Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Weren't most of the Packard oil bath air cleaners such as this used on the 2-barrel carbs? The Chevy engines used 1 barrel carbs. I would think the attachment to the carb would be to big, unless modified.

Thanks for your post, John.

Yes, my carb is a one barrel. I don't think the carb attachment has been modified though?
In my searches to identify which car this one was made for, I believe it was manufactured by the Burgess Battery Company?
In another post, I saw that there is a tube running (on the silencer) from the oil bath part to the silencer part for Packards. That tube has been cut and spot welded to the silencer part. You should be able to see that in one of my photos.
But the bottom line is...I have never seen one like this on a Chevy and can only guess that my uncle had it fitted to the engine by the dealership when he bought it? It has been on the car since then.
So it is interesting and unique to my car?

I love the old Chevy 6 (216/235 engines). I've seen oil bath air cleaners for Chevrolet 6's but never one like these.

Quote:


Thank you. I cannot find a K&N match.


Yet . . . .

I fitted a modern pleated paper air filter to the stock housings of my 47 Custom. Looked stock. Saved the Kapok (sp.?) filter section in case a subsequent owner wanted to restore the oil bath function. No modifications were needed beyond removing the original filter section. I did it because of not liking the mess servicing the oil bath type made. I went to a parts store and looked through their shelves until I found one that worked. Forget the brand and number.

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Were you looking for the German word for broken? If so, it's Kaput.

Thanks Don, I think. The word for the material in the center part of the air cleaner. Life jackets contained it too.

John,
It is interesting and I will of course keep it on my engine.
I have started to restore it and have finished with the bottom (the oil bath part).
Yesterday, I cleaned, sanded and cleaned again before putting the first coat of primer on the silencer part. Then I saw some pinholes from the outside of the weld. So, I'm going to fix those before putting on the second/third coat of primer.
The bottom part (the oil reservoir part) attaches to a bracket on the opposite side of the carburetor. It had vibrated (I guess) to the point that a small (about the size of a 1/2 dollar coin) had actually broken completely off, but was still there on the tightening shaft, above the main bottom part that goes below the bracket (I'll attach a pic).
I thought about MIG welding it back to the oil res. part, then decided that it could burn holes in the housing. So I was able to match up the two parts perfectly and J B Welded them from the inside. This seems to be working out just fine?! I will put a rubber washer between the reservoir part and the bracket when installing.
I am taking before and after pix as I go. I'm pretty much of a perfectionist when it comes to restoring these parts, but I intend to put an AC OilBath decal on it when completed, even though I know that is not correct. It will look better that way and I'm convinced my uncle (who bought it new at the Chevrolet dealer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) had it installed there?
These projects are so much fun for guys like us! I also restored the (aftermarket, dealer-installed) oil filter, which was not available on the 49 Chevrolets. It's a Fram and I have before and after pix of that as well, if you think anyone would be interested in seeing them.
I figure we're all in this hobby together and pictures tell a thousand words?
Seven pix attached.

Attach file:

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  49 Oil Bath 1 IMG_5163.JPG (254.69 KB)


  49 Oil Bath 2 .JPG (578.52 KB)


  49 Oil Bath 3 IMG_5176.JPG (214.13 KB)


  49 Oil Bath 4 IMG_5184.JPG (463.12 KB)


  49 Oil Bath 5 IMG_5191.JPG (325.47 KB)


  49 Oil Bath 6 IMG_5200.JPG (154.24 KB)


  49 Oil Bath 7 .JPG (87.65 KB)

Here are some references to help "clear the air" on this subject. As can be determined the oil bath cleaner suffers when subjected to high velocity.

Be aware as well that the fan and splash aprons are major contributors to clean intake air. The fan acts as a slinger that deflects large particles.

Below are the citations:

There are two basic types of air filter systems in use -wet and dry. Of the two the dry system, which uses a replaceable element is most popular and efficient. Efficiency levels at installation are in excess of 99% for the dry type and about 96% for the wet type filter.

The major problem with the wet type or oil bath cleaners is their inability to stop the very small particles from entering the air system. As the air enters the system it travels across the oil bath where the heavier particles are trapped in the oil. Regular service intervals are imperative on the oil bath, as build-up of particles in the bottom of the cleaner will cause a rise in the oil level and a pullover of oil and contaminants into the air flow to the engine.

Air filtration for your engine took a huge step forward when paper air filtering replaced running the air over a bed of oil. ALL the air goes through the paper filter. ONLY the particles that happened to be heavy enough to fall into the oil lake in the oil bath style filters got caught. The higher the RPM, the less likely the dirt is to fall.

When Carl Kiekhaefer was racing in the Carrera Panamericana (Mexican Road Race) and then started NASCAR racing in 1955 with the C300 Chryslers, he found that his race motors were being literally EATEN UP by the amount of dirt that was NOT falling into the oil bath. He is credited as being the first race team owner to send oil samples into a laboratory for analysis to find out what the heck was going on that he was losing motors. He worked with Purolator to bring the first paper filters into production that were suitable for mass production for the US auto companies. There had been after-market companies like Hellings that made competition air cleaners with horse-hair type elements and even those were superior to the oil baths.

That is true I read about it in "Iron Fist". But is it not true that trucks still use oil bath air cleaners? If so, why have they not changed over if the cost is lower? True the trucks are not racing but???