M20 Air/Oil separator

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:CyfTc.304529$XM6.124022@attbi_s53...
Atlas just got his oil/air separator installed today. (For those who may
not know, Atlas is our '74 Cherokee Pathfinder, so-named because he can
lift
literally anything we can fit inside!)

We picked this new accessory up at OSH '04, after much debate. (It's a
helluva lot of money for what looks like a welded tin can.) The clincher
(besides the nice clean belly) is that I'll be able to run a full 12
quarts
of oil in our Lycoming O-540, rather than the 8.5 quarts we could hold
before. (Atlas would puke out the four extra quarts, if added.)

It seems logical to assume that more oil in the engine equals cleaner oil
to
all engine parts, at all times. This seems like a very good thing,
indeed.

Anyone else got one of these things? Are there any "gotchas" to watch out
for, or are they as bullet-proof as they seem?


I installed one on my TR-182 which had an incredibly messy belly. It did a
great job, almost completely getting rid of the mess.

I have no idea about the volume argument, but empirically it did not happen
on my plane. The TIO-540 has an 8 qt capacity. Anything over 6.5 quarts gets
blown out, before and after the M-20 went in.

Michael