guys, I still have the stock oil bath air cleaner on my Buick and i want to switch over to the more common paper element filters. The oil bath is held in place via a clamp at the carb air cleaner base There's no stud to mount a paper element style air cleaner. The carb air cleaner base measures 2 5/8", but I cannot find any air cleaner stud adapters to make the switch over. I think it's crazy to have to change the carb in order to achieve what I want haha but do you guys have any recommendations how to switch over? And can add photos of needed. Thanks for any help you guys can give.
I'm not sure how that one is made on the inside or how the top fastens on but I have seen some that guys removed the oil bath part from and put a paper filter inside. 25 years ago I would have just cut the bottom out of the oil bath filter and mated it to the bottom of a filter housing for a paper filter but with guys hunting for those old oil bath filters that may not be the prudent thing to do. But if you had one that was all beat to hell that's another story.
Mr48chev, thanks for the tip! I wouldn't want to modify the stock oil bath but I'll take a closer look if I can fit a element filter in there. 2racer, yes! I was looking into these. I'd want a 10" or 14" air cleaner but this may be my last result.
I modified this Ford 6 unit to fit a paper element. Sure its on a Holley (with a centre stud) but you could weld a piece of 1"x1/8'' on its edge across above the carb and inside the new element with a stud fixed to it. JW
What is wrong with the oil bath? Clean and refill every 10,000 - 30,000 miles at a cost of pennies and you are good to go. To service the oil bath - if the base is more than 1/2 full of dirt (to the FILL line) take it off, empty it, and wipe clean with rags or waste. Rinse the element in Varsol or kerosene and let drip dry. Do not blow air thru the element, it can make holes thru it. Put the base back on the carb. Fill to the line with 50 oil. Pour some oil into the element, enough to wet the fibres with oil, and put it on. There you are done. At oil change time take the top off and top up the oil if necessary. When it gets full of dirt clean and refill. If you drive on paved roads this takes a long time, in real dusty conditions it might be necessary to service the filter every week. But, you will never have to buy a new element. One quart of oil will last for years.
I wanted to update incase anyone cared or for future forum searches... 2racers link gave me an idea of how i could make this work. heres my stock oil bath filter. my 2 barrel carb that doesnt have the stud to attach conventional air cleaner. heres the air cleaner i bought with a 2 5/8" opening and built in stud. its a small 4" filter. even though i bought the 2 5/8" carb opening air cleaner, the larger outside diameter was not 5 1/8" so i had to buy and adapter to accept a conventional 5 1/8" air cleaner.
the base is the only part that i used of the 4" air cleaner that i bought, but it has the stud to secure the air cleaner built in. here is the the 2 5/8" - 5 1/8" adapter i had to buy to allow the 14" air cleaner to sit properly. the 14" air cleaner I bought here's the air cleaner base mated to the adapter.
heres the finished product. im not a fan of the chrome but I got what i wanted. paper element. I'll probably end up painting the air cleaner cover . this is a lot more steps taken than I thought, but im happy with it.
If you want to go one step further you can use just the top part of an early Olds/Caddy oil bath filter to complete the transformation. It will sit on top of what you've already made by using a slightly taller air cleaner element in order to seal properly. Good luck!
Not the easiest, but, this is a early Chrysler,4 barrel housing 52 I think. Cut the bottom out and replaced it with the bottom of a 66 Riv air cleaner. It had a deep recess with notches etc to clear the linkage and wiring. Wanted it to cover the carb. Held on by a center stud to fit my Q-jet. The only tip I can give to doing a conversion like this is to make sure a paper element is available in the size you want/need. I did this based on measurements from Fram's web site only to find when finished that the element I had based the design on was discontinued. Canuck
Borracho I was wondering where you bought that adapter for the filter, I am doing the same thing right now with my Pontiac, and trying to get that part squared away. Thanks
SJ I bought mostly ever part online. The filter adapter I got from Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Spectre-Performance-4952-Cleaner-Adapter/dp/B003B38MA8 The adapter for the carb base itself I used the eBay link posted by 2Racer above Hope that helps. Good luck
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