Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Ken,

You are not off topic at all. An oil filter is needed to help keep the oil cleaner. Important because these engines is equipped with 'hydraulic' valve lifters where a good supply of clean oil is necessary for proper operation. Packard, unfortunately, uses a by-pass type filtering system. Some of the oil is filtered as it is circulated through the system. Not the most effective way, but better than nothing. I recommend you fit one to your engine.

Packard V-8s also suffered from oil pressure and supply problems because of the design of the oil pump. Others here are more versed in this problem and its solution than I am. My 55 Clipper is fitted with a modified oil pump. So far no oil pressure or supply problems. I would recommend you make yourself aware of this problem. There are numerous posts and discussion topics about this on this site.

Welcome to the site and there are many knowledgeable folks here who can help you with your 1956 Clipper questions.

(o{}o)

Oil filter keeps the oil clean and keeps dirt and grit from wearing out your engine.

There were 2 theories of oil filters. The first was to do a thorough job of filtering the oil really clean. This was the bypass filter. A small amount of oi goes through at a time, it takes a half hour to an hour for all the oil in the engine to go through the filter.

The second method is the full flow filter. This filters all the oil all the time, but has the drawback that it cannot filter as fine. Too fine a filter and the oil could not all go through. In this case, the theory is that fine dirt is OK in your engine because it will pass through your bearings etc without harm, as long as the dirt particle is smaller than the clearance.

Your engine has the bypass which is the older type. Any oil filter is better than no oil filter. If you have no oil filter at all you need to change the oil twice as often and hope to get rid of dirt before it ruins your engine.

The newest system is to have both. All engines today have the full flow filter, some people add a bypass filter for deep cleaning and NEVER change their oil. Some big rigs have gone 500,000 to 1,000,000 miles without an oil change. They just change the filters and top up the oil to replace what the filters soaked up.

A bypass oil filter gets around to filtering all the oil about every five to ten minutes--have been meaning to time how long it takes for a hot quart to go through one, but haven't gotten to that yet. That's to remove fines, little carbon bits and what have you.

If an engine is not throwing chunks internally that seems quite OK to me. The idea is to keep the oil from slowly transforming into grinding paste. Of course, a bypass filter is no help if chunks are introduced by some accident or sloppiness at assembly or oil change.

But once things are up and running an engine that is not already in its death throws is not going to introduce such a quantity of fines into the oil during any given mile that can't wait to be filtered within the next five. In addition, Packard used floating pickups so if chunks did somehow get in, there was a good chance they would sink and not get sucked up.

All that said, I will sell you a filter with the rather fiddly to make lines and fittings included for $45 delivered to your door.

yeah that loopty loop line is a bit of a turd to get just right.

An interesting practice is to analyze by atomic absorption spectroscopy the metal levels in the fresh unused oil you are using, the oil in the crankcase at change time, and the levels of these same metals in the sludge at the base of the bypass filter housing. Analyses are about $25 a sample and this type of monitoring was/is? pretty routine for piston aircraft engines to monitor wear and of which engine components.

OD you lost me at "atomic absorption spectroscopy".

I will go with something is better than nothing.

OD you lost me at "atomic absorption spectroscopy".


Sorry about that. It's a method for quantitatively analyzing metals down to the parts per million or even parts per billion concentrations. So for example, increasing levels of aluminum would show increasing piston wear, levels of iron would show cylinder bore wear, etc.

Given all the lifter and oil pressure problems I think not having the filter might be better because the passage is plugged.

Those high end bypass filters are two or three stage filters and completely different than the cheap cartridge that goes in the Packard filter. The original PurOilLater bypass filters were multiple stage albeit on a smaller scale.

However, I wouldn't substitute filtration for oil changes without scheduled analysis, which for a Packard is more expensive than an oil change.

Also, the pan should be periodically dropped and cleaned on those engines because the drain plug location is junk. A cinch for the Packards with dual exhaust, but a pain on the Clipper

Quote:
This sounds like leaving my engine as-is (sans oil filter) may not be a bad option. If I do leave the engine without an oil filter, then how long should I go between oil changes? I've been changing the oil approximately every 1,500 miles. If I do decide to install an oil filter, then can I go longer between oil changes? If so, then what's recommended?

I also like the idea of analyzing the oil, between changes, to determine specific locations of engine wear.

Ken, it depends on how much and how often you drive your Clipper. Most of us drive our Packards very little. In this case time is the factor to consider. The usual practice is to change the oil one a year. If you drive a few thousand miles a year, then I would recommend changing the oil at least every 1,000 miles without a filter and 2,000 miles with a filter.

The better decision is to install a filter and change the filter and clean the canister every time you change oil. The bottom of the canister acts like a sump to collect the sludge filtered by the filter element. Don't just change the filter element. It is kind of a messy job, but necessary.

You can get a remotely located oil filter kit that will use a modern spin on filter. This may be a better solution for you since you are going to need to buy a filter assembly. That is unless being authentic is important. There is some fabrication of brackets and lines to do, but this should not be too difficult. The advantage to this set up is there is no messy canister to clean. Simply unscrew the old filter and screw on a new one. This resembles a full-flow system, but is still the by-pass type.

And, as recommended, first drop the oil pan and clean it and the pick up screen. You are going to love removing the exhaust cross over pipe.

(o{}o)