My tractor has one as did my dad's 70 vw.Anyone remember the old oil bath air cleaners on the old Briggs & Stratton engines?
My tractor has one as did my dad's 70 vw.Anyone remember the old oil bath air cleaners on the old Briggs & Stratton engines?
Wasn’t it like the “Red Rocket” or something?I remember the oil bath air cleaner on my Dad's '54 DeSoto Firedome. I believe "Firedome" was the name of the car model,
I assume the engine (a hemi) had its own marketing nickname.
Cleaning oil back in the day was called another oil change and they OCI were no very long!Can anyone provide some insight on what any other types of filtration or oil cleaning was used before 1922, when the first Purolator canister filter came out. Below is a timeline I put together from some online reading but would like to see what the BITOG community can add.
Modern Spin on Oil Filter (50's to present)->
Cartridge filters (30's to present) ->
Sealed canister filters (20's to 30's) ->
Sump oil Screens/mesh used before filters? (?? to present) ->
Engine oilers / lubricators (total-loss system) were used to feed friction areas oil on 2 cycle engines (advent of the combustion engine to steam era?)
From what I could gather, screens and meshes were used on Brass Era wet sump engines. Not that those were serviceable, they were just catastrophic failure protection. Those engines that didn't have any protection, that was it, deal with the wear and change your oil often?
For example: The Model A didn't have an engine oil filter, just a screen in the oil pump. The 1903 Olds Runabout was a 2 stroke, used oilers, like hit and miss farm engines and steam engine cylinders.
My 55 olds owners manual said change oil and grease front end every 500 miles.Cleaning oil back in the day was called another oil change and they OCI were no very long!
Lots of the smaller 4-stroke Honda motorcycle engines in the 70s and 80s just had a screen and also the centrifugal cleaner on the end of the crankshaft. I cleaned plenty when I was wrenching at a dealership. Only had to take the clutch cover off, not hard to get to. The centrifugal cleaner usually had some debris in it, so they seemed to work pretty good.My very first car had no filter, only a centrifugal oil cleaner and judging by the sludge it collected it seemed to work reasonably effectively.
I know that BMW motorcycle engines a few generations older than mine employed a similar principle. The secret for long engine life was to know that you had to periodically clean these devices because once they filled up, they ceased to work. On the car it was a relatively simple operation of removing a circular plate, but the motorcycle engine needed a substantial strip down.
Seems like a good way to pump kerosene full of crud through the oiling system, especially if there wasn't much of an oil filter.I remember people draining their old motor oil, and then pouring some kerosene into the crankcase and running the engine briefly to "clean out the sludge".
Back in the '80's, I remember a friend having a 1979 Ford F-250 which was a retired Amax Coal Company truck , that had an oil bath air filter.Anyone remember the old oil bath air cleaners on the old Briggs & Stratton engines?
It’s not the same as what’s described here but Mack/Volvo have been using a centrifugal cartridge filter on their engines for years and Paccar does too. My EM7 Mack engine has 2 spin on filters and a centrifugal cartridge. It’s amazing how long the oil “looks” clean after a PM. I believe it’s one reason why Mack engines are so robust. Everything else falls apart on a Paccar it seems like but rarely do you see a lubrication problem.What kind of car was that if you don't mind me asking? I'm interested in seeing what a centrifugal system looks like.
My Dad’s 1956 Chevy had an add on oil filter. He still changed oil every 1,000 miles. The engine was re-ringed and valves ground at some point but I remember it rolled past 99,999 miles on the way to the beach for vacation. Cars then didn’t show the sixth digit….
My very first car had no filter, only a centrifugal oil cleaner and judging by the sludge it collected it seemed to work reasonably effectively.
I know that BMW motorcycle engines a few generations older than mine employed a similar principle. The secret for long engine life was to know that you had to periodically clean these devices because once they filled up, they ceased to work. On the car it was a relatively simple operation of removing a circular plate, but the motorcycle engine needed a substantial strip down.
One of the most successful motorcycle engines ever made relied on splash lubrication and had a coarse metal screen that figuratively speaking would only stop half bricks.
Yes. Chevy actually used that same setup until 1968. If there was the smallest piece of debris and/or o ring left it would leak. In my opinion those didn’t do much anyway. I think more oil bypassed than got forced through the element.My Dad had a 54 Chevy with an oil filter. Apparently it was an add on as you mentioned.
Did yours have that metal can that threaded on to hold the filter? There was a o ring type gasket on top that was the worst part of the job. As you threaded on the canister that thin gasket would go askew and you would have to unscrew it and try again.
My dad's 55 dodge with a small hemi got a rod knock about 80k. He had a mobile mechanic come out, put the car on the curb and he had a machine that turned the rod journal in the car. The repair was very short lived according to my dad.The engines didn't last very long either. Even with the short OCIs they couldn't go 50k miles without needing to be rebuilt.
Our '54 Chevy (listed below) had the optional oil filter, connected through hoses. At every change, roughly a cup of old oil had to be suctioned out of the filter housing. The gasket for the cover was flat, not an O-ring, and functioned reliably every time, assuming reasonable care installing it.My Dad had a 54 Chevy with an oil filter. Apparently it was an add on as you mentioned.
Did yours have that metal can that threaded on to hold the filter? There was a o ring type gasket on top that was the worst part of the job. As you threaded on the canister that thin gasket would go askew and you would have to unscrew it and try again.
Well, it was a bypass filter, so, by design, only a fraction of pump output passed through the filter.. Chevy actually used that same setup until 1968. If there was the smallest piece of debris and/or o ring left it would leak. In my opinion those didn’t do much anyway. I think more oil bypassed than got forced through the element.