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  View original topic: Oil strainer won't fit on Brazilian pickup
mcjweller Mon May 19, 2025 8:00 am

Hello,

Building a 1776 motor starting with a brand new Autolinea AS41 dual relief case. I'm reusing oil strainer and cover as they were new. I assume the strainer was a "universal" fit as it has a spring loaded screen.

The old case was a 1970 dual relief case. Oil strainer fits it well. On the new case, there is a "bulge" inside the pickup (see photo with red circled area, compared to the 1970 case (no bulge) which prevents the strainer from sitting and makes it proud about 3/16" from the case. Also, the pickup tube itself ends 10mm from the bottom edge of the case, it was 12mm on the old one (meaning if the strainer could sit down, there would be almost no gap at all between the end of the tube and the bottom of the strainer.

Despite the screen being spring loaded, the "tower" the screen and the spring ride on is not. Its is a fixed height and interferes.

Clearly, a different strainer is needed. As there are a few variations, any suggestions?




SGKent Mon May 19, 2025 10:46 am

I've seen strainers that are poorly made and too tall

jeffrey8164 Mon May 19, 2025 1:50 pm

The Brazilian pick up tubes are notorious for being poorly made and mis-aligned.
Do you still have your old OG one? If so, I’d use it.

Glenn Mon May 19, 2025 2:15 pm

jeffrey8164 wrote: The Brazilian pick up tubes are notorious for being poorly made and mis-aligned.
Do you still have your old OG one? If so, I’d use it.
It's a bit late since the case is sealed.

mcjweller Mon May 19, 2025 3:10 pm

Yep..case is sealed. BUT, I'm not above ripping it all apart again if needed.

Option two could be to modify the screen to accommodate that raised area...if possible.

I wish I had a variety of screens, I would check them for height and see if there are variances. My guess is that there are, but without knowing them it would be hard to know what other screen to buy.

We're talking about 3/16" of an inch at the end of the day...but enough that the screen will not sit on the gasket surface (not even if you try to force it...which is usually a bad idea).

Glenn Mon May 19, 2025 3:11 pm

You could not use the screen, many delete it, but I wouldn't.

67rustavenger Mon May 19, 2025 4:44 pm

Glenn wrote: You could not use the screen, many delete it, but I wouldn't.
I agree.
This happened after an oil screen delete.


A chunk of head valve guide boss that collapsed, made it into the oil pump. :twisted:
I'll never do that again!

oprn Tue May 20, 2025 5:34 am

Unless you are 100% positive nothing in that engine will ever chip, crack or flake including the valve cover gaskets and nothing will never, ever drop in the oil filler hole when you add oil... use a screen!

risk Tue May 20, 2025 6:23 am

Kitchen sink screen can be made to work.

https://shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=146663&hilit=kitchen

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mesh-Sink-Strainer/3807...mp;veh=sem


slayer61 Tue May 20, 2025 7:00 am

Am I the only one that has seen a bent and mangled screen?

mcjweller Tue May 20, 2025 7:28 am

Although I am running an external filter, running it without the screen is a non-starter for me for all the reasons others have listed.

So it looks like my options are:

re-split the case and swap the pickup for a stock VW unit (will require drilling and tapping the plug at the end of the pickup tube, and a full clean out & flush of the case to get rid of debris)

Find a "shorter" strainer that works...if they exist

Modify the top tower of a strainer to accommodate the irregularity causing the problem...and the screen would need to be indexed and
clocked for ever after in terms of installation.

I'm going to try modifying a screen and see where that gets me...

calvinater Tue May 20, 2025 1:46 pm

Always modify the least expensive part.

mcjweller Wed May 21, 2025 6:43 pm

Well, I made an executive decision (well, 2 actually...)

1st, I decided to unseal the case, clean it up and start over. Several reasons, I wasn't 100% happy with how it was going. I learned a long time ago if the build isn't going right, stop, backup and reassess.

But that freed up the 2nd decision, which was to yank that Brazil/Autolinea pickup out of there and swap it with the OEM pickup from the old 1970 case.

I'm glad I did. Quality is night and day, the OEM is a larger diameter (it will flow more), and I will be able to run a strainer without any problems.

I took pics for anyone interested. Autolinea/Brazil on the left, VW OEM on the right.








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