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Posted by: McMark Dec 1 2010, 02:38 PM

I ordered some of this Duocel stuff. It's sheets of 'foamed' 6101-T6 aluminum. I'm going to form a brick that will slip into the stock oil filler tower and hopefully provide significant oil vapor separation from the crankcase ventilation air. Ideally, by slipping this into the stock tower, I can run the breather tube to a carb or FI intake and not have to stress/dealwith large quantities of oil collecting in the intake or fouling the carbs.

Why not a traditional foam? This stuff won't break down over time.

Not cheap though. Each 4" x 4" x 0.5" sheet is $30.

Oh and if this works it'll appear Original while being Custom.


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Posted by: ChrisNPDrider Dec 1 2010, 05:19 PM

Interesting.
I like the V-bar project better
If this foam had bits fall off over time, is there any way those aluminum foam crumbs would get into the flow of the oiling system? Bits would be caught by the oil filter before reaching delicate internals?

Posted by: yeahmag Dec 1 2010, 05:40 PM

On my bug with a CB tower I used a copper sponge like thing I found at my hardware store. Worked great! Damn sponge would eventually get saturated and not breathe as well. This was an 7500 RPM / 2275 / Type I motor.

Posted by: jmill Dec 1 2010, 05:45 PM

Seems like it's perfect for this application. See below:

Liquid/Gas Separators - The three-dimensional continuous ligament structure of Duocel foam promotes complete removal of entrained liquids. Aluminum foam alone or with standard surface treatments ensures long life and low maintenance. With up to 97% void volume, extremely small pressure drops can be achieved. The continuously connected aluminum structure prevents particle generation from within the liquid/gas separator.

Posted by: McMark Dec 1 2010, 06:12 PM

It's certainly possible, but I'm satisfied that it's improbable. I'll plan on cutting open the first couple oil filters and straining the used oil to see if anything is generated.

This is absolutely an experiment.

Posted by: jd74914 Dec 1 2010, 10:24 PM

Nice find, that's cool stuff.

Now the question is if its weldable...that would probably make great fuel tank baffles.

Posted by: mightyohm Dec 1 2010, 10:32 PM

Wow, what a strange material. It certainly looks cool!

Posted by: Racer Chris Dec 1 2010, 10:51 PM

The fuel cell foam I've had in my race car breather can shows no sign of breakdown yet, after 12 years and more than 100 races.
Cost of foam in a Tangerine Racing breather can - less than $1, and it looks an awful lot like that picture of Duocel.

Posted by: McMark Dec 2 2010, 02:43 PM

But it's not ALUMINUM.

I'm going to get this stuff electropolished so that it's so shiny it glows in the dark. BLING BLING! Just kidding.

Posted by: SirAndy Dec 2 2010, 02:51 PM

You could probably backlight it with a LED strip so when one opens the cap to refill the oil at night, you don't need a flashlight.

Posted by: geniusanthony Dec 3 2010, 12:21 AM

A little OT but, who made those aluminum tower oil filler assemblies?

Posted by: geniusanthony Dec 3 2010, 12:24 AM

And, for Andy's idea, a normally closed NC relay would allow the cap to act as a switch to turn on said LED, if the cap was conductive with matching contacts on the tower.

Posted by: Elliot Cannon Dec 3 2010, 12:33 AM

Mine was made by "spunone" on this forum. Veeeerrry niiiice.


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Posted by: Mark Henry Dec 3 2010, 07:04 AM

/6 oil tank screen

Posted by: ottox914 Dec 3 2010, 07:35 AM

Under what conditions would fuel cell foam break down? My friend, driving a birkin 7, running regular old 92-93 from the pump, had the foam in his cell break down after 3-4 seasons. He stored the car winters with a full tank of fuel. Last season he had fuel delivery issues, I told him to check the fuel cell, the foam had come apart into little chunks, was blocking the fuel line, and the fuel filter was clogged. He had to take a bunch of the car apart to remove and clean the fuel cell out, and now takes the foam out over the winters and plans to replace it every couple yrs.

Maybe he had different foam from what you are using? Are there different brands or grades of foam?

Posted by: realred914 Dec 3 2010, 11:01 AM

vibrtaion will be the enemy here, so make sure teh metal foam you use will not vibrate aginst the supports adn that could cuase wear inducing particles to get into the motor. maybe some sort of silicone (oil proof) seal around the foam to were you attach it to the motor would be good.

I have used a copper foam before, used it in a helium 3 isotope, zero gravity refridgeration unit for use on cooling space based sensors. neat stuff. the copper foam had the corect pore size to help seperate the Helium 3 from Helium (liquid), this is what drove the refridgeration cycle.

Posted by: Racer Chris Dec 3 2010, 12:04 PM

Unleaded fuel stored in the fuel cell for an extended period of time.
Your friend would be better off completely draining the tank for winter storage if he's using pump gas.

Posted by: underthetire Dec 3 2010, 12:41 PM

Pretty cool, i've seen our waterjet guy cutting that stuff out before. We have some special metal foam thats about 1,000 per gram !

Posted by: realred914 Dec 3 2010, 01:02 PM

what the $1000/gram stuff called, alumicaine?

Posted by: underthetire Dec 3 2010, 03:51 PM

Gives you a buzz and Alzheimers in one shot !

Actually contains BE/CU/and gold.