Cheers Proccom, Yes I read about Lucid’s experience with catch tank. that was one of several reasons why I didn’t go that way. I need to check what, if anything, I did with the centre breather. I think nothing and it was going to be a future improvement. Busy with the 407 today so Cougar is just being ignored, again.
Referring back to # 7122.
What happens if I disconnect the connection from the crank case breather to the UIM.
I‘d need to close the hole in the UIM and fit a breather filter on the output from the PCV.
Anyone tried this .
Surely I get a cleaner inlet system ?
NO don't do this..
u DO need air pulled through the engine.
The uim particularly where the pipe(pcv) goes in just before the throttle is under constant vacuum so it is constantly sucking clean air through the cam cover filters u have ,through the engine taking with it any blow by (from pistons) or oil vapor that is generated, this is regulated by the pcv as the vacuum in the uim is constantly changing due to engine speed and throttle position.
if u remove it or block it off all that will happen is the vapours and blow by gasses will buildup in the crankcase area and cause pressure(not a lot just a little) u will also start to see oil coming out of your filters and just about every oilseal on the engine will start to weep oil as suddenly there not dealing with a steady vacuum now they have pressure on them....this was a big mistake i made with my first car (mini 1275GT) ,blew the crank seal out.....
and it did it on the m11 spraying everyone within 200 yards of me with oil...
also altho u are right the oil buildup in the intake is a real pain for airflow and gunking up it does have a good side to it!
the intake valves and there guides take a small amount of this oil vapor and self lubricate themselves... without this it would be pure metal on metal especially for the poor ol secondary valve that never sees petrol , ud be taking life off the engine.
all engines lube the top end valves like this
if u were to put a catch tank in u would need to put it between the uim and the pcv valve, easy to do and this would catch al the bad stuff including debris etc and allow just enough vapor through....make sure its the sealed type and not the silly china one with a filter on as all they do is suck fresh air in and make farty sounds

....the ones u want have a mesh or an arrangement of pipes in them to trap the oil and debris.
the absolute no brainer to a cleaner intake is get rid of that damn EGR valve if u have it..shoving carbon exhaust gasses back in mixing it with the oil vapor is just utter stupid! and i swear ford engineer were all thinking "that will feck it up by 80k or in 7 years"
yes it stops nox gasses ,but in our cars this only occurs at high speed throttle when the engine is ba****d hot...so unless your an environmentalist and are going to thrash it on the race track at combe it don't need it.
oh gawd iv rabbited on again...hope this helps chap!