Easy method to upgrade early bay aircleaner

[ccowx]

I know you are being friendly with that last post, but curious, do you mean you don't think it will be less restrictive than stock? If so, I guess it just comes down to your feelings about an oiled cloth filter vs oil bath. Until someone chimes in with some scientific data, I guess we'll never know!

Chris

PS: My definition of quick and dirty in this case is as simple and easy to do with as few tools and parts to be bought as possible.

[blue72beetle]

I'm building a Megasquirt fuel injected 1776 for my bus, and I wanted to keep the look of an oil bath air filter, but wanted to have a paper element in it somehow. Thanks for posting this, exactly what I'm looking for.
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-Andy-
-1970 Ghia-
-1971 Bus 1776 Microsquirt EFI-

[mikedjames]

I think the key part is chopping the nose of the air cleaner, regardless of the contents.

I run an oil bath with a chopped off nose on a 1641. I see about 50mB or 1.5" pressure drop between ambient and the manifold below the carburettor at WOT.
(checked with a MAP sensor , engine stopped vs engine WOT)
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Ancient vehicles and vessels

1974 VW T2 : Devon Eurovette camper with 1641 DP T1 engine, Progressive carb, full flow oil cooler, EDIS crank timed ignition.
Engine 1: 40k miles (rocker shaft clip fell off), Engine 2: 30k miles (rebuild, dropped valve). Engine 3: a JK Preservation Parts "new" engine, aluminium case: 26k miles: new top end.
Gearbox rebuild 2021 by Bears.

1979 Westerly GK24 24 foot racer/cruiser yacht Forethought of Gosport.
1973 wooden Pacer sailing dinghy

[bnam]

I run oil bath on both my cars but one downside I’ve observed is that it is top heavy. On rough roads we have occasionally deal with - the top heavy filter puts a lot of stress on the mounting. In 2019, on my way back from Goa on a 1600 km round trip, the additional mounting bracket on the filter (in my 71) broke and the loosened filter was moving around and damaged the inside of the decklid (the backside of the vents).

I welded back the bracket and right now am back in Goa on another similar trip. The bracket has held up so far but I did see oil leak out along the nose as it got splashed around a lot.

The paper filter inside type mod may lighten the load while maintaining the look.
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1971 1302LS Convertible (RHD) owned since '74
Click to view image
1965 Karmann Ghia Coupe - under restoration
1966 Fiat 1500 Cabrio (with 1600 Twin cam)
1952 Citroen TA 11BL

[EVfun]

[oprn]

Part of the economy of the oil bath air cleaner was that you didn't need to buy oil for the air cleaner. You just used a bit of the used oil that came out of the engine.

I too would question the ability of the K&N element to clean the air properly. They are known for thier low restriction not their ability to clean the air. I would hesitate to use one myself as I do drive on dusty gravel roads. A good friend of mine was advised to go with a K&N conversion on his Dodge Cummins for the extra power. He had to replace the engine way before it should have been replaced. His mechanic told him the air filter was the cause. He is a veterinarian and drives the back roads every day.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[Paul.H]

[EVfun]

[chrisflstf]

Here is what I did. Cut the end off and added a K/N RA 510

https://www.knfilters.com/ra-0510-universal-clamp-on-air-filter

[EVfun]

That looks nice! Did you just cut off the stock oil bath clamp/flange or is the pipe length shortened too? I have considered that just to tuck the filter a little closer to the shroud.

The big cap distributor thing is cool in its own right. I'm guessing a CB Black Box for advance? I have a 40 horse distributor clamp, to stay out of the way of the 019 condenser. Not as cool, but I'll have two 40 horse parts on my engine soon.

I do have one question, for you or anyone who visits. What is the best way to clean inside the 40 horse Bus air cleaner pipe? There is no rust but over the years a fine coating of oil and a carbon-y film (technical term) have coated the inside.
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[Alstrup]

The way Christff did it works well too, and is to an extend easier to do. The reason I/we typically chose to gut the stock cleaner is mostly because people kinda like the - almost - stock look and also because we do live in a slightly colder enviroment where hot air supply to the intake is a good thing on early spring, or late fall days.
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https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=435993

[chrisflstf]

[EVfun]

Here is my approach to this. The K&N RG-1003RD-L filter has a 70mm inlet and comes with a couple of adapters for a smaller inlet. Since it has adapters the rubber base inside has a shoulder for them. The supplied adapters are not used (but are shown next to the filter.) That shoulder can rest on the bottom of the stock 40 horse Bus carburetor inlet air pipe. I just gently tighten the clamp and it pulls the filter tight so it cannot slip off or rotate. Nothing modified, though I am working on a custom coil bracket to support the filter elbow now. With an aftermarket 36 horse style fan shroud I cannot just borrow that stock part for my installation.

I'll get some pictures of it installed but for now my goal is to finish my support bracket and repaint that 40 horse Bus air filter elbow.
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[chrisflstf]

These are available to support the ac from the coil bracket holes

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2495278

You can get them alot cheaper than that, one of the bus guys was making them for sale

[EVfun]

[redundant so deleted]
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[EVfun]

I thought I would provide a bit of follow up. This is the K&N filter RG-1003RD-L mounted on an unmodified 40 horse VW Bus air filter elbow. The filter is wrapped with an Outerwears 20-1570 filter cover, mostly for looks with my purple buggy. The support bracket off the coil mount is custom made from aluminum because the coil is not mounted in exactly the stock position on the aftermarket fan shroud. The rest of the engine is basically a stock 1600 single port, with PICT 30-1 carb, 019 distributor, Dansk reproduction 1973 Thing exhaust, and a sand seal on the rear of the crank. The buggy body is visible to the right of the chassis. The velocity stack with Outerwears bootie that was previously installed on the stock carb is visible on the right rear corner of the aluminum gas tank.

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[oprn]

Looking great! You will be glad for that pre-filter as it will take the bulk of the abuse from your tire!

Let us know how your combo runs, the only thing I might change is a distributor with vacuum advance for better highway economy. Maybe you don't drive distances so it is irrelevant.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)