Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Hey all I took the oil filter housing to the car wash to clean some of the grunge off before taking it to the powdercoater. When i sprayed the inside to clean it out a chunk of crud came out of the bottom about one inch thick shaped like the bottom of the canister, in this crude came the part in the picture, you can see it around the post at the bottom and fits pretty loosely around the post. Is this part needed???? My first thought its part of an old filter, that was left behind?????

Any thoughts.....Pat

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It may be part of an old filter but typically there is also a washer or seat arrangement at the bottom of the filter center tube to give the filter bottom a solid surface to sit on to keep the outer edge of the filter element slightly above the beveled bottom of the canister. That is so dirt and sludge can get around the element and fall all the way to be trapped at the bottom. Do you have something like that?

Some filters had a second spring at the bottom with a machined washer like seat sitting on top of the spring. Other filters had just the single spring at the top cover with the bottom of the element resting on a fairly snug washer supported by some protrusions on the center pipe. The washer and protrusions keep the element at the proper height.

Upon closer inspection the part in question is metal with a ridge running around it.....and the lid has a spring and washer setup is this correct??????.....is there supposed to be another spring on the bottom?????

I was just looking at the pics zoomed in and im a little worried that there might be 2 pin holes i never noticed before i took it too the powdercoater....there was no leak in prior running's though?????..... huh ill have to see when i get it back.....or the powdercoater will call and say something about blowing a hole in the canister

There were many versions of filter assys. Packard used at least two from the factory in prewar cars and dealers or corner garages could have installed aftermarkets. Kind of hard to guess what is correct.

You need to examine the bottom of the canister carefully for any protrusions around the center pipe that might have supported or captured a washer. Over the years they could have been worn and flattened but there should be traces. If it originally had a bottom spring, those were typically captured in some way. If it did have a bottom spring and water sat in the canister the spring could have rusted away.

As a last resort, you might measure the element height and find where the bottom is going to sit in the canister with just a bit of tension on the cover spring. As I recall there needs to be about 1/8"minimum clearance between the element circumference where the sludge could slide down into the bottom and be trapped. More is OK. Filters available today may not be exactly the same as Packards so once you determine where the filter bottom will sit and the top spring can compress enough to add a bit of tension on the element you could fabricate a spacer or a spring for the bottom to support the washer and element at that position.

There should be no drilled holes in the center pipe that low but check to make sure oil cannot exit a hole somewhere top or bottom and bypass the filter element when it is in position. The only exception would be a second version prewar factory filter that fed from the bottom and used a bypass valve. I believe those had some kind of spring loaded mechanism in the center tube. When the element clogged pressure would move the mechanism and uncover a hole which would then allow oil to flow out the center tube and bypass the element.

Well kind of dishearting licking up the oil filter housing with the money I have into it so far I hate to stop and scrap it...... But I'm not sure it's worth repair. A friend that's a welder is going to see what he can do with theses holes

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By the appearance, you might be better to look for one in good condition rather that trying to salvage something that's questionable at best. Also, I'm not sure I would risk getting abrasive into the engine by sandblasting an oil filter. Better to clean and chemically strip, then paint. Powder coating is overkill.

That said, I believe I have a nice one at my Oregon shop that was originally on my 1939 Six. As I recall it was dealer-installed but I'm not sure if it's the same as the one in the parts and accessories books or another very similar type. Whichever it is, it hasn't been used or even installed in any car for over fifty years!

Hey Packard on this oil filter im not to worried about the sand the only place it could collect is the center tube and i have bore brushed and soaked in petrol for days... the inside wont be powder coated just the out side........i bought this off the forum here and not to pleased with it....oh well.....it has a after market filter on it now, but i was trying to go back to original. If i can get it braised/welded grind it down and put a thick coat of powder on it it will be ok...............

Thanks again

As far as I know, at that time these were always installed by the dealer and I doubt they used the same one every time. In other words, there really wasn't such a thing as an "original" even though one is specified in the parts book.

Believe the factory supplied cartridge type filter was standard starting in 40 on the 356 engine with hydraulic lifters so dealers most likely kept some of the factory filters in stock for the optional install in other models. There were two versions of the prewar filter used. First version was plumbed so all the lifter oil supply went thru the filter. That installation was found to starve the lifters if the filter clogged. The second prewar version still looked and was plumbed the same but had a blowoff valve inside to bypass the filter element if it clogged. Still apparently had issues so during the second version they also made some plumbing changes to feed the lifters directly and made the filter a bypass and eliminate the starving problem entirely.

Pre and postwar factory units looked very much alike but there are some differences. The relocation of the inlet port to the side on the postwar filters is the most obvious but there are some differences in the canister shape too.

There were a lot of aftermarket filters available at parts stores and probably half of the corner gas stations sold them too even into the early 50s. If one of those was installed it could be quite different in appearance from the factory item. Based on some of the other aftermarket things we have seen installed and were known dealer sold, if the aftermarket filter was less expensive to purchase than the factory item there were undoubtedly some dealers who installed those too.