Can these canisters (mounted behind passenger side shock tower) be serviced or rebuilt? I know they contain a charcoal filter, but mine is rattling around inside the canister and I would like to repair it. Any experience?
I don't think they are serviceable. The big plastic "knob" in the middle pulls off. Pull it off and see if you can pour anything out of it. It might be a screw or something down in there.
Not serviceable...You can probably get a replacement from someone here, since many remove em and toss em in a box some where.
I took one apart one day. I ended up having a small handful of charcoal that I couldn't get back inside the canister.
I was thinking about going to one of the later model plastic canisters to ditch a little weight. They are not cheap, however at $70 and up. Don't want to delete it for fear of getting fumes inside the car.
I don't have one on my Comet, just open line under hood(how it was when I bought it)... Have never smelled any fumes... So it expands when removed??
That or you need to lay each piece inside the canister the best you can to take up the less space possible. Maybe if I had a vibrating table and pulled a vacuum I might have been able to pack the canister tighter...but still don't think it would all fit. I did have photos but had a hard drive crash and lost them.
Gets me to wondering if one could pulverize the charcoal into smaller pieces like gravel that would easily allow you to service the stock canister. My only gripe about it (stock part) is that it is made of steel and relatively heavy. All newer cars I am aware of use a lightweight plastic canister. The other thing I suppose one could do is just run a hose to the air filter housing and eliminate the canister altogether.
I removed my canister years ago. No issues. Perhaps if my Comet was flipped over on its top gas might run out the tube, can't say for sure.
Ultimately, by design, it all vents back into the fuel tank. The plastic octopus looking thing on top of the fuel tank shrinks or cracks over time. The result is a gas smell in the passenger compartment.
Just make your gas cap a vented cap and eliminate the canister and all the tubing all the way back to the tank. Cap off the vent line at the tank. Its very easy to make a vented cap. There is a hole in the center on the backside. You can suck air in through the hole but cant blow it out. There is a check valve in there. Just take a drill the size of the hole and carefully drill out the check valve. Be careful not to go all the way though. Its a fairly easy process and with light pressure you will feel when the valve is drilled out. You should be able to move air both ways through the hole once done.
I rebuilt mine. I used a large wire cutter (aka: dikes) and deformed the "lip". One part of the canister is shaped like a "top-hat". The other wraps over the "top-hat", and was pinched tight. You have to go a little at a time by grabing a small section, and rotate the wire cutter about 45 degrees,this will slowly de-pinch the seal. Every once in awhile, you can wedge a screwdriver in, and help deform the lip. After removal, I went to the local Pet Smart, and bought a plastic canister of activated charcoal granules (looks exactly like what's in the original) used in aquariums, and replaced the old stuff. Putting back together was a cinch! Just pop together, and then use a pliers to pinch back together.
Aquarium charcoal that I seen looks the size of coffee grounds or smaller...charcoal that came out of my canister was a lot more coarse. More coarse than the big granules in cat litter/oil dry.
Not the kind that I bought!!! This stuff was very coarse - more like small pellets. It was EXACTLY like the original !!! I don't remember the brand, and I'm away from home on vacation, but it looks similar to: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=aquarium+filter+charcoal
Just some ramblings on vapor canisters. If you have an open element air filter with no housing, I can't see how you can direct the vapors from the canister to the carb, so I guess the canister becomes non functional. The canister on a 73 has a line from the top of the tank and a line to take vapors to the air filter housing. I heard that the later years had more sophisticated line systems. I believe the original intention of canisters was two fold. One, gasoline vapors contribute to smog, which is a big deal in large cities and two, in a hot garage gasoline vapors can smell up your garage. (although I doubt it can get to an explosive level; anyone heard otherwise?) MD
