The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Oil filter

I don't see any oil filter in my truck.. Is it possible it's in the oil pan? The service manual doesn't talk about it for what I've seen

An oil filter was an add-on option, usually bolted to the intake manifold in front of the carburetor. In that era, oil filters weren't that common.

To add to Kevin's post, you'll find opinions running the gamut of them being useful to an oil filter being a complete waste of time. I'm on the useful end. While oil filters of that era were bypass filters and didn't filter all of the oil every time through the engine, my opinion is that some filtration is better than no filtration.

I agree with Tiny. There are a few different ways to add a modern oil filter. My way may seem unorthodox, but I gave up on mechanical fuel pumps when you couldn't find them made in America any longer. There are some Chinese products which are ok. The factory making fuel pumps...well, you can be your own judge of what you get. This meant I had a hole in the side of the block to use, and I ran the oil plumbing down and away from the crankshaft and out that hole through a block-off plate I made. You can see what I did in the images attached.

"Filtering all the oil" with a full-flow means that none of it gets filtered very well. Flowing all the oil the engine needs to keep itself lubricated through a filter as it leaves the oil pump is like trying to get a drink of water from a fire hose. It's much better to slow the flow down, run some of the oil through tight-mesh filter media, and strain out the fine particles, along with trapping the rocks, marbles and bowling balls that a full-flow filter is designed to catch. Lots of commercial engines like the old 855 cubic inch Cummins Diesel had both types- - - -a full flow to catch chunks big enough to damage bearings, and a bypass to strain out the tiny particles.
Jerry

Ok, can we just get to what the OP's real question is here??

OP -- Your engine did not come from the factory with an oil filter. None of them did -- it was an option that was added either by the dealer or the end user. And they don't accomplish much, BTW.

To Tiny's point about some being better than none -- I do not agree. In my experience, adding the by-pass filter to the 216 had a significant PITA factor that was *not* outweighed by the "little" amount of oil it filtered. The bypass filter assemblies are not user friendly, leak and will dump a lot of oil all over the engine if you do not get the covers on exactly right. And the gaskets that come with the Wix filters (the only ones still available, it seems) were always too wide and I had to carefully trim each one.

So it seems to me that you are actually asking if you need to add an oil filter. I don't think an added-on oil filter will do what you think it will. I think just changing yur oil a little more often will do more without the added PITA of the by-pass filter.

Hope this helps.

John

i appreciate everyone's opinion.. I just never ran into a vehicle that didn't have a oil filter

Well, welcome to Stovebolt

With a little bit of adapting, a Fram or AC filter housing will accept a roll of John Wayne toilet paper, and do a really good job of filtering the oil.
Jerry

I had a friend who had a 280Z and always talked about doing that to his car.. Swore it was the best filter

The oil on the dipstick stays much clearer with the added bypass filter. To me that shows it is doing its job. I admit more engines have been damaged by broken hoses going to the filter then saved by the cleaner oil. You must examine the hoses regularly to make sure they are not brittal or too close to the exhaust.

A vote for bypass filters. I've been running a Frantz bypass on my '95 Dodge Cummins for the past 20 years. When I first installed it the oil has a few thousand miles and had the normal black diesel color. After several hundred miles the new filter had removed enough soot that the oil was a brown color and eventual cleared up to the point it looked like it was in a gas burner. To this day, with a couple hundred thousand more miles on the engine the oil never looks like your typical diesel truck oil no matter how many miles on a change.

I used to send samples off and have the oil analysed by John Deere Labs. Samples always came back good to continue running the tested oil, so a few years ago I decided to go till the analysis said change. At 23,000 miles and over a year I gave in and changed it. The 23k mile oil sample came back good to continue running though. My policy since then has been to change once a year regardless of the miles.

Not exactly what the OP asked about but I do feel by-pass filters are worth the effort. I change the one on my 216 every other oil change since I only put about 5k per year on the truck and change oil once a year,. I doubt it's even close to capacity at 10,000 miles.

RonR

Unless you're doing a period-correct restoration, the flex lines to an intake-mounted filter canister can be replaced with metal tubing. Just put vibration loops in both tubes to eliminate fatigue cracks at the fittings.
Jerry

The bypass filter filters a little bit of oil and then dumps it right into the pan where it is instantly diluted by dirty oil. If you were driving your truck every day and not changing the oil regularly, a bypass might help a little bit. But really, not all that much. I don’t run a filter on a very modified 261 motor I built a couple of years ago. And I am not gentle with that motor. I change the oil every 3000 or once a year if under three thousand. And remember, the nice detergent oil that we can get these days is pretty good and better then the straight grade oil of yesteryear. So my vote, just Change the oil a little more frequently.

Franz used to sell a filter housing that used a roll of toilet paper.

Do what you like (with any stovebolt engine), as long as you:
Change oil (and filter, if you have one) regularly.
The by-pass oil filter is effective.
It has very little impact on oil pressure.
If it measurably impacts oil pressure, your engine needed/needs rebuilding.

Use detergent oil (it keeps "junk" in suspension - to be caught in the filter).

I agree with Dragsix: "I change the oil every 3000 or once a year if under three thousand. And remember, the nice detergent oil that we can get these days is pretty good and better then the straight grade oil of yesteryear. So my vote, just Change the oil a little more frequently."

If you have an older Stovebolt engine, that used non-detergent oil (pre-1954, usually), there will be junk in the oil pan. That junk might go back into suspension after a change to detergent oil. The best precaution would be to remove the oil pan and clean out the junk/deposits.

The first Frantz filters were conversion kits for AC and Fram canisters. I still modify them that way.
Jerry

scented or unscented?

Industrial-strength TP like cheap motels use. The "John Wayne" designation indicates it's "Rough, Tough, and won't take crap off anybody!"
Jerry

I grew up on the family farm which had a ‘61 Fjord with the 223 cid. In ‘67 I was away from town for a month and when I got back and drove the farm truck, I just new dad had installed a new engine. I asked my little brother about it, he said all they did was put one of those Frantz Oil Cleaners on the engine. I was impressed then and swear by them today. I installed a Frantz during the rebuild of the 216 in the ‘52 Panel Truck 3100 in 2012 and have had clean oil since then.