The Ford Barn

peewee2you · 04-14-2011, 04:38 PM

Has anyone on the Barn figured out a way to turn the oil bath unit itself into working with a paper style air filter, or cleanable sponge type?

If so how did you do it?

Lawson Cox · 04-14-2011, 05:15 PM

What's the matter with oil to catch the dirt? Inquiring minds want to know. lol

rotorwrench · 04-14-2011, 05:18 PM

The oil bath is the best filter you could ever have so I kinda feel the same way. All you ever have to buy is oil and it doesn't matter if it has ZDDP or anything.

Kerby

Frank Miller · 04-14-2011, 07:30 PM

Larry Teel over on Shoeboxford.com has done this. I believe this is an upgrade as the oil bath air cleaners do not flow as well. He uses a K&N which just needs periodic cleaning and oiling.

John Kennedy · 04-16-2011, 01:02 PM

Nothing filters better than an oil bath, but other filters flow better at high CFM. Just cruising? stay with oil bath. Good on the freeway too.

Merc Cruzer · 04-16-2011, 06:08 PM

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I think your question was, has anyone converted an oil bath over to a cartridge filter.....the answer is yes and I use a K&N filter...I now have this one and an origional....I did it just to see if it could be done....it works great.

Lawson Cox · 04-16-2011, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merc Cruzer

I think your question was, has anyone converted an oil bath over to a cartridge filter.....the answer is yes and I use a K&N filter...I now have this one and an origional....I did it just to see if it could be done....it works great.

Now, drive it 1000 miles with one, then 1000 miles with the other, under similar conditions, and tell us which one gathers the most crud. lol

rotorwrench · 04-17-2011, 11:08 AM

K&N kind of got the market cornered on the rag paper filters and the animal/mineral oil blend they use to oil them. They charge a tidy sum to buy their oil and filter cleaner products as well. They are very efficent filters but at a price. The rag paper does deteriorate and given time, it will need to be replaced just like a wood pulp paper filter would.

If you use a light weight oil in an oil bath filter, say 10 or 20 SAE grade, it will slow the airflow less than a grade SAE 30 or higher. As was mentioned earlier, the CFM flow rate should be completely adequate for a stock L-head engine. If you want to make K&N wealthy for the small amount of performance gained, then keep buying their products but the oil bath is more efficient through a full 2000 mile run than any type of paper filter. The paper slows down CFM flow pretty quickly after it gets a lot of dirt in it while in the oil bath, the dirt settles to the bottom of the reservoir and the CFM flow stays the same.

My 2 cents.
Kerby

gearhead1952 · 04-17-2011, 11:33 AM

I've converted a couple of f1 truck filters, one with a k&n filter ($55) and the other with a napa gold filter ($11). I cut the lid which has the fibers in it off then made a plate from an old chrome air cleaner to seal the top. Pretty easy. You can see the filter when you look in the slots in the front, next one I do I'll cut it further down so you can't tell it has been modified.

Merc Cruzer · 04-17-2011, 02:43 PM

gearhead1952:

That is another reason I like the 53' Merc Aircleaner...you can not see the filter if you convert it.

coolcoupe · 04-17-2011, 05:40 PM

So your saying its better to use a light oil like 10 in a oil bath

Hotrodster · 04-17-2011, 07:35 PM

Actually, oil bath air filters are a very poor filter. You might get by with them on cars driven on modern roads, but I can tell you from a lifetime of farming and running heavy equipment that in very dusty conditions, they are one step above nothing. A 4 cylinder Cat D7, for example, will pick up 10 HP just by switching to a dry filter. I've worked on Cats and farm tractors that had a sticky mixture of dust and oil lining the entire intake manifold right up to the intake valves. If the dust got all the way to the intake valve it also got into the engine. The expected lifetime of Cat engines tripled when they switched to dry filters.

04-14-2011, 04:38 PM	#1
peewee2you Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Elk Grove, CA Posts: 663	Oil Bath Air cleaner Has anyone on the Barn figured out a way to turn the oil bath unit itself into working with a paper style air filter, or cleanable sponge type? If so how did you do it?

04-14-2011, 05:15 PM	#2
Lawson Cox Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Above the gnat line in Georgia Posts: 7,009	Re: Oil Bath Air cleaner What's the matter with oil to catch the dirt? Inquiring minds want to know. lol

04-14-2011, 05:18 PM	#3
rotorwrench Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 16,440	Re: Oil Bath Air cleaner The oil bath is the best filter you could ever have so I kinda feel the same way. All you ever have to buy is oil and it doesn't matter if it has ZDDP or anything. Kerby

04-14-2011, 07:30 PM	#4
Frank Miller Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Auburn, MA Posts: 2,106	Re: Oil Bath Air cleaner Larry Teel over on Shoeboxford.com has done this. I believe this is an upgrade as the oil bath air cleaners do not flow as well. He uses a K&N which just needs periodic cleaning and oiling. __________________ “The technique of infamy is to start two lies at once and get people arguing heatedly over which is true.” ~ Ezra Pound

04-16-2011, 01:02 PM	#5
John Kennedy Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Tucson Arizona Posts: 301	Re: Oil Bath Air cleaner Nothing filters better than an oil bath, but other filters flow better at high CFM. Just cruising? stay with oil bath. Good on the freeway too. __________________ Building a 29 Sedan on 32 chassis........ very slowly....

04-17-2011, 11:08 AM	#8
rotorwrench Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 16,440	Re: Oil Bath Air cleaner K&N kind of got the market cornered on the rag paper filters and the animal/mineral oil blend they use to oil them. They charge a tidy sum to buy their oil and filter cleaner products as well. They are very efficent filters but at a price. The rag paper does deteriorate and given time, it will need to be replaced just like a wood pulp paper filter would. If you use a light weight oil in an oil bath filter, say 10 or 20 SAE grade, it will slow the airflow less than a grade SAE 30 or higher. As was mentioned earlier, the CFM flow rate should be completely adequate for a stock L-head engine. If you want to make K&N wealthy for the small amount of performance gained, then keep buying their products but the oil bath is more efficient through a full 2000 mile run than any type of paper filter. The paper slows down CFM flow pretty quickly after it gets a lot of dirt in it while in the oil bath, the dirt settles to the bottom of the reservoir and the CFM flow stays the same. My 2 cents. Kerby

04-17-2011, 11:33 AM	#9
gearhead1952 Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Julesburg, Colorado Posts: 714	Re: Oil Bath Air cleaner I've converted a couple of f1 truck filters, one with a k&n filter ($55) and the other with a napa gold filter ($11). I cut the lid which has the fibers in it off then made a plate from an old chrome air cleaner to seal the top. Pretty easy. You can see the filter when you look in the slots in the front, next one I do I'll cut it further down so you can't tell it has been modified.

04-17-2011, 05:40 PM	#11
coolcoupe Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: ontario,Canada Posts: 451	Re: Oil Bath Air cleaner So your saying its better to use a light oil like 10 in a oil bath

04-17-2011, 07:35 PM	#12
Hotrodster Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 48	Re: Oil Bath Air cleaner Actually, oil bath air filters are a very poor filter. You might get by with them on cars driven on modern roads, but I can tell you from a lifetime of farming and running heavy equipment that in very dusty conditions, they are one step above nothing. A 4 cylinder Cat D7, for example, will pick up 10 HP just by switching to a dry filter. I've worked on Cats and farm tractors that had a sticky mixture of dust and oil lining the entire intake manifold right up to the intake valves. If the dust got all the way to the intake valve it also got into the engine. The expected lifetime of Cat engines tripled when they switched to dry filters.