oil bath to air filter

[mrtexas]

What do I have here? I bought it already done.



Is this the same as?

[Ronnie]

Same as what??? "LOL" need pict.

[Old Henry]

Yeah. From all that I can see it is.

[Shadetree]

Good idea. I thought about doing the same thing to my `51 F1 air cleaner.

[oldford2]

First of all, that crimp cannot be "carefully" pryed up. You will ruin a very hard to find oil bath air cleaner. This is an example of trying to fix something that isn't broke. If the once a year cleaning and re-oiling is too much of an "oily mess" for you, this is the way to go.

"You will have modern filtering for long term protection"

I have not seen proof that a paper filter is more efficient than a properly maintained oil bath considering the requirements for an old Ford. JMO
John

[Ronnie]

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Originally Posted by oldford2

First of all, that crimp cannot be "carefully" pryed up. You will ruin a very hard to find oil bath air cleaner. This is an example of trying to fix something that isn't broke. If the once a year cleaning and re-oiling is too much of an "oily mess" for you, this is the way to go.

"You will have modern filtering for long term protection"

I have not seen proof that a paper filter is more efficient than a properly maintained oil bath considering the requirements for an old Ford. JMO
John

Ask any filter company about the efficiency of a oil bath and you will soon find out why they don't produce them.They don't work well at all.But back then there was not as much manufacturing experience that we have today so that was what you got. The people running multi million dollar off road construction equipment and military combat vehicles in conditions where you can't see 10 feet because of the dust aren't all stupid. They use paper elements, more correctly paper type elements.

[Gary Tosel]

Please look up Air Filter in Wikipedia. Oil bath air filters are as or more efficient than any paper filter used for auto air intake. In addition the filtering efficiency does not decrease as the dirt load increases and at the same time there is NO LOSS of air flow efficiency. Just saying again, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[columbiA]

Nothing wrong with the oil bath filters.The after-market would rather sell you a new filter element than have you service the oil bath one,It may be more labor intensive & you may get your hands dirty serviceing the oil bath,but they do collect a lot of dirt.

[51 MERC-CT]

Things that I was told about oil-bath air filters.

The air really doesn't filter thru the oil.

The oil bath is just to drown any bugs that made it into the filter (originally they were water-bath filters but they found that the water evaporated)

They went to paper filters because of a shortage of 'horse-hair' and pressure from the animal rights people.

[Kurt in NJ]

The oil in the reservoir is not what does the filtering, it is the oil on the metal mesh that collects the dirt that hits it, airflow is intended to pick up oil from the reservoir keeping the mesh oiled,the excess drips back down with the dirt, when the oil level is correct the oil circulates and very little is drawn into the airstream while it continually washes the dirt off the oiled mesh. ---it works like the much flouted K&N filter, but it has more depth(filtering area), and the filtering media is self cleaning.

[Old Henry]

I don't think I drive my car in any particularly dirty environment but there sure is a load of dirt in the oil in my oil bath filter every time I change it so it must be doing some good. I'm not saying that Wikipedia is the final definitive source of information on this, but, as has been previously mentioned, it says, "[Oil bath] cleaners are still used in off-road equipment where very high levels of dust are encountered, for oil bath air cleaners can sequester a great deal of dirt relative to their overall size without loss of filtration efficiency or airflow."

[The Master Cylinder]

Old Henry, The thing about Wikipedia is "Its 23 million articles, over 4 million in the English Wikipedia alone, have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site". That's a quote from Wikipedia.
In other words any Yahoo like you and me can "contribute our infinite knowledge" to the description of an item.

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by The Master Cylinder

Old Henry, The thing about Wikipedia is "Its 23 million articles, over 4 million in the English Wikipedia alone, have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site". That's a quote from Wikipedia.
In other words any Yahoo like you and me can "contribute our infinite knowledge" to the description of an item.

So, then, I take it that you favor modern paper element filters over the stock oil bath ones?

After what I posted you may be surprised to discover that I do too but what I favor even more is authenticity. That's why I keep using my oil bath air cleaner.

The Wikipedia article did have at the end of my quotation a note that it needed a citation to some authority. Like I said - not the definitive source of all knowledge - just interesting.

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by Gary Tosel

Please look up Air Filter in Wikipedia. Oil bath air filters are as or more efficient than any paper filter used for auto air intake.

I read the article and I didn't see that statement in it.

[Fibber Mcgee]

I had read a while back that the purpose of the oil in the bottom had to do with as the air travels down and then is forced to make a sharp turn back up over the surface of the oil the heavier dirt particals are trapped by the oil. Sort of like some newer cars do with the air intake at the front of the car where the air makes a sharp turn to keep large amounts of rain from entering the air cleaner in a storm. As the air makes the turn the heavier water doesn't and is drained off. But I think oilbath cleaners do the job sufficiently and are cheaper to maintain. Plus the look better if your going for originality.

[Henry Hopper]

What oil do you use in the air cleaner? Engine oil or some other type ?

[51 MERC-CT]

Have never used anything but engine oil but currently no oil because of converting to a dry filter. ( been waiting to answer for 9 years)