Kahuna is my west coast rep for the Pigpen oil filter conversion
. (Pigpen was my Navy fighter call sign.
)
Anyway, I do have the goofy idea to try to make these but I have yet to test one. I have two almost ready to go with the engines to test on but many other projects are higher priority right now. If I ever get into it, it will have to be on an exchange basis because I do not have a very big supply of canisters.
They are labor intensive to build. To get a good cut on the bottom of the canisters, I first cut a hole big enough to put a boring bar with a cutter in it on my lathe. I tried to hand cut out bottoms of the canisters and they came out all jagged and uneven so that is why I use the lathe. You obviously have to cut from the inside out because of the mounting tabs which are treacherous when spinning around on the lathe.
I found some solid aluminum cylinders that I cut into about 1.25" slugs. I machine those for the oil filters to spin onto and fit into the canisters. Of course, they are drilled out the sides for the oil fittings.
Fitting all of the pieces together is sometimes tricky. In my short experience with trying this project, there seems to be a lot of disparity between the canisters, maybe due to wear and tear over the years.
I'll try to post pics soon of the prototype. Some may remember the engine I posted about where I did an old school home rebuild. I don't have a test stand or an available car around to put that engine in to start. I've come up with the idea that I am going to spin it with the plugs out using the starter to get the oil pressure up and lubricating. I modified that engine for the 95% filtration and put a gauge bunge on the back to block side of the filter. I figure that will tell me if the oil is going thru the filter OK. Stay tuned.