Iron Duke Cartridge Filter

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Dec 19, 2019
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Location
Muncie, Indiana
I was eyeing a low mileage 1991 Olds Cutlass Ciera S on Craigslist, mostly out of nostalgia since it reminds me so much of the 1989 Celebrity my grampa used to have, so I was looking up parts for it, and noticed that the oil filters for it are going for as low as 55 cents on RockAuto. It looks like they've probably been out of production for years at this point, on AAP the filters that came up were "use until inventory depleted," Looks like RockAuto has the last 3 ACDelco UPF1072 in existence, I'm sure they're ancient and I wouldn't pay anywhere near $10 for them. But man take a look at all these sub $1 filter cartridges.
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Originally Posted by mpack88
I get old filters from rockauto. Never had a problem using one. Especially if the seal and adbv is silicon.

These don't have an ADBV, maybe some of them have silicone seals but they all look like nitrile to me, the Iron duke cartridge was a wierd design, there was a ~3.5 plug on the bottom of the oil pan that you unscrewed and made a mess when the oil drained out and above that I guess you were fitting the cartridge straight onto the oil pickup, I guess the Idea was to keep the filter constantly submerged in the oil in the oil pan, not a horrible idea but not a great execution
 
If you get the car, make sure and show pics! My dad bought a '96 (last year) Ciera with the 3100 from an older woman back in maybe 2005. It had 36k on it at the time. Dark blue with a medium blue faux cabriolet top and light blue velour interior. It really is amazing how long GM sold that car without making ANY changes to the design.

One thing I'm not jealous of is the Iron Duke. Those cars aren't heavy by any means, but man are they slowww with the 2.5. My dream would be to have a late 80's model with the 3.8 in it from the factory.
 
If you wanna see what it looks like, here's the CL listing, 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera S , Only 36,000miles, looks completely rust free, wouldn't pay anywhere near $3700 for it, maybe $2000, but I have this feeling that parts may start getting harder to find for this thing, so buying it probably wouldn't be a great idea. Plus a car that's almost 30 years old that's only got 36000 on the odo may have problems from sitting unused for long periods of time.
 
My first brand new car was a 86 Celebrity Eurosport with a very rare combination of a 4 speed manual and the Iron Duke 2.5. It was a great car I kept it 9 years and 109k miles and I let it go too early for sure. IIRC mine took the AC Delco PF47 equivalent, no cartridge.

Every one I know that has purchased an old "minty" car with low miles has had way more problems with it than you'd expect. Turns out grandma driving her Buick back and forth to the grocery store and letting it sit for weeks at a time is actually very hard on a car, garaged or not. Tempting but I'd pass unless you just want to play around with it.

GM built some really good cars in that era, they weren't all that well put together but they ran forever with minimal fuss.
 
My sister had a 80 [Pontiac Phoenix 151. It was a good car.

First oil change, Dad was able to get it off. And I was able to put it on. right against the firewall.

But one we made a webbing style remover, cut down just right, it was not too bad.

I was not a bad car, lasted for many many years, then a drunk took it out while it was parked.

Rod
 
RockAuto = Box of Chocolates when it come to cheap old stock oil filters.
 
Originally Posted by KCJeep
My first brand new car was a 86 Celebrity Eurosport with a very rare combination of a 4 speed manual and the Iron Duke 2.5. It was a great car I kept it 9 years and 109k miles and I let it go too early for sure. IIRC mine took the AC Delco PF47 equivalent, no cartridge.

Every one I know that has purchased an old "minty" car with low miles has had way more problems with it than you'd expect. Turns out grandma driving her Buick back and forth to the grocery store and letting it sit for weeks at a time is actually very hard on a car, garaged or not. Tempting but I'd pass unless you just want to play around with it.

GM built some really good cars in that era, they weren't all that well put together but they ran forever with minimal fuss.

86 was the last year they used spin-ons for the 87 to 92 model years they used the goofy in pan filter.
 
Originally Posted by Barkleymut
that car is certainly in great shape cosmetically, but do cars from the 80's really sell for that much? holy cow.

I dunno, people out here seem to be selling 20 year old sh**boxes with 200k on the odo for like 2 grand.
 
Messy oil change. Some came with a drain plug along side of the metal oil filter housing.
They were very problematic if over tightened.
Here's the tool used to remove the housing when the filter is over torqued.

CF85.jpg
 
Originally Posted by Barkleymut
that car is certainly in great shape cosmetically, but do cars from the 80's really sell for that much? holy cow.


Odds are fantastic that the current seller is flipping this car. No old geezer markets a vehicle like that.
 
I have a 1990 Buick Century sedan with the Iron Duke, its sole purpose is to haul beach chairs and surf boards back and forth from the beach house and an occasional liquor store run. I loaded up on RA oil and fuel filters last summer, think I got a gas hood strut for like $3. Don't forget to buy some of the sealing rings for the oil cartridge bung. One of the funkiest oil change setups for sure. I would not be too concerned about parts availability for these vehicles, go for it.
 
Parts for these will be around for a long time. The A-body was a staple of GM cars for years and years, as was the Iron Duke and THC125 trans.
 
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