Oil Filter

I am a big believer in filters, both oil and air along with fuel. So you, IMO they are worth it.

With todays oil, the contaminants stay suspended in the oil so you need a filter to remove them. With non-detergent oils of the past, the contaminants drop out in the pan as sludge.
 
rfitzpatrick said:
Is an Oil Filter on a stock engine worth the effort/money?
Tks
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IMO yes. Many here disagree on the need if you don't drive your car often. Filters tend to extend the need for oil changes. However, always check your dipstick to see if the oil is getting dark and then you know its time to change. Filters do not cost that much.

The Geezer
 
I recently swapped in a modernized engine with insert bearings, counterbalanced crank, upgraded cam and 6.5:1 head. To be clear, this is an original block, not a Burtz block.
I asked the builder which kind of oil filter system he recommended but he absolutely refused to install an oil filter at all. He said he’d rebuilt engines destroyed by filter issues, and to just change the oil every 1,000 miles. First time I ever heard this. Anyone have first hand negative experience like this?
 
I have been using this oil filter system for 20 + years with no problems,coast to coast trips across the U S, and every engine I rebuild get's one installed
 
These cars are approaching 100 years old. Most of them have never had a filter and there still running well.

I can’t remember anyone telling me that they had to rebuild a failed engine because it was damaged by not have a filter.

If it makes you feel better! I would install one. Will it really help a stock engine? I really don’t think so.

Some of us just have to continue to try to re engineer these cars. Spend the time and money on you brakes, front end, springs, or shocks. Now you have driving rewards.

Enjoy.
 
Fitzpatric,


I have retrofitted a filter in my A. (Also in my Citroen 11 CV).



In an aviation workshop, I open the filter cartridge after changing it and there is always clearly visible abrasion in the filter lamellas.


Dirt disrupts the extremely thin oil film in the bearings and therefore increases wear.
 

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I firmly believe that the universal fitting of oil filters is a major factor in engines lasting so much longer these days than they did a few decades ago, let alone nearly a century. If having no oil filter does not decrease engine life, why to ALL modern manufacturers fit them?
 
I'm with WHN on the use of oil filters on Model A engines. I bought my first one in 1959, was my daily driver to high school and home over 15 miles round trip. No oil filter was available at that time and did not have an air filter. Never had any problems oil related or fuel problems. In my opinion, if it makes you feel good add the filter otherwise it is only for show.
Ed
 
In reply to #5, in a babbit motor, the babbit material is a lot thicker than the bearing shells in an inserted motor. The babbit in a babbit motor will hold the oil impurities a lot better than the thin babbit surface on an insert shell.
 
The engine being such low pressure, I was always afraid of taking away supply. Besides, I have another collector car that has a habit of running low on oil due to it being slow to come back to the pan. In that car thouse of us that own those sometimes add an extra quart. Foam equals air.
 
I had a 1956 BelAir once, and that stovebolt -6 was built without an oil filter. They buyer opted to skip that option.
 
Gene F said:
I had a 1956 BelAir once, and that stovebolt -6 was built without an oil filter. They buyer opted to skip that option.
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My 56 Chevy 150 station wagon didn't have an oil filter, either. A complete stripper. It had electric w/s wipers, which may have been standard. Nothing else.
 
David in San Antonio said:
I recently swapped in a modernized engine with insert bearings, counterbalanced crank, upgraded cam and 6.5:1 head. To be clear, this is an original block, not a Burtz block.
I asked the builder which kind of oil filter system he recommended but he absolutely refused to install an oil filter at all. He said he’d rebuilt engines destroyed by filter issues, and to just change the oil every 1,000 miles. First time I ever heard this. Anyone have first hand negative experience like this?
Click to expand...


Yes, an oil filter will destroy an engine. That is why you never see oil filters on modern engines. :D
 
My 3 cents (inflation). There are basically 3 options.
1. No oil filter. Change your oil pretty often. This has worked for a lot of years and with the modern bearings and oil, you are probably fine doing this.
2. Add full flow oil filter. This pushes the entire flow of oil from the pump through the filter. Stock pumps are made to flow a lot of volume but may not have a lot of pressure. I think the rebuilders who don't like added filters are speaking against this system (just my opinion). This system can reduce the flow of oil to the engine because it is adding resistance to the flow.
3. Add bypass flow oil filter. This set up adds the filter to the pipe threaded port where you would add an oil pressure gauge. The flow through the filter empties over the timing gears and back to the pan or through the valve galley cover into the lifter galley. This system only filters a fraction of the flow through the engine. However, since it returns the oil to the lifter galley, it will not starve the engine of oil. If the system is plugged, the oil will return to its original path just like if the pipe thread plug was still in the side of the engine. This system uses an orifice to feed to the oil filter so the majority of the oil follows the original path through the lifter galley. This is the system I chose because it adds some filtering without risking starving the engine supply.
 
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GeneBob said:
Stock pumps are made to flow a lot of volume but may not have a lot of pressure. I think the rebuilders who don't like added filters are speaking against this system (just my opinion). This system can reduce the flow of oil to the engine because it is adding resistance to the flow.
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This is not correct information. The stock pump is a positive displacement gear pump. It creates very high pressure. I think I've seen figures of 80 psi+.

The reason people think it's a low-pressure pump is that the oil system as a whole is unpressurized. But the segment of the system between the pump and the valve chamber is highly pressurized, as you will find out if you ever block it.

The full-flow filter system places the filter in the pressurized segment of the system. The entire output of the pump is directed via a copper tube into the filter intake. If the tubing has been fitted correctly, there's nowhere else for the oil to go. Consequently the pressure into the filter is always as high as is needed for the oil to keep moving through the pump (remember the pump rpm correlates with engine rpm).

This means that statements like "full-flow filters reduce the flow of oil to the engine" are wrong. Unless the filter accessory becomes completely blocked, the volume of oil exiting the filter is the same as the volume of oil that would be flowing if the filter weren't there.
 
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