GrimmSpeed Air/Oil Separator - Product Release

[GrimmSpeed]

You want an AOS that breathes both the Heads and Crankcase? Check.
You want a compact AOS that will work on all models? Check.
You wan a AOS that is not overpriced? Check.

https://www.grimmspeed.com/catalog/p...roducts_id=191



PRICE: $299.99

An Air/Oil Separator has one job, remove the oil from the engine ventilation system so the oil does not get sent through the intake system.

The GrimmSpeed AOS is unique as it allows you to maintain your PCV Valve while separating the oil out of the crankcase and head ventilation air! Our AOS will allow your engine to run more efficiently due to the separation of oil from the intake system. When there is oil in your system, the result is 1) reduced fuel octane 2) higher chance of engine knock(detonation) 3) worse emissions 4) higher oil consumption. Our AOS will solve all of these problems.

In GrimmSpeed fashion, we have made a very compact unit that packs a powerful punch(and looks good while doing it)!

No more having to check/empty your catch can and refilling your oil. The GrimmSpeed AOS coalesces oil without using a mesh media. Mesh medias can cause contaminates to collect and build up resulting in possible sludge. Our AOS is self maintained so you can just sit back, stop worrying, and enjoy driving your car!

Replaces oil cap for a self-sufficient design that requires ZERO maintenance!











Installed pics...






https://www.grimmspeed.com/catalog/p...roducts_id=191


Justin

[sperry]

Is that thing as tiny as I think it is? It doesn't screw into the crank breather on the top of the block does it?

I've got a massive GST donkey-kong barrel AOS on my WRX... if this does the same job, that's mighty impressive.

[knucklesplitter]

Originally Posted by sperry

Is that thing as tiny as I think it is? It doesn't screw into the crank breather on the top of the block does it?

I've got a massive GST donkey-kong barrel AOS on my WRX... if this does the same job, that's mighty impressive.

It is a blatant copy of the Prova A/O Separator with an extra input line added:
http://www.iwsti.com/forums/how-inst...separator.html

The extra line input makes it superior to the Prova in that it has inputs from both the crankcase and the valve covers. I personally would be skeptical that turning the oil filler tube into the equivalent of a catch can that drains back to the driver-side valve cover is equal to systems by Element Tuning, Crawford, and Pro-Vent, but maybe.

[100_Percent_Juice]

It looks cool and is way cheaper than the Prova unit. The Prova unit still uses the stock oil filler cap where as this unit appears to replace it with a cooler looking cap. However, this cap looks like you will need a socket if you would like to put oil in your car and I don't always carry one with me.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by knucklesplitter

It is a blatant copy of the Prova A/O Separator with an extra input line added:
http://www.iwsti.com/forums/how-inst...separator.html

The extra line input makes it superior to the Prova in that it has inputs from both the crankcase and the valve covers. I personally would be skeptical that turning the oil filler tube into the equivalent of a catch can that drains back to the driver-side valve cover is equal to systems by Element Tuning, Crawford, and Pro-Vent, but maybe.

Okay, now I'm confused... it looks like there's one input from the crank, and one from each head. But if the AOS doesn't breath to the intake or to atmosphere, how can it work? You can't just connect the valve breather back to itself, or it's not breathing anything. I also wouldn't want the crank pressure blowing into one of the heads either.

Shouldn't an AOS act like a catch-can that takes oil out of the blow-by gasses to drain back to the pan and then either release the oil-less gas to atmosphere or send it back to the intake to be burnt?

We've pounded on this topic quite a bit already... especially here.

Are we missing something about how this stuff works, because I'd be concerned running this AOS on anything that might have significant crank pressure from blow-by or anything that's going to see significant lateral Gs.

[knucklesplitter]

Originally Posted by sperry

Okay, now I'm confused... it looks like there's one input from the crank, and one from each head. But if the AOS doesn't breath to the intake or to atmosphere, how can it work? You can't just connect the valve breather back to itself, or it's not breathing anything. I also wouldn't want the crank pressure blowing into one of the heads either.

Shouldn't an AOS act like a catch-can that takes oil out of the blow-by gasses to drain back to the pan and then either release the oil-less gas to atmosphere or send it back to the intake to be burnt?

We've pounded on this topic quite a bit already... especially here.

Are we missing something about how this stuff works, because I'd be concerned running this AOS on anything that might have significant crank pressure from blow-by or anything that's going to see significant lateral Gs.

I assume one of the lines, prolly the middle one, goes to the turbo inlet. I assume the head lines get tee'd together. This device is supposed to let the oil drop out and flow down the filler tube.

[Kevin M]

Originally Posted by knucklesplitter

I assume one of the lines, prolly the middle one, goes to the turbo inlet. I assume the head lines get tee'd together. This device is supposed to let the oil drop out and flow down the filler tube.

That's how it looks to me. Kinda clever actually.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by knucklesplitter

I assume one of the lines, prolly the middle one, goes to the turbo inlet. I assume the head lines get tee'd together. This device is supposed to let the oil drop out and flow down the filler tube.

Now that I look at the prova AOS again, I see what you mean. I haven't had a TMIC in a long while, I forgot those hard lines along the intercooler are from *both* heads.

So this setup is basically the top type of catch can in this picture:

http://www.seccs.org/gallery/Car%20P...catch-cans.jpg

...but with a drain-back to the heads.

The problem is that there is likely going to be the possibility of crank pressure blowing out the heads (and thus pumping oil out the heads) because the crank breather is the same size as the valve breathers. I don't know how good that separator is... if it can't handle a heavy stream of oil, you may be blowing oil right into the intake. Probably not going to be an issue on a street car, but on a race car that can sustain 1+ lateral G's, I'd be concerned, especially if I had WRX heads with the single breathers.

[knucklesplitter]

The way it looks like it works is... The blow-by comes in the the two lower/outer nipples and then is funnelled down a port to the filler tube. It then separates (prolly not completely) and returns up the device and exits the higher/middle nipple and out to the intake tract. It is clever, but no more technically complex than a decent catchcan.

[GrimmSpeed]

Originally Posted by knucklesplitter

It is a blatant copy of the Prova A/O Separator with an extra input line added:
http://www.iwsti.com/forums/how-inst...separator.html

The extra line input makes it superior to the Prova in that it has inputs from both the crankcase and the valve covers. I personally would be skeptical that turning the oil filler tube into the equivalent of a catch can that drains back to the driver-side valve cover is equal to systems by Element Tuning, Crawford, and Pro-Vent, but maybe.

These are pretty strong accusations sir. Other than the fact that it mounts directly to the oil cap is about where the similarities end. We've spent a year designing, testing, redesigning, retesting this thing. The meat of this product is the internal baffling, ours has it, the other company has very little.

Justin

[GrimmSpeed]

Originally Posted by 100_Percent_Juice

It looks cool and is way cheaper than the Prova unit. The Prova unit still uses the stock oil filler cap where as this unit appears to replace it with a cooler looking cap. However, this cap looks like you will need a socket if you would like to put oil in your car and I don't always carry one with me.

oh but i have good news about the socket cap on the AOS!! It is the same size as your lug nuts so as long as you have a way to take your lug nuts off(which you should always have), then you have a way to unscrew our AOS.

Justin

[100_Percent_Juice]

I do carry the key for my lug nuts so if you make me a cap that fits the key, we might be in business.

[GrimmSpeed]

Originally Posted by knucklesplitter

The way it looks like it works is... The blow-by comes in the the two lower/outer nipples and then is funnelled down a port to the filler tube. It then separates (prolly not completely) and returns up the device and exits the higher/middle nipple and out to the intake tract. It is clever, but no more technically complex than a decent catchcan.

Yes you are correct on how it functions. We have found this design does very well at separating the oil out. IMO an AOS is soo much better than a catch can because it doesnt take oil out of the engine. catch cans you have to maintenance..you are continuosly taking oil out of your engine which of course is not the greatest for your engine. say you forget to dump out your catch can(and refill your oil) and it gets full of oil... you are now running with a bunch of oil missing which is no good.

Justin

[knucklesplitter]

Originally Posted by GrimmSpeed

These are pretty strong accusations sir. Other than the fact that it mounts directly to the oil cap is about where the similarities end. We've spent a year designing, testing, redesigning, retesting this thing. The meat of this product is the internal baffling, ours has it, the other company has very little.

Justin

I didn't mean to "accuse" you of anything, but come on, it's obvious using the basic Prova design, but with some apparent improvements. And being skeptical isn't the same as accusing.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by GrimmSpeed

Yes you are correct on how it functions. We have found this design does very well at separating the oil out. IMO an AOS is soo much better than a catch can because it doesnt take oil out of the engine. catch cans you have to maintenance..you are continuosly taking oil out of your engine which of course is not the greatest for your engine. say you forget to dump out your catch can(and refill your oil) and it gets full of oil... you are now running with a bunch of oil missing which is no good.

Justin

What concerns me the most is the lack of size differentiation between the crank breather and the head breather. Perhaps it's not an issue on the STi due to the extra pair of unbaffled valve breathers on the STi's heads, but WRX heads will see crank pressure and potentially start pumping oil out the breathers if the crank breather can't breath significantly more than the valve breathers.

Just because all that oil coming out of the heads will get pumped back into the driver's valve cover doesn't necessarily mean it's not a problem.

IMO, if you've got a car that needs a drain-back catchcan/AOS, you've probably also got a car that has a big turbo and see's lots of lateral G's that needs separate crank and valve breathers.

[knucklesplitter]

Seems to me the breather line off the driver side head becomes superfluous, as the filler tube becomes a big breather line basically instead. Most of the blow-by in the DS valve cover will take the path of least resistance and head straight up the filler tube. Probably doesn't hurt to still run the VC breather lines together though.

[GrimmSpeed]

Originally Posted by knucklesplitter

I didn't mean to "accuse" you of anything, but come on, it's obvious using the basic Prova design, but with some apparent improvements. And being skeptical isn't the same as accusing.

Ok you just came off as though we just copied another company which is untrue. Yes i agree it looks and installs similar to the other one, but from a functionality standpoint it is very different. Nothing wrong with skepticism..its a new product. thankfully we have been doing testing for over a year now so it isnt very new to us over here

Oh and i'd like to add we had this in 15 different testers hands for the last 6 months on all types of setups ranging from stock setups to 500hp setups and it worked very nicely.

Justin

[knucklesplitter]

Originally Posted by sperry

What concerns me the most is the lack of size differentiation between the crank breather and the head breather. Perhaps it's not an issue on the STi due to the extra pair of unbaffled valve breathers on the STi's heads, but WRX heads will see crank pressure and potentially start pumping oil out the breathers if the crank breather can't breath significantly more than the valve breathers.

I've heard you mention this before, and I dunno is I buy that. The difference between a 5/8" line and a 1/2" line is not much, and the crankcase breather line has a significant (and obviously on purpose) restriction in it near the PCV valve.

[GrimmSpeed]

and just to reiterate..no worries at all knucklesplitter, its just that i got done spending a TON of time and money designing this product and the last thing i want is to be accused of replicating another product. so maybe i'm a bit sensitive right now

Justin

[knucklesplitter]

Originally Posted by GrimmSpeed

Ok you just came off as though we just copied another company which is untrue. Yes i agree it looks and installs similar to the other one, but from a functionality standpoint it is very different. Nothing wrong with skepticism..its a new product. thankfully we have been doing testing for over a year now so it isnt very new to us over here

Oh and i'd like to add we had this in 15 different testers hands for the last 6 months on all types of setups ranging from stock setups to 500hp setups and it worked very nicely.

Justin

Yeah, you may remember I was skeptical about your MAF block-off and ended up being totally wrong on that.

[knucklesplitter]

Originally Posted by GrimmSpeed

and just to reiterate..no worries at all knucklesplitter, its just that i got done spending a TON of time and money designing this product and the last thing i want is to be accused of replicating another product. so maybe i'm a bit sensitive right now

Justin

I understand, Justin, but I guarantee people will be saying you "copied" the Prova concept of using the breather tube, which maybe was not an original idea anyway. Prova's is really too pricey and is just not worth it anyway for several reasons.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by knucklesplitter

I've heard you mention this before, and I dunno is I buy that. The difference between a 5/8" line and a 1/2" line is not much, and the crankcase breather line has a significant (and obviously on purpose) restriction in it near the PCV valve.

The whole line size for breathers has always seemed like voodoo to me, but I've had 1st hand problems with oil pumping out the heads, and the line size was identified as part of my issue.

Also. 5/8" ID is 50% larger in area than 1/2" ID (0.307 in^2 vs. 0.196 in^2). That's pretty significant. And that restrictor is not in line with the breather, it's only in line w/ the PCV, is it not?

[knucklesplitter]

Originally Posted by sperry

The whole line size for breathers has always seemed like voodoo to me, but I've had 1st hand problems with oil pumping out the heads, and the line size was identified as part of my issue.

Also. 5/8" ID is 50% larger in area than 1/2" ID (0.307 in^2 vs. 0.196 in^2). That's pretty significant. And that restrictor is not in line with the breather, it's only in line w/ the PCV, is it not?

No it is in line with the crankcase breather line and the PCV valve. In other words it necks down before the tee-off of the PCV valve.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by knucklesplitter

No it is in line with the crankcase breather line and the PCV valve. In other words it necks down before the tee-off of the PCV valve.

Hrm. I don't remember that on my car... is that just for the STi?

Either way... I don't have a PCV any more as it is... just a giant AOS that vents the crank and valve covers to atmosphere. Everything else I tried just didn't keep up with the crank pressures and G's the motor was seeing at the race track.

[knucklesplitter]

Originally Posted by sperry

Hrm. I don't remember that on my car... is that just for the STi?

Either way... I don't have a PCV any more as it is... just a giant AOS that vents the crank and valve covers to atmosphere. Everything else I tried just didn't keep up with the crank pressures and G's the motor was seeing at the race track.

No, I believe the part #11819AA001 is the same on the WRX too even in 2002. But yeah, high-G racing is a whole 'nother animal anyway.