I've been wanting to install an Oil Catch Can (OCC) ever since I removed my intercooler and found some oil in the lower Y-pipe that feeds the IC. I saw a Helix brand on sale here:

http://www.gruppe-s.com/subaru.htm

For a good price and decided to get one. Little did I know there isn't a lot of room under the XT's hood to put this item. I've seen a few installs on Impreza that located the can in front of the battery. Unfortunately, with the Forester, that spot is taken up by a sensor in the AC line :(

At first I considered putting it on the passenger strut tower where the DRL resistor is. But I thought that was too close to the turbo and would get very hot. In the end I had to make a bracket out of aluminum stock I had hanging around. It wasn't hard and it's in there nice and solid (so far). I will do a more detailed write up eventually but I did want to get some pics up for now.

What you will need:

12mm open end - To remove one of the ABS mounting nuts

12mm socket and long extension - to remove ABS mounting bolt on fender

Razor knife - To cut hosed to length

10mm open end - to tighten OCC's site hose.

Phillips Screw Driver - For hose clamps

7mm open end - Tighten the hose clamp off of the intake

5mm Allen hex - To secure OCC to bracket

About 2' of 1" wide aluminum flat stock - to make the bracket

Vice, Drill and hacksaw- To make the bracket

For now I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. For the bracket I used one of the existing studs on the side of the ABS unit and one of the bolts at the bottom of the unit. I made it so the bracket sits about 1/4" higher than the brake lines on the ABS unit. You'll see that the catch can is located in a spot normally taken up by the front part of the intake. I removed that when I took out the Silencer in the fender.

Peaty 12/07/03

Can with the site line installed for the horizontal position (this line also doubles as the drain line when needed)

can in place

other side

one of the mounting points (the bottom one is hard to get a shot of)

overview

Close up of the connections by the IC

I removed the connection from the IC and intake hose and put the OCC lines in place of those. I was mostly concerned with the oil that got in the IC. I didn't worry about the PCV line.

Getting this hose clamp on and tight was a royal PITA. First I warmed the hose up in my oven for about 5 minutes at ~200°F to soften it up. After I got it over the fitting, I had to use a 7MM open end to tighten it.

That's it :)

12/15/03

Just posting a quick follow up. The hoses are clear braded and on the line off of the IC, I can see small pools of oil in the low points along the way to the can now. Not a lot but it's there. I was just checking my oil and took notice of it. There isn't enough to show on the site glass yet. I can see how over time that might happen though. The line out of the can is clear and clean so far.

Decided to take some pics to show what's going on. As you can see there is a colour difference in the lines. The line feeding the CC is brown and the line coming out is clean. I did not put any material in the can so at this point I don't think you really need to. There is only a small amount showing on the site glass but even at the lower level it's about 3/8" from the bottom.

Peaty 2/1/04

Close up of low spot where you can see some oil has gathered. I will re route the hose in warmer weather to minimize this.

Site glass

Today I had the IC off and had a look in the Y hose. I'm happy to say there was no oil to be found. This is after almost 4 months. When I took the IC off before the CC install I did find a fair amount of oil in there. Enough to make a small puddle on the garage floor and scare the heck out of me. So even though I only hooked the CC in line to the valve covers it seems to be doing something.

Peaty 3/27/04