Bits n pieces for Apollo Tank fitment

[Wrightpayne]

Caterham still sell them albeit part of the whole breather pipe kit - why not give them a call and see if you can get one.

I’m certain this fitting has the restrictive fine drilling to control the oil pressure so another reason to go to Caterham!

Ian 

[The_ASH]

I am pretty certain that the fitting that fits into the cam carrier and/or cam cover is a part used widely in refrigeration systems and is 1/8 npt x 1/4 gas, the 1/4 gas end has the angle that you’d find on flare joints, I probably have many of them buried in my garage somewhere from 20 years ago.

I never investigated it but the tank top fitting may be the same, certainly one end of it is 1/4 gas as the aeroquip hose has those ends. Some people used to remove that fitting from the tank when doing an oil change as an oil evacuator hose could be popped in to suck the contents out rather than trying to undo the drain at the bottom that can sometimes be hard to shift plus if you undo it you might need another Dowty washer when you put it back together.

[The_ASH]

You may well be right, certainly one of the fittings used was a standard brass fridge fitting but the other may have been a ‘special ‘ conjured up by Caterham, I think we need someone to undo the top tank fitting of their Apollo and take a picture of the orifice. Thinking about this, as a fridge engineer, I may have very very very occasionally seen these fittings with a smaller bore to carry out a snubbing function, so I’d bet someone sells them somewhere.

From a distant memory of a rapid Apollo  assembly cock up, the amount of oil that comes out of the hose if disconnected from the head would point to there being no restriction as it was a solid 1/4” bore of oil... everywhere... very quickly... panic... turn it off!... etc!

[AndrewE]

Thanks all - the guys at Think think it is 3/8 UNF 

If I am using an NRV should I still think about the 'restrictive' fitting that goes into the cam cover - won't the NRV perform a similar function?​

 

Ref The_ASH I thought the tope hose to cam cover was an AIR breather so shouldn't be having a full flow of oil?

 

[The_ASH]

Well, that did occur to me as well, I think at startup especially a certain amount of balancing occurs which results in some oil being sent towards the head until things settle, also not sure what effect having the braided hose disconnected would have on the whole function/flow of the system also as it’s close to the IN connection on the tank, certainly a mess, even a little oil goes a long way and this happened in the dark as well.

Regarding restriction vs NRV, restriction would slow flow but allow flow in both directions whereas NRV would only allow unrestricted flow in one direction as is a non return valve (unless it has an inbuilt restriction lol!).

[Wrightpayne]

I’m sure the fitting in the apollo is restrictive. The one into the cam cover is just a dash3 bulkhead fitting designed for brake fluid so wont be restrictive.

[StevehS3]

My understanding is that the oil in the Apollo tank is under pressure so there must be some restriction in the hose from the top of the tank otherwise the oil would be pumped out into the cam cover and the pressure would drop [note: I expect that some oil is sent out into the cam cover anyway along with froth and the oil pressure is slightly lower after fitting an Apollo]. The only place mine has a restriction is the cam cover fitting/union.

I suppose the NRV (flap valve) adds to the restriction but that isn’t part of Caterham’s design and there is a question mark over what effect that has on the performance of the system. Personally I think it may reduce the effectiveness of the Apollo but it is worth it to get instant oil pressure at start-up. Having said that, if mine was purely used on track I wouldn’t fit a NRV.

[nickh7]

I’ve got the full parts list including the NRV as I’ve just ordered one 

I can send the list if you BM me with your email 

its not cheap if they make it up roughly £100

[AndrewE]

Hose I am using is -3 so 3.56 mm ID

I am not sure how much a restriction down to 2mm will do but Nick has offered to provide part details (thanks Nick)

Andrew