My stealth charcoal canister install *PICS*

MarkIII4Me

Project OVERKILL!!!
Apr 10, 2005
1,249
2
38
Charleston, SC
Had the parts forever; just finally found some time to install the stuff.

One day I decided to walk the local salvage yard in search for the smallest charcoal canister. I found it in a small Kia (Sophia I believe; but it was awhile ago). The CC had a nice 2 bolt slide on bracket that was really nice too. The cc doesn't have a check valve; so I did my research and source an inline check valve from Generant with a 3psi crack pressure.

Install was fairly straight forward. I cut the tank vent hardline at the bottom of the firewall with a dremel reinforced wheel (*Note; my car has been sittining for years with no gas in the tank, and the gas tank was even dropped recently to install a Denso pump; so there were no stray gasoline fumes present in the system. Be careful not to produce a spark if you have a running vehicle; whether there's fuel in the tank or not).

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I ran a rubber line through the driverside fender by the master cylinder.


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I then ran the line along the inside of the driver side fender.

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Then back into the engine bay by the battery tray and back out by the front of the engine bay.

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I installed the inline check valve right before the canister and then ran the exit line out the bumper support.

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And that's it. Done clean, done right. Hope I helped a few fellow members out; as this topic pops-up monthly.
 
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arknotts

formerly ark86
Jan 9, 2008
461
1
18
Ohio
How much was the check valve? That is exactly what I've been looking for!

I may have a misunderstanding of how a charcoal canister works, but doesn't it defeat the purpose to vent it to atmosphere? If you're not routing it back to the intake (through the BVSV), couldn't you just vent the line directly after the check valve?
 

MarkIII4Me

Project OVERKILL!!!
Apr 10, 2005
1,249
2
38
Charleston, SC
arknotts;1587101 said:
How much was the check valve? That is exactly what I've been looking for!

Depends. The thing only retails for like $11; however, I haven't found any place that carries it in stock. You'll have to find an authorized dealer who purchases in large quantities from Generant as they don't sell direct. I called around all day trying to find some place. One retailer told me they had to place a minimum order with Generant of $500; so I would have to wait several weeks or longer until the order was placed and they'd charge me $50 for the valve plus shipping.

I found a local vendor that charged me around $35 for the valve. Over 3x the retail price; but I'm fine with that.



arknotts;1587101 said:
I may have a misunderstanding of how a charcoal canister works, but doesn't it defeat the purpose to vent it to atmosphere? If you're not routing it back to the intake (through the BVSV), couldn't you just vent the line directly after the check valve?

The check valve on the canister keeps the gas tank properly pressurized. The charcoal in the canister filters the fumes emmitting through the gas tank vent tube. You could omitt the cc completely if you wanted to dump flamable fumes into the air. Is it really worth the risk of fire? Not to mention the damage to the environment.

Charcoal canisters are extremely cheap. I paid around $15 from the salvage yard for mine; bracket and all. Don't cheap-out!
 

arknotts

formerly ark86
Jan 9, 2008
461
1
18
Ohio
MarkIII4Me;1587109 said:
The check valve on the canister keeps the gas tank properly pressurized. The charcoal in the canister filters the fumes emmitting through the gas tank vent tube. You could omitt the cc completely if you wanted to dump flamable fumes into the air. Is it really worth the risk of fire? Not to mention the damage to the environment.

Charcoal canisters are extremely cheap. I paid around $15 from the salvage yard for mine; bracket and all. Don't cheap-out!
That's exactly my point though, even with the charcoal canister you are still dumping gasoline vapor into the air. The stock CC is purged through the ported vacuum off of the throttle body. I have a FFIM without a ported vacuum source, so I need the check valve to maintain ~2psi pressure in the tank and simply vent it to atmosphere (yes, bad for the environment but I don't know if I have a choice at this point).

I've thought about putting in a small CC (and possibly mounting it in the back near the gas tank, but away from the exhaust), but my understanding is that the charcoal inside the canister simply "holds on" to the hydrocarbons until they can be purged back into the engine to burn. If there is no route back to the intake manifold I think the fumes would still be vented to the atmosphere.

Again, this is just my understanding of how the system works and I know there are more knowledgeable people here so correct me if I am wrong! I've read through this Toyota technical article in order to try and get a better understanding of the system:

http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/h62.pdf
 

mkiiichip

New Member
Sep 10, 2007
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A cc is meant to store HC, untill the ported vacuum line sees vacuum. This is when the HC's are purged into the motor to be burned up.

You basically have a large storage container of unburnt fuel in the bumper.

You need to find a way to actively purge the cc, to be effective.
 

MarkIII4Me

Project OVERKILL!!!
Apr 10, 2005
1,249
2
38
Charleston, SC
Interesting. So basically the fumes in the canister need to be pulled out by the vaccuum source; otherwise they are just stored in there? I would think that once enough pressue built up in the CC it would just purge itself.
 

mkiiichip

New Member
Sep 10, 2007
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If your trying to vent to atmosphere, why not install your special valve near the tank and call it a day, no cc necessary.
 

FullNelson

New Member
Sep 17, 2007
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Coastal Georgia
If it only stores HC during off vacuum situations, couldn't you just run the CC line straight to the bvsv with an inline check valve? wont the HCs just build up in the tank for that extra split second while boost occurs only to be consumed later when vacuum is present?
 

IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
Mar 30, 2005
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The "check valve" is used to prevent boost pressure entering the CC nothing more...

The PURGE line needs to be hooked up to some type of control either mechanical or electric so it will only purge under certain conditions as purging at idle will make your idle unstable, usually only purge above 60c as well.
 

FullNelson

New Member
Sep 17, 2007
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On a stock setup what normally controls the purge? Would a separate valve need to be used to keep the fuel tank in a correct pressure range? Wouldnt that be the duty of the gas cap?
 

FullNelson

New Member
Sep 17, 2007
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Coastal Georgia
So what would keep me from bypassing the CC and just going straight to the BSV? Wont the HCs just build up in the tank for the short time the purge valve is closed? Only to be consumed when the valve opens a short time later
 

IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
Mar 30, 2005
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The Purge would just suck in raw fuel.....

I really don't understand this "need" to remove the CC at all, just buy a smaller one that has an inbuilt one way valve (easy to check at the junkyard just blow into the pruge line if you can't it's good to go)

Then mount it under the plastic inner fender done..
 

FullNelson

New Member
Sep 17, 2007
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Coastal Georgia
No real need to get rid of it. just looking to understand the concept of it. Would the CC be used as a catch can sort to filter the raw fuel back to the tank and leave the vapors and HCs to meet the BSV?
 

arknotts

formerly ark86
Jan 9, 2008
461
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18
Ohio
What about those of us with FFIMs without a ported vacuum source? This is the reason I'm just venting mine right now with a 1.5 psi check valve (closest I could find). Unfortunately my valve doesn't seem to be cracking open until about 6 psi which I think is too much pressure in the tank. So I'm just venting it right now until I can find another solution.