Fram...official filter of the NHRA !?!?

geeeman · Oct 15, 2003

The Fram Filters sold in Canadian Walmarts ( the ONLY! filters at my local Walmart) have boldly printed on the box the NHRA symbol...whats up with that...didn't Fram have some "reliability" issues with drag racing... or is this simply a case of money talks ...or silences...?

PS - I don't buy Frams, but the 10+ people who came buy in the 10 minutes I was there all did...

doyall · Oct 15, 2003

Caught a bit of drag racing on the tube over the weekend. There they were on one of the top fuel drag cars - two gigantic orange Fram filters. One can rest assured that sponsorship money drives a lot of decisions at that level. But then when you tear down an engine after driving it 1/4 of a mile, oil filters are probably the least of the things to worry over.

geeeman · Oct 15, 2003

Does a Top-fueler , doing the quarter mile in what... under 5 seconds, need an oil filter at all...!!! Kinda of wonder whats inside those big orange cans...and does it resemble anything you can buy off the shelf??? This last statement kind of applies to all motorsports...is the M1 (is it even M1...?) used in the Maclaren F1 cars the same as the retail stuff...I think not! ...or the Quaker State...or Pennzoil in Nascar etc. Just a thought....

Tremo · Oct 15, 2003

I'm sure that top fuel engines have a gusher of oil flowing through them to keep them from coming apart. The oil also helps carry away heat. If a bearing is starting to go, you don't want the metal particles getting recirculated, so yeah, makes sense to have filters.

Same thing on the old radial piston aircraft engines (dry sump). They used very high volumes of oil to keep them from destroying themselves and for cooling. Shoot, the R-3350s on a Connie had like a 50 gallon oil tank (per engine) and a huge oil cooler under the nacelle. They also leaked like sieves.

TC · Oct 15, 2003

Dragsters don't have brakes. They need parachutes to stop. They have the turning radius of a supertanker. They need an oil change after every Sunday drive. They often veer sideways and smash into walls at high speed. And they like to blow up and set their drivers on fire.

Sounds like we've discovered the perfect (and only) use for Fram filters!

By the way.... They also make pretty, orange paperweights. And if you hollow them out, you can use them as beer holders.

[ October 15, 2003, 05:34 PM: Message edited by: TC ]

sbc350gearhead · Oct 15, 2003

The official filter of NHRA. See what a whole lot of sponsorship money gets you.

robnitro · Oct 15, 2003

Well you need awesome flow to handle the huge amount of oil flowing through the engine, so what better than fram? Once the dragster engine starts it breaks open the cardboard endcap and you have instant bypass! LOL, JK.

GSV · Oct 15, 2003

Call me a skeptic but I'd wager a dragsters engine shoves any oil filter into bypass mode as soon as they hit the gas.

They ain't filtering squat!

Virtuoso · Oct 15, 2003

No wonder they blow up engines so much. And I thought it was just the massive torque figures.

robnitro · Oct 15, 2003

If they had many filters in parallel the flow through each filter would be less, so that would be an idea.
But then, they rebuild these engines every race probably, so they can just use a fine mesh screen to catch any huge metal parts I guess.

Patman · Oct 15, 2003

I'm sure the filters the top fuelers run use a filtering element which is allowing everything to get past it except for rocks and birds.

Brian Barnhart · Oct 15, 2003

quote:

Call me a skeptic but I'd wager a dragsters engine shoves any oil filter into bypass mode as soon as they hit the gas.

If that's the case, you wouldn't want a filter that wouldn't flow well in bypass, such as one with half a dozen tiny holes

.

Scali62 · Oct 23, 2003

Maybe Fram makes a custom application for these NHRA rides, a high flow jobbie with higher quality components

3xSHO · Oct 23, 2003

Hopefully add some "real world' info to this thread...I crew with a top alcohol funny car here in Calgary. Asked the owner for details on the oil filter system we use. I know the crew chief has the filter inspected for debris after every run ...oil changes use 17 quarts of 60 wt!

As far as oil filters, we use a System 1 (http://www.s1filtrationgroup.com/), which is a pleated stainless steel mesh type filter – reusable, they are similar to the traditional Oberg style but way more filter area. You can use a cartridge style filter but you can’t check them for debris without cutting them apart and that would get expensive after every run.

digitaldrifter91 · Oct 24, 2003

they have to make a custom filtration for that application...nothing that u would find on the market.

hahah that be funnie if they used a standard fram filter...collapse within seconds...well actually a second, becuase in seconds the race would be over.

Christopher R. Wise · Oct 24, 2003

Collapse, it would explode.

Actually I watched a race where the fram filter blew off, holy crap it pumped a lot of oil out on the ground, and this was a Top Fuel dragster.

Fram does make a race filter, just for racing only.

CRW

Pro3qtr · Oct 24, 2003

Good info !!

JohnnyO · Oct 25, 2003

My somewhat educated guess is that the Frams on Top Fuelers are way different than what you get at K-Mart. Probably cost a lot more than two bucks too I bet.

HarleyDude · Oct 25, 2003

I just went to the FRAM website and didn't see anything about FRAM being the "Official Filter of the NHRA". I did see where they are sponsoring an NHRA event.

Go here: Fram Filters

[ October 25, 2003, 04:16 PM: Message edited by: HarleyDude ]

geeeman · Oct 25, 2003

Look at products/Fram Extraguard/picture; you can plainly see the NHRA logo.

Fram...official filter of the NHRA !?!?

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