Catching a falling star, err, falling vapor...

After putting the car together for the first time and finding a nasty oil leak (which prompted me to pull the oil pan AGAIN), I realized that I capped off the outlet for the valve cover and was pressurizing the crank case.  Oops!  So, to make sure that wasn't causing the oil leak at the front of the motor, among other things, I added plumbing to the intake side of the compressor so that I didn't cap off crankcase.

Well, you see, you don't necessarily want a hose going directly from crankcase vent to the intake, because there is all sorts of nasty stuff in that vapor, so most folks install a catch-can in between.  I built a catch-can out of scrap aluminum tubing, some stainless steel scrub pads and a radiator drain-cock.  Remind me to NEVER make my own weld-bungs.  Takes for-freaking-ever to tap NPT fittings in 3/8" thick aluminum.  Well worth the $3 each to just buy them and weld them in but what can you do when you can't get them locally and you want your car back together ASAP?

Anyhow, I'm pleased to report that the DIY catch-can works like a charm.  I've drained for the second time and I'm not getting any oil, only some "milky" liquid, probably mostly accumulated water vapor (but it smells of petroleum products).  I guess the motor is okay (no blow-by from rings) and the oil feed/drain for the turbo isn't backing up and causing oil to blow past the seals and get into the intake there, either.  It is good when you almost engineer something right the first time!