Hi everyone,
I am looking to mount my oil filter.I would like to mount it horizontally off the rear driver side bumper bracket and I will be mounting a oil cooler in the future. My question is, does it matter if I mount it horizontally or vertically?
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@JB356SR posted:Hi everyone,
I am looking to mount my oil filter.I would like to mount it horizontally off the rear driver side bumper bracket and I will be mounting a oil cooler in the future. My question is, does it matter if I mount it horizontally or vertically?
Only when you change it. There’s no way I would mount an oil filter any which-a-way but vertical. But then I’ve dumped about a gallon of oil in my 968 engine compartment over the years because the filter is horizontal on the side of the engine block.
Yeah, every time I see a horizontal filter on any engine I wonder "what the hell were they thinking?"
I have mine mounted vertically, screw-on flange pointing up so that when I unscrew it, it hold the oil in it with minimal leakage/spillage. I also pre-fill the new filter with oil when I do an oil change so there is never a massive air bubble in the system at first start-up.
I bolted my mount to the body frame member that forms a square horse shoe around the engine. It's positioned so that hose and valve cover access is easy. Been there for 20 years and the mount failed last year (it was a flimsy aluminum plate affair that I had made) but other than that has been trouble-free.
I documented my set-up on here years ago:
https://www.speedsterowners.co...-1-mechanical-layout
But the layout photos are long lost (Photobucket started charging for use) so here is the placement of the cooler and filter in a series of photos - It works great. Just to be clear, the filter mount itself has been bullet-proof. The piece of diamond plate angle stock I used as an adapter was too thin and not up to the task, so it failed and was replaced by a steel equivalent - That's been fine. Be careful of where you mount the filter and hoses so that valve cover access isn't impeded.
Q:
@Gordon Nichols posted:Yeah, every time I see a horizontal filter on any engine I wonder "what the hell were they thinking?"
A:
I can't speak for anybody else, but what I was thinking was, "gee, if I mount this sideways, it doesn't stick below the bottom of my fender, all the lines fit nicely, and it'll neatly drain into the catch pan without getting oil rolling down my arm, through my armpit, down the inside of my shirt, and into my tighty-whities", or something to that effect.
If you gentleman like giving that filter a quick twist, then having oil cascade across the entire outer surface, and drip randomly off some part of the bottom, then by all means, carry on. I'll be over here, not losing a drop, and not leaving a black rivulet from my hand to my nether-regions.
PS: with an Accu-Sump, I have oil pressure every time I start the car (and before I'm cranking the starter as well).
Your mileage may vary.
Gordon, I really like what you did there. But multiple 90s aren't great for flow unless they are sweeps...
AN-8 180s are like $20 each, but are a smoother way to reverse direction. As my buddy Stan says, buy/cry once.
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Mine was mounted horizontally (to keep it more tucked up and out of the way).
Yeah, it's a bit more of a pain to change the first time, but eventually you work out a procedure and, after that, it's no biggie.
Drain sump first. Position catch pan under filter. Slowly loosen until dripping starts. Wait for dripping to stop. Unscrew the rest of the way, holding filter horizontally as you pull it free. No more oil will run out unless you tip the open end down, but you do that into the catch pan.
Harder to describe than to do, but bottom line is it's easily done with a minimum of spill.
Not a reason to avoid mounting horizontally if that works out better for other reasons.
I'm reminded of how hard it seemed removing idle jets on Webers the first few times. After a while, you get the hang of it, and it becomes nothing to stress over.
As a species, we have been solving problems like this for millions of years. This is far easier to master than using a ketchup bottle.
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^ Exactly.
Oil is going to run out. A half-twist on a sideways filter sends the oil straight down. A half twist on a vertical filter sends the oil all over the outside of the filter, where it drops off the bottom. When it stops draining, I'm spinning off a clean filter - the guy with the vertical filter is spinning off an oil-covered mess.
mine was vertical in wheel well and had an aluminum cover surrounding the oil filter to protect from road debris
@Stan Galat posted:Q:
A:
I can't speak for anybody else, but what I was thinking was, "gee, if I mount this sideways, it doesn't stick below the bottom of my fender, all the lines fit nicely, and it'll neatly drain into the catch pan without getting oil rolling down my arm, through my armpit, down the inside of my shirt, and into my tighty-whities", or something to that effect.
If you gentleman like giving that filter a quick twist, then having oil cascade across the entire outer surface, and drip randomly off some part of the bottom, then by all means, carry on. I'll be over here, not losing a drop, and not leaving a black rivulet from my hand to my nether-regions.
PS: with an Accu-Sump, I have oil pressure every time I start the car (and before I'm cranking the starter as well).
Your mileage may vary.
Do you have any pictures of your set up?
@barncobob posted:mine was vertical in wheel well and had an aluminum cover surrounding the oil filter to protect from road debris
Any pictures?
@DannyP posted:Gordon, I really like what you did there. But multiple 90s aren't great for flow unless they are sweeps...
AN-8 180s are like $20 each, but are a smoother way to reverse direction. As my buddy Stan says, buy/cry once.
That may all be true, but its been working and cooling fine for 16 years now without a hiccup. I never needed any 180º connections - the worse is an occasional 90º but on the latest hose routing version I used more 45º fittings due to better routing (all things get better after you think about it more).
So I guess you can mount the filter any way you wish and then just work up a method of spinning it off and catching the drain oil. Whatever fills your drain pan!
@JB356SR posted:Do you have any pictures of your set up?
Not super relevant, as I've got a dry-sump, but this part of the piping is not dry-sump specific, and could be (and was) used before I did the conversion.
Here's the best pictures I've got.
The top picture shows the orientation of the filter base and oil cooler. The filter base is a JayCee part - it's a pressure bypass filter base. If the oil pressure rises above 80 psi, it bypasses into the sump of the engine. That's the line labeled "bypass".
The hard-line coming into the center of the filter base is the AccuSump line. I've got the AccuSump mounted inside the engine compartment running east/west just behind the license plate.
The two AL hard lines underneath the filter base are the lines from the Mocal thermostatic bypass filter base, and run to the 96 plate cooler. I had a radiator shop seal off the bottom threads on the cooler, and I tapped AN fittings into the sides of those fittings (which were then AL-soldered) so that no fittings stuck below the bottom of the fender.
The second picture is with all the braided lines pulled off, but you can see the orientation of the filter and cooler in the wheel well. The bottom picture is the entire layout with the dry-sump lines.
When I do an oil change, I don't lose a drop.
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We used a Setrab filter holder that allows flexibility in how the bracket may be oriented and attached and in how the hoses may be routed.
This is just a filter holder, it doesn't incorporate options for bypassing the filter, but Setrab does make a whole line of stuff that does:
Here's how it looks installed on my car. It's tucked up enough that getting good photos is difficult, but this may help. Notice that the filter is completely above the bottom of the bumper:
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Another question. I am going to use WIX 51515. Can I also use WIX 51521? It's a shorter filter?
I don't see why you couldn't use a 51521. It's 1.25" inches shorter if you need the room. My oil filter is mounted vertically on the firewall(mid-engine Spyder) on the same JayCee mount as Stan.
@Stan Galat Why did you bypass to the engine case and not the tank? I bypassed to the top of the tank.
I should have bypassed to the tank, Danny, but as I said, that part of the setup preceded the dry-sump conversion.
Stan, That's an awful lot of plumbing! Are the benefits really worth it?
Just wondering
@Stan Galat : Extra ingenuity points for the Accusump plumbing into the oil filter mount! I wouldn't have thought of that. How easy/hard was it to bend up the aluminum hard lines? That looks great, and again, ingenious.
Bonus points for the custom oil tank.
The Autocraft pump looks identical to the NLA Bugpack, with the exception of the scavenge/suction connection. The Autocraft does that externally on mine through a bolt-on sump plate.
The cool thing about Autocraft is they'll build whatever you want. I specified AN-10 on suction and pressure stage inlets. They also do what they call a 1.5 stage that uses the VW pickup tube. 52mm suction and 26mm pressure gear sizes.
Stan, That's an awful lot of plumbing! Are the benefits really worth it?
Just wondering
Jim:
Yes. I never ever worry about foamy oil or bearing starvation any more. I think the Accusump is overkill but understand why Stan did that.
A Napa Gold 1515 is the same as a WIX 51515 (WIX makes them both).
The NAPA system sees them as "FIL 1515" for a Gold filter.
They also carry the FIL 1521 shorter version with the same filtration method ( which should be fine if you're changing oil every 3K - 5K miles).
They may not have either in stock, so call first.
How come no mention of a MoCal Sandwich ?................Bruce
Good point. I have one installed between the oil filter mount and spin-on filter. I had to reconfigure the hoses slightly when I installed the Mocal fluid switch but it wasn't that big a deal - a couple of new hoses and re-route some that I had and done. Watching the (fantastically detailed and accurate) oil temp gauge, everything seems to be working as planned - It usually runs 180º-ish in the Winter and 200º-ish in the Summer.
i prefer wix, its black and the Napa is white last time i bought one
@barncobob posted:i prefer wix, its black and the Napa is white last time i bought one
I use the Wix as well and I’m very happy with it.
I use the NAPA Gold, which have been black for years with gold writing. They used to be white, so must be old inventory.
They are EXACTLY the same as Wix, part numbers are identical sans the first number: 51515 Wix IS a NAPA 1515. Same part, same specs, but available down the street. My local NAPA always has them in stock, but there are a lot of farmers around: old trucks and tractors.
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My local Amazon truck always has the Wix in stock.
Get two, so you'll have one in the garage the next time you need one.
The NAPA one is actually eight bucks more than the Wix.
It may be marked $1.25 less, but - as long as you're at NAPA - you'll grab something else you don't really need on your way out and there goes another ten bucks, bam.
They put all that stock out on display for a reason.
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O'Reilly's will give you the Wix filter when you buy a jug of oil. Wait for Mobil 1 to go on sale, snag 3 or 4 jugs for your daily driver and get a few spare filters for the Speedster.
Stan, That's an awful lot of plumbing! Are the benefits really worth it?
Just wondering
That depends on your definition of "worth it".
The stock oil system is a cruel joke. The relief pistons were actually where I took a good hard look at what the Sainted German Engineers had done - and decided that, while clever, the entire thing was a Rube Goldberg arrangement relying on changes in viscosity to determine temperature, and other equally archaic and backward solutions to straightforward problems. It's what prompted me to head off in many, many other (non-approved) directions.
I like how my setup works. My oil stays really cool (but not too cool). My oil pressure is very, very good - never over 80 psi, never under 20. It's nearly impossible to run out of oil. I can run the car at least 1-1/2" lower than anybody else and still not ever hit my oil sump. I can pre-lube my bearings before start up (I flood the engine with oil for 10 seconds before cranking - my oil pressure is 20+ psi before I ever turn it over). A dry sump picks up a bit of power over one that's whipping up oil.
What I like most is that it fixes a lot of the Mickey Mouse stuff the SGEs baked in the cake back in pre-WW2 Germany.
So... is it worth it? If you're like me - yeah. If you weigh everything on a cost/benefit spreadsheet, probably not.
my old forklift with a Perkins diesel took a 1515, its the most common filter available, same as FL1A and PH8
Yup. It's a standard size but fits most older Ford V8s, perfect for farm country. If a local NAPA didn't have one, they should be shot!
I bought the LN Engineering spin-on adapter for my Cayman. It uses a 1997-2004 Vette filter, so universally available also.
@Sacto Mitch I have done and still do certainly use the Amazon truck on a regular basis, but I also like to buy local if I can.
Engine Masters on the Motor Trend chanel just compared oil filters they liked the K&N Gold over the Wix
K&N is great for air filters. I believe ALB posted some oil filter testing years back and the Wix was number 1, K&N was right there. Stay away from Fram...
This show on Motor Trend TV tested a bunch and the K&N gold just beat out the Wix. They showed construction flow etc. Very interesting.
ive been a Mahl man myself for awhile, made in Austria and is the OEM manufacturer of most of Porsche filters,,they make filters for virtually all kinds of vehicles/...
