Lube Unit

Bud

Bud

Well-known member
Anyone ever make up a lube unit (pump, reservoir, filter) to take engine oil from a Model A crankcase for the purpose of reusing the oil after breaking in an engine? Seems wasteful to me to throw away or recycle perfectly good oil, that, if filtered, could be reused. If anyone has done that, what parts or setup did you use?
 
Your logic is both economically and environmentally sound. The issue is only how to or what to use to 'filter' the oil. What 'micro' degree of filtration should be used?


I have heard that 'double' coffee filters have been used.


Do what YOU think is best! HELP TO SAVE THE PLANET 'ONE' STEP AT A TIME!
 
Popular at one time was a filter made from a toilet roll. They were reportedly so good they were almost too good by removing some of the additives. If I were to go down that road, I think that's what I would use.
 
Sooooo what could be in break in oil, lent from rags, abrasive from machining, assembly oils, solvent remains. Yes the drained oil looks clean but I wouldn't put it back in a fresh overhauled engine after filtering. If you have a modern that uses oil burn it up in that engine.
How do oil recyclers clean that old crappy oil, just filtering ?
 
Bud said:
Anyone ever make up a lube unit (pump, reservoir, filter) to take engine oil from a Model A crankcase for the purpose of reusing the oil after breaking in an engine? Seems wasteful to me to throw away or recycle perfectly good oil, that, if filtered, could be reused. If anyone has done that, what parts or setup did you use?
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Bud, as mentioned above there are other contaminants besides grit. Most good engine oils have additives that break-down with solvents such as unburned gasoline. When the rings have not seated, corrosive gasses and gasoline seep past the rings into the oil. Additionally, most rebuilders use varying types of lubrication in different areas of the engine during assembly. I use a special oil for the rings to keep them from galling during initial start-up. I use regular engine oil on the piston walls. I use a different type of assembly lube for the wrist pins, and a different lube for the crankshaft bearings and Camshaft bearing bores. The Tappets get the same lube as the Rings however the Camshaft lobes get yet another. All these lubes are great for what they are intended to do but are not great for longevity in protecting from wear.

My suggestion is use the cheapest multi-grade mineral based NON-DETERGENT engine oil. The reasoning is I want the oil to be thin to flow easily and fast into all areas. The reason for the non-detergent is I don't want the oil to be carrying the grit from cast-iron pieces rubbing together during initial start-up. I do not want the additives providing anti-friction to rings and other areas that I want to seat quickly (-not over time). I want the oil to flush everything to the oil sump where the contaminants will settle out quickly and not get recirculated. I also want the different lubes to be diluted and washed away also.

So the bottom line in this for me is, unless I had a very sophisticated filtering system, me re-using start-up oil would be much akin to me wanting to pee into a bottle, strain it with my home-made filter system and then drink that filtered water!! :eek: :D
 
After I put the rebuilt engine in the A the re builder said to change the oil every 100 miles for the first 300 miles (I think that's what it was). I used that "used" oil in my beater when it needed an oil change. Seemed like it worked fine to me not that I really cared what happened to the 200k mile beater.
 
Bud said:
Anyone ever make up a lube unit (pump, reservoir, filter) to take engine oil from a Model A crankcase for the purpose of reusing the oil after breaking in an engine? Seems wasteful to me to throw away or recycle perfectly good oil, that, if filtered, could be reused. If anyone has done that, what parts or setup did you use?
Click to expand...

Why not just install a full flow oil filer? Then after 100 miles (or whatever mileage you prefer) drain the oil and re-use it wherever you want.
 
Syncro909 recolection of a toilet paper roll oil filter reminded me of an Annual Inspection I performed on a Belanca airplane back in the 70's. The oil filter was in fact a roll of toilet paper. The roll of toilet paper had a part number and held FAA/ PMA certification.
 
katy said:
Why not just install a full flow oil filer? Then after 100 miles (or whatever mileage you prefer) drain the oil and re-use it wherever you want.
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Definitely not a bad thing by using a filter. Again, the biggest issue for me would be to re-use that drained oil in something else if it was an engine I wanted to protect. As I said, in most engines (Model-A included) we want to use detergent oil as it has surfactants that actually break down and carry particles of dirt/sludge/whatever away. These also have anti-wear additives that do well in a Model-A engine environment. During the initial run-in, I would rather see non-detergent oil used.
 
Aretino said:
Syncro909 recolection of a toilet paper roll oil filter reminded me of an Annual Inspection I performed on a Belanca airplane back in the 70's. The oil filter was in fact a roll of toilet paper. The roll of toilet paper had a part number and held FAA/ PMA certification.
Click to expand...

TP filters were A Thing at least as recently as 2005, which is the last time I was posting on the BITOG forums, where I recall they were actively discussed.
 
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