Well Wilber, you have certainly done your homework and I think you’re on to something. Since I am a purist about 95% of the time I've done a lot of wondering about the so-called "horse hair" material my self. This type fiber was used in other areas of automobile construction also, like in the seat cushions for instance. The copper mesh was used in the breather type oil caps also.
There are two problems that pop into mind when I think about this, the first is where to find the materials. This is where you have had the same problem. Maybe out of our 20,000 registered members we can pry that information from someone who knows of a source.
The second problem area if we do happen to find "horse hair" is how to stuff it back into the filter housing without damaging it. Being natural fiber it does tend to get quite brittle. It seems obvious that the fiber pads were formed and laid into the housings before the two halves were crimped together. Trying to push the new material thru the slots inevitably breaks it up which is what we don't want to happen. In the later oil bath filters there is a lot of this material and it is packed in there pretty tight. I’m afraid it would be quite difficult if not impossible to get the cavity filled as well as the original.
I believe the natural fiber material was chosen for a couple of reasons. One being that if a piece did break off and get sucked into the engine it would most likely just burn up without doing any damage. And the other is that natural fiber will soak up and hold some oil. Now you don’t soak the material in oil but it does become saturated with oil and this does help trap the fine dust particles. In the non-oil bath filters or spark arrester type the filter is charged with oil after it has been washed clean. Some were metal but some were natural fiber also.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
