Bruce,
Did you cut off the whole basin that held the original filter media, or did you just cut off the bottom part and slide the paper filter inside? I have seen both options discussed here in the forums.
My Oil Bath Air Filter looks like this:
Pictorial of Oil Bath Air CleanerI removed the middle section which left me with the (1) outside canister, the (2) lid, and the (3) wing nut. The fourth piece is the (4) removable middle section which contains the encased filter material. The Wix filter sits perfectly in the canister. I did not have to cut or modify any part of my oil bath air cleaner.
The only issue is, the Wix filter uses a metal ring at both the top and bottom of the filter which may not create a seal to keep air from flowing around the filter, thus allowing air to bypass the paper air filter. I took a piece of a bicycle tire tube, maybe 6" to 8", opened it up by slicing the tube down the middle and then cementing the two ends together using a tire patch cement. Once it dried, it slipped on to the edge of the metal end with a little bit of a stretch which was my intent so it would keep in place. I did this for both the top and bottom of the filter.
When I put the lid on the canister with the now installed paper air filter and tightened the wing nut until it was snug (and then maybe one more turn), it created the seal that I was looking for when I started out with this modification.
The other link I posted earlier has a great description by Chuck Palmer (Hookalatch). He has some pics on Photobucket and if you can get to them you can see what I am talking about. His air cleaner is the same one I have on my truck.
There are several different models of air cleaners out there and some do require some cutting. My air filter has/had four pieces and I was able to easily remove piece # 4.
There is an excellent Tech Tip:
Oil Bath Air Cleaner Upgrade on this site which may help you out.
Send a pic of your air cleaner and either myself or someone else may be able to give you the right direction to take with converting your specific oil bath air cleaner to a paper filter.
