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Hot Rods Best Air Filter / Oil Bath?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by thegearhead, Apr 16, 2018.

  1. thegearhead
    Joined: Nov 23, 2015
    Posts: 51

    thegearhead
    Member

    Ok so my car originally had a oil bath air cleaner. As i'm redoing the car now i'm trying to think of the best air filter. I'm not concerned about originality just best filter to keep dirt out. It's important because my car engine was built with no oil filter setup. So cleaner i keep thing hopefully longer it last. Btw it's a 50 Crosley haha
     
  2. When the machine was invented to fold and pleat paper material and get a whole lot of filter area into a small space, the air got cleaner and engines lasted longer.
    Avoid those oiled gauze screen filters that let the tiny invisible grit thru no matter how much some people like them. Even fine fine grit will chew rings and walls no matter how fashionable they may be.
    Now I've probably started a fight without intending to :)

    WHY BE ORDINARY ?
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2018
  3. I removed the guts out of my oil bath and put a paper element in it
    Looks cool
     
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  4. I WAS ABOUT TO SAY THAT.
    DITTO FROM HERE.

    WHY BE ORDINARY ?
     
    anthony myrick likes this.

  5. squirrel
    Joined: Sep 23, 2004
    Posts: 55,934

    squirrel
    Member

    How many miles do you plan to put on the little car? I'd be really surprised if you would wear out the engine, if you ran no air filter.
     
    32Dan likes this.
  6. thegearhead
    Joined: Nov 23, 2015
    Posts: 51

    thegearhead
    Member

    much as i can it isn't no dime piece so i want to enjoy it much as possible haha. I'm probably over thinking this as i do everything haha
     
  7. Mike VV
    Joined: Sep 28, 2010
    Posts: 3,029

    Mike VV
    Member
    from SoCal

    Actually...the oil bath air cleaner design works pretty well on its own.
    Dirt/garbage is heavier than air. So as the air is directed toward the oil, then quickly changes direction, the garbage can't change direction as fast as the air can, the garbage gets hung up in the oil, while the clean air continues on.

    BUT...the oil bath housing is heavy, a pain in the butt, messy and ugly..!

    Mike
     
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  8. Torana68
    Joined: Jan 28, 2008
    Posts: 1,415

    Torana68
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Australia

    Oil bath works on older tractors, Mercedes used them as did many others. I doubt paper is a lot better but I’m sure paper filter makers will say so. Paper filters are cheaper ,need less maintenance , easier for useless people to maintain and can allow a lower bonnet line, oil filters probably not suited to slalom style driving
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2018
    Frankie47 likes this.
  9. "BUT...the oil bath housing is heavy, a pain in the butt, messy and ugly..!"

    It's not hard to agree with that statement. A good quality paper air filter works well without all the negatives an oil bath air cleaner brings to the table.
     
  10. Rusty O'Toole
    Joined: Sep 17, 2006
    Posts: 9,657

    Rusty O'Toole
    Member

    I would keep the oil bath. Rinse it out, let it drip dry, oil it with 50 wt motor oil. Fill the reservoir with 50 wt you are good for at least 10,000 miles.

    If it is just an oil wetted mesh I would think of replacing with a paper filter.
     
    Frankie47 likes this.
  11. The 39 guy
    Joined: Nov 5, 2010
    Posts: 3,524

    The 39 guy
    Member

    I recently cut an oil bath apart to convert it to use paper filters.The darn thing was very complex. Complex and messy!I will add some pictures since we all like pictures. When you think of all of the engineering that went in to this thing and the amount of tooling required to make one, you can understand why they switched to paper filters. IMG_2955R.jpg
    I don't know what engine it was made for. It came on my flathead.
    IMG_2957R.jpg
    Oil. lots of oil in every cavity.
    IMG_2959R.jpg IMG_2964R.jpg
    Some steel mesh and filter media.This was the lid.
    IMG_2967R.jpg
    I cut the bottom out and found more oil and another chamber.I cut the bottom out large enough to allow air to pass around the bottom.
    IMG_2972R.jpg IMG_2974R.jpg IMG_2982R.jpg
    After a couple hours of cutting and cleaning the lid was eventually epoxied to the housing.
    IMG_3012R.jpg
    Several hours of body work later the unit was painted.
    IMG_3020R.jpg IMG_3032R.jpg
    The oil bath is now a lid for a paper element filter sitting on top of an Edelbrock carb.
    Some may think it is ugly but in this case the owner wanted something stock looking on his engine.Everyone has a fancy chromed filter these days and this is a little different.

    Which is better,I don't know but I would much rather change a paper filter that clean another oil bath unit.
     

    Attached Files:

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  12. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Well you have to remember that if an when you hit 100 K with a car that ran an oil bath air filter and bypass oil filter without having the engine overhauled you probably got a photo of yourself standing beside the car in your local weekly paper because it was genuine bragging rights. A lot of us on here have cars that we bought out of sheds or fields with worn out engines that only had 60 or 70 K on them from new.
    All of that history aside I think If I could figure out how to run a high quality modern air filter element and not have it look out of place that is what I would do. Remember we changed the oil in those oil bath filters every 1000 miles maximum along with changing the oil at every 1000 miles. The oil was full of dirt at 1000 miles as I did a lot of oil changes with rigs with oil bath filters in high school in the 60's I got damned good at cleaning out those filters and putting new oil back in them
     
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  13. The 39 guy
    Joined: Nov 5, 2010
    Posts: 3,524

    The 39 guy
    Member

    I found places in the filter I showed above that you would never be able to get the oil out of without cutting it apart. Cleaning the element completely would also have been hard to accomplish. But they worked okay.
     
  14. My vote is paper, but there can be quite a difference in quality from brand to brand. There is no such thing as a bargain. I used to sell a lot of industrial filters for equipment on a SOAP analysis program, and when they tested the used engine oil in the mass spectrometer, it was easy to see which filters were doing the job.
    Where is your avitar parked. The last live one I saw, was at Davis Monthan, they sure are beautiful considering the size.
    Bob
     
  15. Former oil bath
    2F534B7E-661F-4349-A346-6D44392631C9.jpeg
     
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  16. Terrible80
    Joined: Oct 1, 2010
    Posts: 785

    Terrible80
    Member

    I must be the only one, I went outta my way to find an oil bath 4bbl cleaner for my OT slant six. I've always thought they did a very good job.:(
     
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  17. squirrel
    Joined: Sep 23, 2004
    Posts: 55,934

    squirrel
    Member

    I figure I'm not going to be able to out engineer the OEM air cleaner....if it's oil bath, and it fits, I'll clean it up and use it. If there's no air cleaner or it's a hot rod or something, I will adapt a paper filter.

    I have yet to wear out an engine just by running an oil bath air cleaner on it.
     
    32Dan likes this.
  18. I changed this Mopar (I think) swap meet oil bath to K&N for my flattie.
    20180312_151639.jpg
     
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  19. Rusty O'Toole
    Joined: Sep 17, 2006
    Posts: 9,657

    Rusty O'Toole
    Member

    It's a mystery to me why anyone would want to scrap a $200 lifetime oil bath filter for a $5 paper filter that needs to be replaced regularly.

    I drive on paved roads in a temperate northern climate and my oil bath filter will go well over 10,000 miles without needing service. If yours is full of dirt after 1000 miles I don't blame you for wanting a paper filter but wonder that you don't get sick of buying new ones so often.

    There were 2 reasons all car companies went to paper filters as soon as they were available. They were cheaper, and they were easier to fit under the hood as hoods became lower and space was at a premium.

    I'm with squirrel on this one. But, if I lived in the desert and drove on dirt roads day in and day out I might change to a paper filter in hope of extending engine life.
     
  20. squirrel
    Joined: Sep 23, 2004
    Posts: 55,934

    squirrel
    Member

    Ford used oil bath air cleaners on some of their pickups well into the 70s....I wonder why?
     
    32Dan likes this.
  21. Boneyard51
    Joined: Dec 10, 2017
    Posts: 6,440

    Boneyard51
    Member


    I been campaigning against those oil soaked gauze air cleaners for years. You won’t have much problem with them if you never need an air cleaner, ie if you drive on the highway all the time. The air there is fairly clean. That’s how they get away with it.
    I put one on a motorcycle ,30 years ago, taking the paper cleaner off and ran the bike in motocross. After two races I had to rering it, then after two races again. I took the cleaner off the carb that held on with a hose clamp( no possible leak) the inside of the carb was gritty dirty. I use their oil and followed their instructions. Put the paper back filter back on raced for two years with out replacing the rings.
    The old Oil bath is good, a quality paper filter is better. Just my experience and have been telling people to get that junk off their vehicles for 30 some years. Bones
     
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  22. Blues4U
    Joined: Oct 1, 2015
    Posts: 7,589

    Blues4U
    Member
    from So Cal

    It's not just your experience, controlled tests have shown that those oiled gauze filters are less efficient at removing particulate matter than paper filters. Not only that, but once they start to collect dirt their efficiency at flowing air drops below that of a paper filter as well. There is a reason no heavy equipment manufacturer uses this type of filter in their off road equipment.
     
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  23. Anyone have an oil bath flame up?
     
  24. Dad Was A Racer
    Joined: Oct 7, 2014
    Posts: 138

    Dad Was A Racer
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Anyone done the paper element conversion to an Olds oil bath cleaner? It's a three-piece affair and, as mentioned above, very complex inside. I'm going from a 4 7/32" Rochester to the newer 5 1/8" Holley pattern base, so the base ring has to be modified regardless. If it weren't for that, I'd just run the oil bath. But since it's getting modded anyway, it's getting modernized. Just wondering who's done it already?
     
  25. Because in extremely dusty conditions they wouldn't clog up like a paper filter would was the explanation I got from a Ford rep. Of course, they recommended cleaning it every 100 miles or so under those conditions. The oil baths were common until about '67, but were still on the option list well into late '70s.
     
  26. This is what I did.
    You can usually find a filter to fit the size you need.
    QC Set up 007.jpg QC Set up 009.jpg
     
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  27. Bandit Billy
    Joined: Sep 16, 2014
    Posts: 12,286

    Bandit Billy
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Funny thing is that filter is still oil charged. K&N recommends cleaning and recharging the filter every few thousand miles depending on driving conditions. Maybe the oil bath wasn't that far off after all.
     
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  28. Dad Was A Racer
    Joined: Oct 7, 2014
    Posts: 138

    Dad Was A Racer
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Hemi, what's the base from that you used for the air cleaner? That doesn't look like the base from my '56 Olds...
     
  29. sunbeam
    Joined: Oct 22, 2010
    Posts: 6,213

    sunbeam
    Member

    The life of farm tractor engines went up big time with paper filters.
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2018
  30. seb fontana
    Joined: Sep 1, 2005
    Posts: 8,442

    seb fontana
    Member
    from ct

    Not laughing as I have a 47 Crosley I drive all over the place..I run the stock oil bath air cleaner..Service Motors [NV] or Yankee Crosley [CT] nave a paper element to go in the stock oil bath; however I wouldn't hack up an original oil bath if that is whats required to get the paper in..I'd do K&N..
     

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