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Hello again,

My engine is a 38 six in my 37 115. My grandfather had taken the oil filter off completely and capped the lines in and out of the engine where it was at some point in the past. My question do I need the filter put back on? I am just finishing up a refreshing up of a 20 year old restoration.

I would be driving less that 500 miles a year.

Thanks

James

You might want to install a filter but you certainly don't need to. The fact that they came without oil filters as standard equipment when new would indicate that with a good clean engine and regular oil changes, you should expect good engine life without a filter. You should consider changing your oil annually regardless of mileage. And of course make sure you're starting out with a clean oil pan.

James,
I suspect you are already aware that the Six engines from 37-39 were sold with optional filter that bolted onto the lower left front area of the block. In 1940, Packard introduced a more generic, but still Packard specific design that bolted to two tapped holes on the engine head. If you choose to add something back, you would need a simple bracket that will attach to the head.

Examples of placement of the later version shown in Packard literature images below, for different years. For more detail, you can review the model year catalog literature on this site. Great resources.

Although my mileage is also low each year, I prefer to use a filter since the majority of oil contamination occurs during engine start and warm up. Lots of short trips are worse than few long ones, for the oil. My automotive engineering background also led me to this as a no brainer.

However, it is your car and of course, your decision.
Pat

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Hi JRPackard37,

Just wanted to chuck my two bits worth in here... when I bought my '39 Six, a previous owner had mounted a nice, neat bracket to the driver fender well and plumbed semi-rigid copper tubing from the block to a conventional oil filter.
I imagine the hard-over purists would label such a thing as blasphemy but it is done neatly and professionally and looks okay to me. The oil filter is both easy to get at, to remove, and also, easy to get. Just a thought... pic attached. (not a great one but the only one I currently have; if of any interest, I can send you close-up shots later)

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