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robclark63
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Joined: April 29, 2008
Posts: 618
Location: Ellicott City, MD
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 Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 4:53 am Post subject: |
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| Randy in Maine wrote: |
This works pretty well....
From www.type2.com
Oil Bath Air Filter Cleaning
by John Anderson
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I read an SAE report a few years ago comparing oil bath wicking filters to some popular pleated paper and oiled gauze element filters. The oil bath was superior on all counts. VW knew what they were doing. It lasts forever and maintainence isn't really all that involved.
I had to wash the filter element on the '70. I sat the top part with the horsehair in a 5 gallon bucket of kerosene for an hour. As it became evident I'd go through kerosene forever, I went to TSP and very hot water. I went through 3 water changes then finished back in the kerosene. It was AMAZING what came off the horse hair, and scary. But when I was finished the hair appeared brand new and clean as a whistle. After the last water wash I hooked a compact hair drier into the outlet with duct tape and let it blow dry for a good half hour. The whole thing was toasty warm with no moisture left. Then I dipped it once into kerosene, dried it, then reassembled with a cleaned bottom half and new oil.
Has your filter had regular maintainence its entire life? And, just what did VW figure its life was? I'm quite happy with the result and feel much better about what the truck now sucks its air though. |
What is TSP mentioned in this article??  I don't want to waste tons of kerosene, just bought some more to heat the garage and it aint cheap anymore 
Thanks for the clarification in advance...maybe...
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2011 Ram 1500 Sportsman
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jlex
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Joined: January 23, 2009
Posts: 2902
Location: NW Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 7:42 am Post subject: |
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TSP stands for tri sodium phosphaste. It's the active ingredient in laundry detergent. Can be purchased at most hardware stores. (I'd just save the money and use the dry type laundry detergent instead).
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jlex.
'70 std. "Elsie"
'88 Carrera |
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Cusser
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Joined: October 02, 2006
Posts: 31361
Location: Hot Arizona
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 8:47 am Post subject: |
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| jlex wrote: |
| TSP stands for tri sodium phosphaste. It's the active ingredient in laundry detergent. Can be purchased at most hardware stores. (I'd just save the money and use the dry type laundry detergent instead). |
For the record, in the U.S., laundry detergents CANNOT contain phosphates (water pollution). The TSP would serve to raise the pH of the water, conidered a "builder". The active ingredients in most laundry detergents in U.S. are sodium linear alkylbenzenesulfonates (anionic surfactants) and primary fatty alcohol ethoxylates (nonionic surfactants), just in case you'd like to know. I'm a chemist in that industry (or at least until the early March 12% job reduction !!!).
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297 |
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Fitz.
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Joined: October 06, 2009
Posts: 362
Location: Montavilla, Portland, Oregon
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 12:03 pm Post subject: |
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For future reference: Soak it in diesel overnight, then wipe it down with denatured alcohol. Today's Ultra-Low Sulphur diesel is pretty caustic, and will cut oil down with ease. We buy it by the tanker-load where I work (to fuel semi-trucks), and it's caustic enough that we have it cut with biodiesel for a bit of lubricity.
Uncut from the pump, it's cheap and works wonders. You can use it time and again, and when you're done with it, save it for the lighting the burn pile, campfires, or just dispose of it as you would your used motor oil.
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northernbus77
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Joined: November 17, 2008
Posts: 196
Location: Yukon
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| Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 5:21 am Post subject: |
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| Lingwendil wrote: |
On my aircleaner, there seems to be a cutout on the side for something else, in the middle of the panel, not the edge. it is a very clean, factory looking edge, any ideas? my other is not like this. It's the 70' style. heres where the cutout is:
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I have the same hole in mine. I think its for a temperature contolled mechinism for the pre heat flap. I am new to oil bath filters so I would also like to find out for sure so I can find this bit and get the pre heat flap working again.
Hopefully someone can confirm. and maybe a source for the part....
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tundrawolf
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Joined: February 24, 2009
Posts: 1384
Location: RIP Mishomi my friend. I will always love you.
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| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 5:51 pm Post subject: Re: oil bath filter |
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| Billy Byars wrote: |
| Good Afternoon. the material inside the top portion of the oil bath air filter is the "mature outer husk of coconuts, called coir"-according to Bob Hoover. The cross section of the material allows for the best depth filterable material available. You should clean the top and bottom portion of the housings with gas(very carefully)...allow to air dry, and then soak the upper portion(with husk material) in kerosene and allow to dry for several hours. This will leave a sticky oily residue on the husk material to catch dust particles. Fill the bottom portion of the housing up to the tip of the stamped arrow, or to the orange line-which ever your filter base has with 30 weight oil. Replace top portion(with coir) into the bottom housing and secure the clips. Attach to carb. As air enters the inside of the air filter, it meets the vertical side portion of the inside housing element and is forced down. Then it (air flow) is forced back up to enter the bottom of the filter housing into the "coir" filter. As the air makes this change, dust and dirt particles are heavier than air and will hit the oil bath and stick there. If smaller particles do make the "turn" the kerosene soaked "coir" will catch any remaining particles. As the air flow leaves the top of the filter housing it is forced down into the "velocity stack" and into the carb... |
I wonder if this would work?
http://www.horticulturesource.com/product_info.php?products_id=2630
When you clean the COIR element, do you guys remove it from the metal case, or leave it in? |
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Hellaslow
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Joined: September 08, 2009
Posts: 500
Location: Tampa, Fl
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| Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:42 pm Post subject: |
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i was told by a oldschool vdubber to clean mine with some gas... worked great...
sence i started using the oilbath my car starts perfect before i had a k&n and it would take me 3-5min to get her started on cold mornings (40-50deg)
i'll never go back to modern filters...
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tailwaggers
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Joined: August 31, 2009
Posts: 270
Location: Silver Spring, MD
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| Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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| northernbus77 wrote: |
| Lingwendil wrote: |
On my aircleaner, there seems to be a cutout on the side for something else, in the middle of the panel, not the edge. it is a very clean, factory looking edge, any ideas? my other is not like this. It's the 70' style. heres where the cutout is:
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I have the same hole in mine. I think its for a temperature contolled mechinism for the pre heat flap. I am new to oil bath filters so I would also like to find out for sure so I can find this bit and get the pre heat flap working again.
Hopefully someone can confirm. and maybe a source for the part.... |
I am fixing up a 1971 oil bath air cleaner for my beetle. Here is a picture of the hole you are talking about.
And here is the wax thermostat in the plastic piece that goes in that hole, plus a NOS replacement thermostat I bought from German Supply.
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webwalker 
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Joined: January 26, 2006
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Location: Mount Laurel, NJ
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Zundfolge1432
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Joined: June 13, 2004
Posts: 12467
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 8:43 am Post subject: |
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| Hellaslow wrote: |
| i was told by a oldschool vdubber to clean mine with some gas... worked great... |
Anybody using or reccomending gasoline as a cleaning fluid is an idiot because of the safety, toxicity concerns ....... Best choice find someone that has a parts washer tank and use that , Safety Klean, Crystal Klean etc... Second choice mineral spirirts available at WalmartThird choice simple green or citrus cleaner forth choice kerosene or diesel |
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tailwaggers
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Joined: August 31, 2009
Posts: 270
Location: Silver Spring, MD
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 1:45 pm Post subject: |
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I just cleaned one with a pound of TSP (as recommended above) and four bucketfuls of hot water. Each time through I soaked it and then repeatedly dunked it, and it seemed to do the job. Certainly safe for the paint.
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lupin..the..3rd
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Joined: December 28, 2009
Posts: 1800
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 2:00 pm Post subject: |
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I used Marvel Mystery Oil to clean mine. Bought the large size bottle. Poured it into a large zip-lock bag, along with the air cleaner top. Let it soak for a while, shook it around a bit, let it soak some more. The MMO turned from light red, to BLACK, so it apparently cleaned quite a bit of crud out of there.
I took the filter out, let it drip dry for the afternoon, then put it back in the car. Worked great. MMO dries to a moist sticky film, just like kero does. |
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raygreenwood
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Joined: November 24, 2008
Posts: 21512
Location: Oklahoma City
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 2:03 pm Post subject: |
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| tailwaggers wrote: |
| I just cleaned one with a pound of TSP (as recommended above) and four bucketfuls of hot water. Each time through I soaked it and then repeatedly dunked it, and it seemed to do the job. Certainly safe for the paint. |
Actaully its not safe for paint. Its a caustic...and will eventually attack the paint.
Simple Kerosene works the best with no damage.
Also...as for the exerpt from tehe article about oil barth air-cleaners being superior to pleated....that is incorrect. Or...only partically correct.
All oil bath air cleaners...are always more restrictive than pleated filters for airflow because of the directional changes. The turbulence created by air directional changes is precisely why they actually DO filter better than the "average" pleated filter. The only reason they do not overly restrict our engines is because our oil bath filters are quite a bit oversized for each engine application that they go onto. This is partly why there are so many sizes and designs of oil bath filters for VW's.
When you go up too much in displacement on a given vehicle.....the stock oil bath air cleaner quickly becomes a restriction.
I have airflow numbers between pleated and oil bath on my car that shows just how much restriction there is. I can't remember if I postedthem on this air cleaner thread or another.
Great filters....but not invincible or perfect. I hate to see people building myths about the perfection of oil bath air cleaners. They have to be properly engineered and sized...and have issues still just like everything else.
Also...for the record...there are modern pleated filters that beat the pants off of oil bath....but just like the oil bat...they are restrictive as they filter better. The result is that you end up with a pleated filter as big as a house to flow enough.
You find pleated filters like these on some industrial equipment. Ray |
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vridaw
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Joined: May 31, 2010
Posts: 55
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| Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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Stupid question:
Is it alright if I clean it with Mineral Spirits instead of kerosene, as I don't have any kerosene. |
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Randy in Maine
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Joined: August 03, 2003
Posts: 34890
Location: The Beach
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| Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 3:06 am Post subject: |
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That will be OK. You are just looking for a grease cutting solvent.
The Castrol "purple" solvent will also do a decent job. Really hot water helps. |
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tundrawolf
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Joined: February 24, 2009
Posts: 1384
Location: RIP Mishomi my friend. I will always love you.
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| Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 7:13 pm Post subject: |
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| How does one remove the coconut hair? |
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lupin..the..3rd
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Joined: December 28, 2009
Posts: 1800
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| Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 8:30 pm Post subject: |
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| tundrawolf wrote: |
| How does one remove the coconut hair? |
I have no idea. I don't think you're supposed to. I just soaked the entire top assembly. |
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jlex
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Joined: January 23, 2009
Posts: 2902
Location: NW Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 8:15 am Post subject: |
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| adams77 wrote: |
| Anyone know where to get the replacement coconut hair for the oil baths? I am running without any right now. |
WalMart....
I was in their garden shop the other day & happened to notice that they sell a line of outdoor plant baskets that are lined with the stuff... check it out!
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jlex.
'70 std. "Elsie"
'88 Carrera |
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christiancarpenter
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Joined: June 08, 2010
Posts: 192
Location: edmond, ok
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| Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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| this seems as close a place to ask this as possible. my air filter assembly isn't stock but rather the small round baha filter from the po. i'm working on the fuel cannister problem now and wondering if i can use the vacuum port for that rather than the oil breather line. or rather if that is unclear, should i just have a breather on the oil line if i don't have an oil bath air filter box? and if so, should my fuel cannister line go into the vacuum port on the baha filter housing? sorry, can't find what i'm looking for. |
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Aussiebug
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Joined: June 03, 2002
Posts: 2162
Location: Adelaide Australia
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| Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 4:19 am Post subject: |
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Don't know if this answers your question exactly, but the VW crankcase has positive crankcase ventilation...there is a spiral groove on the crankshaft and slots behind the engine pulley which pull air into the crankcase. You need a breather pipe up to the air cleaner so those fumes can go back into the engine for re-burning. If the breather is left open you'll get oil fumes all over the engine bay.
That's one of the faults of the aftermarket air cleaners - usually no attachment point for the sump breather tube.
As alluded to above, the other feature missing from most aftermarket cleaners is the 3" ram tube which is built in to the oil bath cleaners (and the VW paper cleaner from 73 onwards) - this smooths the airflow as it enters the carb for better mixture control.
As noted in the above posts, the oil bath air cleaners are very good at their job. The small round ones are OK for the 1200 engine but the 1300/1500/1600 should have the larger oval version - less restrictive airflow.
The small round ones hold 250cc of any engine oil. The oval version holds 400cc of engine oil. It can be as cheap an engine oil as you like - it's there to catch dust, not lubricate anything.
And when cleaning them, you don't need to worry about leaving anything "sticky" on the coconut fibre upper half - in use there is always a little oil splashing going on in the air cleaner and so the fibre gets coated with the oil from the bottom anyway, and that catches any dust which avoids the oil in the base. Part of the job of the fibre is to catch any oil splash before it gets into the carb.
The twin inlet oval cleaner shown in the pics above is the 68 version. In most countries it had a wire-pull device working the warm air flap system. The wire looped down to the right side flap mechanism inside the shroud (a small crank poked through the tinware), so the air cleaner got air from the right cylinder bank until it warmed up and the flaps opened, which then pulled the wire and switched to cold air intake. Other methods of operating the flap may have been used in other countries.
With the two-inlet 68 air cleaner, the left inlet is normally shut and only opens via a weighted flap when the airflow is high. It is always a cold air inlet.
The pull-wire system was also used on the 69, 70 and 71 cars with the oval oil bath air cleaner (one larger inlet on the right side).
Then in 72 they changed the flap actuator to a vacuum/temp device. A vacuum line runs from the inlet manifold under the carb, up to a temp switch in the top of the air cleaner, with a second vacuum line to the actuator mechanism in the air inlet. This allows for partial opening - the air inlet flap is set by the temp of the inlet air inside the air cleaner. It's not just a hot or cold air feed, it can be mixed.
This system is also used on the 73+ cars with the paper air cleaner.
Hope that helps those trying to understand the VW air cleaner system.
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