-AN FITTINGS & BRAIDED LINES FOR CCV ON GEN. III VIPER ENGINES (Coupe, Convertible, and Ram) This article will cover running braided lines with AN fittings from the valve covers to a catch can/OEM airbox. We will use -06AN hose and fittings throughout. Though a Ram is used in this project, the same basics apply for the Viper coupe and covertible. Hose lengths may need adjusted. TIME: approx. 2 hours + line building. DIFFICULTY: 3 COST: Approx. $140. ($163.37 as pictured) TOOLS - -06AN Wrench - 3/8-14 NPT tap (or the number to a local machine shop) - 8mm nut driver - Vise grips - Hammer - Shop rag SUPPLIES - 3' of -06AN braided line (I went with black nylon braid, but stainless steel is also available). - (2) -06AN to -06AN Radiused Pump Fittings (black was used for this project, but blue is also available.) - (3) -06AN 90º fittings (black/red were used for this project, but other color combinations are available: red/blue, polished aluminum, all black, and black/silver). - (3) -06AN Straight fittings (one red/black and two all black were used for this project, but other color combinations are available: red/blue, polished aluminum, black/silver). - (1) -06AN T-fitting (black was used in this project, but blue is also available.) - (2) flat rubber washers. Lowe's part #: COMING SOON - Teflon tape or thread sealant - "Blue" thread locker - Masking tape. And a lot of it. OPTIONAL (for catch can setups): - (1) 3/8" NPT to 90º AN -06 adatper (black or blue). - (1) -06AN Straight fitting (red/black was used for this project, but other color combinations are available: all black, red/blue, polished aluminum, black/silver). PREFACE ARTICLES - Building AN lines: http://www.srtconnection.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10668 - Valve Cover Removal: http://www.srtconnection.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12103 -BUILDING THE LINES- Follow the instructions in the "Building -AN Lines" DIY article and assemble the hoses. For lengths, you'll want: - (2) x 8" - (1) x 20" The longer one can be trimmed as necessary during final installation. Each section of hose gets a 90º fitting and a Straight fitting. (IF the long section is going back to the OEM airbox, a Straight fitting on it is not necessary) Once assembled, your hoses should look like this: You'll want to pre-assemble the hose prior to installing them because access to the T-fitting will be next to impossible (unless you remove the intake). The hose assembly will look like this: The T-fitting and respective connectors are stashed underneath the intake and will not be seen (thus the plain black connectors). Props to SRT/C member Keith for the stashing idea! -OPTIONAL- The rubber grommet is for catch can setups. It needs to be put on the hose BEFORE re-inserting the grommet onto the box that holds the catch can. It's 10x easier to do it this way than try to fit the connector through the grommet when it's on the box. Trust me on that one. -OPTIONAL- The catch can will need a 90º NPT to AN fitting installed: My JMB catch can had it's bung damaged during assembly/welding, so the NPT threads needed to be re-tapped for proper fitment and sealing. REMEMBER: NPT (pipe thread) is tapered: as you thread it, the pipe/fitting will get tighter and tighter as you go. The new -AN fittings are aluminum and can strip out a lot easier than the threads inside the catch can. Use a good sealant and don't go too tight or you will damage something. -VALVE COVER MODIFICATION- Okay, here comes the fun part. First, take out the baffle and foam filter from the valve covers (as described in the other DIY article). Though it's in some of the pictures, remove the oil fill cap until re-assembly. It just gets in your way. Removing the barb hose connections from the valve covers was quite the adventure. The suckers have to come out, but you don't want to damage the powder coating on the covers. No easy task. My method: Yep. Vise-Grip and a hammer. Primitive, but.......................... ....it worked well: The barb fittings are pressed into the valve covers and are in there REALLY tight (for good reason). Be sure to take them out as straight as possible to prevent ovaling the hole. The next step is to get the holes tapped for our -AN fittings. I went a little overboard with the masking tape: Better safe than sorry, right? Note the 'cups' left for the tap to pass to the inside of the valve cover. I do not own a 3/8-18 NPT tap, so I contacted my local machine shop to see if they were able to tap the two holes for me. I stopped by with a crisp $20 bill at lunch time, and left 10 minutes later with two perfectly tapped holes: HUGE PROPS to Rich and his staff at Exact Machine in Sunbury, OH for their immediate and super-professional work! BTW- If you're reading this on any site other than SRTConnection.com, it means that some asshat stole it from their site. Not only is that uncool, but it's also highly illegal. Back at the garage, we can get the valve covers their new fittings! Here we use the Radiused Pump fittings. Remove the O-ring on the fittings, and slide on your rubber washer. The washers will malform slightly and naturally go into a 'cone' shape. That's okay. They'll be flat in a few minutes. The rubber acts as a seal and as a vibration dampener. It also protects the powder coated finish on the valve covers (and the fittings). Give the short section of thread a good dose of your blue thread locker. Installed, they will look like this: (as this was just a fitment check, the rubber washer isn't in the pics. Sorry.) There is no torque spec for these fittings, so tighten them onto the valve covers HAND-TIGHT. Maybe 1/8 of a turn with an AN wrench. What you DON'T want to see is the rubber washer 'folding' or crimping. -FINAL ASSEMBLY- Now we can put our valve covers back on! Time to fit our new CCV hose. Cover the Driver's side end with masking tape to prevent it from getting scratched: Before running the hose, make sure the barbed line behind/under the throttle body is capped off. We will no longer be using that port. It can be seen capped and zip-tied closed in the picture below (far right side). Feed the hose from the Pass. side, UNDER the intake, just BEHIND the throttle body. Here you can kind of see how the T-fitting setup is stashed nicely under the intake: (sorry- tough to get a picture of a tiny dark cavern with tiny dark fittings and tiny dark hose. LOL) With some wiggling, it will emerge on the Driver's side: Note how it comes out behind that first fuel rail mounting bolt. That's exactly where you want it. Remove the protective masking tape, and attach the 90º fitting to the fitting on the valve cover: REMEMBER: With -AN fittings, you only need to go HAND-TIGHT THEN 1/4 turn!!! Don't crank down on them. Your fitting should be angled so as to avoid bumping into the fuel rail mount or any of the other components. On the Driver's side, I set mine at about a 45º angle, pointing towards the firewall. Back at the Pass. side, we do the same connection: This one is also angled, but towards the radiator at about a 45º angle to avoid the mounting and the other components. Lastly we have the connection to the catch can. On the JMB catch can setups, the mounting hole in the box for the catch can needs to be re-drilled 1" toward the fender. This gives you enough room for the hose and AN fitting. Feed the fitting through the hole in the box: Attach the fitting to the catch can: Then re-fit the rubber grommet back into place on the box: If you're re-attaching the CCV line to the OEM airbox, wrap some electrical tape around the braided hose end, and re-hose clamp it to the barb fitting on the air box. Don't forget to put your oil fill cap back on! We're back together and with awesome new fittings and excellent braided hose: With this upgrade, you have larger openings in the valve covers for all that nastiness to get through. This will probably mean that your catch can will fill up faster, so you'll need to check it a little more often. ENJOY! ©2009 Kevan J. Geier ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Thanks Ron! Here's the wrench set to get: http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/80658/10002/-1 It covers a wide variety of AN sizes, and has NPT (inch) sizes on the opposite ends of each wrench. $60. I shopped around for a couple of days before I settled on that set.
Kevan, any thoughts about routing the blow-by line back to the engine rather than into a catch can? There is a freeze plug on the top front of the block that might provide an entry point...
kevan that looks hot man, i have wanted to get rid of those barbed fittings for a long time. thanks this will come in handy.
