Hi Guys. I installed a UPR catch can about a month ago and I wanted to give the forum my impressions of both the product and my experience with the company. Overall, I think the can itself and the materials used are good, but in my opinion, the plug-n-play kit I installed on the Flex (advertised for the SHO) has some design problems. I was also not impressed with their customer service or the installation literature (or lack thereof) included with the kit.
When I unboxed the kit, I noticed zero documentation inside, just the can and the hoses with the quick-connect fittings. I was forced to go on the website and look at the pictures they show in the ad in order to be sure where everything was supposed to go, and I was also forced to guess (educated guess) on which direction the single check valve in the system is supposed to be installed.
The fittings are interchangeable with the Ford OEM fittings, so they literally plug-n-play, and you do not have to destroy your original PCV hoses to do the install, and therefore you can return the system to stock in a matter of minutes using the old hoses. In my opinion, it's worth the money for that feature alone right there. The rubber hose they use is top quality as well. It's a Goodyear brand that is both flexible and heavy duty, along with the recommended large diameter for these systems. I did not personally dismantle the catch can itself, but from pictures I've seen in other forums featuring UPR's products, I think that it's a decent design, as in not simply an empty can with inlets and outlets, but multi-chambered. I will say however, that given the amount of oil and condensate aerosols that these particular engines produce, the kit's can is on the small side. You'll do well to empty it frequently if you get one.
First design flaw I noticed is the lack of an included drain valve on the bottom of the can. There's a pipe threaded (1/4 npt I think) bung in the bottom, but you need to add your own valve. I went to the hardware store and got a street 90 to thread in there and then I threaded an air-compressor type ball valve threaded directly into that. I will include pictures in the next post so you can see how I did it.
The next design flaw I saw is the lack of a second check valve in the system to prevent air from being sucked into the intake manifold inlet instead of air coming out of the PCV valve being drawn through. Due to the lack of installation literature included in the kit, I spent a couple hours during installation to educate myself on how both normal PCV and turbocharged PCV systems work. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is by definition missing a piece of the equipment necessary to be considered "dual valve" catch can. There's only one valve between the can and the intake manifold inlet to prevent back feed while under boost, but there isn't a second one to prevent the bypass of the PCV valve during non-boost conditions, so no "dual" in the valves, just "uni". The reason I think this is a problem is because the crankcase ventilation system will never evacuate crankcase gases unless the engine is under boost conditions and it is being forced out by blowby gas pressure. The air will simply take the path of least resistance and draw air through the WOT port directly into the manifold. I tried to explain this to the rep at UPR, but I was basically stonewalled and he ignored my concerns completely, only saying that the kit is only supposed to have one check valve. It also took three days of trying to get ahold of someone over there to get this treatment.
Given the lack of response on their end, I purchased one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LWYBR0O/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I installed this check valve between the catch can and the tee that goes to the Clean Side Separator. Now I am confident that during non-boost conditions, my PCV system is actually drawing air through the crankcase and not bypassing it completely as before.
Although the hoses are nice, the fitment of the hoses are somewhat loose on some of the valves. There's no clamp holding the hoses to the smaller of the fittings, just a cosmetic sleeve that's designed to look like a crimped on clamp. Don't be fooled by this, it's not crimped on, it's just a cosmetic piece to hide the rough hose ends. I took them all off and replaced them with hose clamps so that I don't have any vacuum or boost leaks in the system.
Last little problem I'll mention is that the can didn't just bolt on out of the box. It was intended to mount to a grounding strap bolt above the strut tower. I was unable to get this to mount here even without my 90 fitting on the bottom. Now this may be simply because it's a Flex and not a Taurus, but it was a problem I ran into. I had a piece of scrap steel laying around that I drilled and tapped some 1/4-20 holes into and bent it up into a Z-bracket to both raise up the can and offset it from the shock tower. This gave me enough clearance for the can, the 90 fitting and the valve. Even with my mod, it's a tight fit and I have to flex the can sideways to run the ball valve for drainage, so be aware of this if you purchase the kit.
Overall, like I said above, this is a well-made catch can with quality materials all around. It's worth buying just to get the hoses all cut to the right lengths with quick connect fittings that will work on the OEM Ford nipples, thus not requiring any cutting or drilling into the stock PCV and intake plumbing. Living in California, I will need to have the option to return to stock simply because the car would never pass a visual smog inspection with the catch can on there. Bear in mind however that you will have to make several modifications to this kit if you want it to both work properly and be able to mount it in your Flex's engine compartment. All said, I would buy another one for the reasons I stated (unless someone comes out with a similar setup that includes two check valves).
