showing coolant passage


Components, not shown is the coolant line that will be supplied as well.

System Install
-By utilizing the OEM PCV valve, one can install it without a need for a tune or anything other than a plug and play install.
-By using the supplied ½” barb adapters, you can run both outlets to a vacuum source of your choice (exhaust scavenge or intake tube) to pull a slight vacuum in the crankcase.
-It is also able to be used as a venting to atmosphere unit; but, the whole idea with this unit is to pull a slight vacuum on your crankcase while ensuring no oil leaves the AOS itself.

Other neat features
-The bottom fitting is M16x1.5. This allows a Subaru Fumoto drain valve to be installed if one does not wish to automatically drain it back to the engine or use the supplied -6AN drain.
-(3) of the (4) fittings on the AOS are mil-spec o-ring bosses to ensure leak free seal.
-Hardware throughout is stainless steel
-Coalescent filters are replaceable, though we haven’t needed to change them to date or anticipate a need to change them.
-AOS is sealed with O-Rings throughout and pressure tested during assembly.

[IMG][/IMG]
Mil-spec ORB feature

Development
-Initial Design


Very first design, this was after ~1-1.5k miles of street driving NA.


Revised first design



This was our complete redesign unit. We found that during hard driving, extremely small amounts of oil would make its way past the two coalescent filters. Significantly more oil would be trapped in the AOS itself but we wanted no oil at all making its way out of the can. You can see the baffles we added in the photo below to help solve this. We also added a stainless mesh at the bottom of the can as well.



Won't dumping oil back in, be bad for the engine?
According to Black-Stone, everything looks good.



Oil Used: Amsoil 0w-30
Oil Cooler Used: OEM Forester
Life of Oil: This was the oil I put into the car when I put the turbo kit on, so it has been in the car for about 12 months straight and 7000 miles.
-Primarily it has ran ethanol, with a few half tanks of 91 octane.
-20-30 dyno pulls at north of 300whp.
-Half-mile racing event where it went 137MPH a dozen times.
-Typically ran at 10PSI which puts me at low 300whp.
-AOS hooked up the whole time, with auto-drain back kit installed as well.

Pretty happy with the results, I see no reason to be worried about running ethanol and the drain back valve with an AOS setup.

Thanks,
Eric

[Calum]

I'm gonna hate the price of this aren't I?

I live in a cold climate, but my car rarely gets driven in the cold. It's doubtful it'll even be driven in anything below 10 deg C, would the coolant kit be beneficial to me?

Is that only one drain hole on the bottom? How do you maintain isolation between the two air paths?


Anyone want to buy a Raceseng Cam Plate?

[VerusEric]

Originally Posted by Calum

I'm gonna hate the price of this aren't I?

I live in a cold climate, but my car rarely gets driven in the cold. It's doubtful it'll even be driven in anything below 10 deg C, would the coolant kit be beneficial to me?

Is that only one drain hole on the bottom? How do you maintain isolation between the two air paths?


Anyone want to buy a Raceseng Cam Plate?

Pricing is in line with other high-end offerings for the market. We'll release pricing soon.

If it rarely gets driven in the cold, then you shouldn't need the coolant kit. This is more for the daily driver that drives it in the colder climates that also wants to run the maintenance free drain back kit as well.

The two air paths do not need to remain isolated.

Thanks,
Eric

[mhiscott]

You guys keep bringing great things to market, but fff my wallet doesn't appreciate it.

Torn on whether this is a good thing or not lol.

Doubly bad that this unit can self drain back into the cam plate I already have sitting on my work bench waiting to bolt up.

[Calum]

Originally Posted by VeloxEric

The two air paths do not need to remain isolated.

What? I thought one side was under vacuum, while at partial throttle, and the other was at or near atmospheric pressure. One side drawing a vacuum on the crankcase, and the other supplying a metered amount of fresh air. What happens when the two sides are allowed to equalize? Wouldn't that reduce the vacuum on the crankcase, and allow unmeasured air into the intake manifold?

[VerusEric]

Originally Posted by Calum

What? I thought one side was under vacuum, while at partial throttle, and the other was at or near atmospheric pressure. One side drawing a vacuum on the crankcase, and the other supplying a metered amount of fresh air. What happens when the two sides are allowed to equalize? Wouldn't that reduce the vacuum on the crankcase, and allow unmeasured air into the intake manifold?

We move the PCV valve to the can itself which keeps the amount of air going into the plenum the same as a stock system. This is only necessary if you continue to run the system in an OEM format, with a hose going to the intake manifold. If you decide to run without the intake manifold hose, you'll run (2) 1/2" hose barbs instead of the valve, and they'll go to the intake (or a vacuum source of your choice, exhaust potentially). This is how we recommend running it once you go forced induction.

The PCV valve is very restrictive and cannot pull a vacuum on the crankcase. Try sucking through the valve and you'll see what I mean. Removing it from the system allows more vapor/gases to exit the system and overall is beneficial. We ran it in this configuration for a year before going forced induction and removing the PCV valve all together with no issues.

Hope that clears it up some, I understand where you question comes from. Other systems do what we found out we had to do to get everything to operate in harmony in an OEM format.

Thanks,
Eric

[JazzleSAURUS]

Awesome design and product. Will you guys be bundling this with a cam plate, and coolant kit together for a group buy? If so, I want in.

[TRAKRAVN]

I'm just trying to understand the drain back feature. If there is no trap, how does the air from the crankcase not flow up the drain line? If we assume it's set up with the PVC valve on the catch can. Then there should only be one source or air movement. At idle with the throttle closed it would go from the crankcase OEM line to the catch can to the manifold. But with the drain line not having a trap would it pull air from the OEM crankcase line and the drain line since they both are in the same cavity. Is it set up so the catch can will drain when the motor is shut off and gravity will drain whatever is collected in the can for that drive cycle. Would a valve be included to seal off the can and then you can drain the can back into the crankcase at the end of the drive cycle or the end of the day?

[Calum]

Originally Posted by VeloxEric

We move the PCV valve to the can itself which keeps the amount of air going into the plenum the same as a stock system. This is only necessary if you continue to run the system in an OEM format, with a hose going to the intake manifold. If you decide to run without the intake manifold hose, you'll run (2) 1/2" hose barbs instead of the valve, and they'll go to the intake (or a vacuum source of your choice, exhaust potentially). This is how we recommend running it once you go forced induction.

The PCV valve is very restrictive and cannot pull a vacuum on the crankcase. Try sucking through the valve and you'll see what I mean. Removing it from the system allows more vapor/gases to exit the system and overall is beneficial. We ran it in this configuration for a year before going forced induction and removing the PCV valve all together with no issues.

Hope that clears it up some, I understand where you question comes from. Other systems do what we found out we had to do to get everything to operate in harmony in an OEM format.

Thanks,
Eric

Ok, so is the PCV valve being moved so that it's between the can and the air filter in the OEM format?

[VerusEric]

Originally Posted by JazzleSAURUS

Awesome design and product. Will you guys be bundling this with a cam plate, and coolant kit together for a group buy? If so, I want in.

We'll try to do this. We're not great at working the website yet but I'll try to figure out how to offer it as a kit and reduce pricing a bit.

Originally Posted by TRAKRAVN

I'm just trying to understand the drain back feature. If there is no trap, how does the air from the crankcase not flow up the drain line? If we assume it's set up with the PVC valve on the catch can. Then there should only be one source or air movement. At idle with the throttle closed it would go from the crankcase OEM line to the catch can to the manifold. But with the drain line not having a trap would it pull air from the OEM crankcase line and the drain line since they both are in the same cavity. Is it set up so the catch can will drain when the motor is shut off and gravity will drain whatever is collected in the can for that drive cycle. Would a valve be included to seal off the can and then you can drain the can back into the crankcase at the end of the drive cycle or the end of the day?

The drain has a check valve included in it. The check valve allows oil to go into the engine but does not allow crankcase air to escape. It's a one-way check valve. The drain will drain anytime pressure in the line is greater than the pressure in the engine. So yes, it will drain when the car is off but it will also drain during idle/cruising as well, potentially even WOT. I do not have a way of viewing this.

Originally Posted by Calum

Ok, so is the PCV valve being moved so that it's between the can and the air filter in the OEM format?

PCV valve is between the AOS and the intake manifold when installed in an OEM type format. It works as an OEM system in this case, just captures all the oil that typically would leave the engine.

Thanks,
Eric

[Ultramaroon]

I remember my days of small-run manufacturing. So painful having to mill a can out of billet.

It's a beautiful piece, Eric. Totally makes sense.

[TRAKRAVN]

Any plans for a crankcase vacuum pump mounted to replace the air conditioning pump?

[lazyluka]

Compatible with RHD?

[COO86L]

Originally Posted by lazyluka

Compatible with RHD?

Stole my question haha!