Oil Bath Air Cleaner?
 

How does the factory oil bath air cleaner work? Is there a element that you soak with oil, or is there a pool of oil as the name might imply?

Just wondering, I've heard of these and have a chance to buy one, but don't know what I'd be up against if trying to buy filter elements for it.

Re: Oil Bath Air Cleaner?
 

My 69 had one on it when I bought it. It had a wire mesh type filter media. You put oil in the bottom of it. Seems there was a mark that told you how much. Wasn't much oil in the bottom of it. Not exactly sure how it worked. I think they were designed to be used in dusty farming environments.

Re: Oil Bath Air Cleaner?
 

They actually work better than paper elements do. That's the reason heavy, demanding applications used them more.

Most folks couldn't be bothered with messing with the dirty old things, so paper is the rule now.

I'd certainly run one if I had one.

Re: Oil Bath Air Cleaner?
 

I didn't know I had one till I took a look to see how dirty the filter was ....or if it had on at all. It was a suprise.
Here it is.....
http://images.snapfish.com/345628552...A6463546ot1lsi

Re: Oil Bath Air Cleaner?
 

I don't know why anyone would want one, unless you're operating a vehicle in a dusty environment. Before the advent of paper filters, it was all there was. There was a portion, usually the top of the assembly, that had excelsior in it. The oil would impregnate the excelsior and it would trap the dirt and dust. It had to be serviced, usually at every oil change if you took the vehicle to a service station. Back then, all of them were full service stations, and that was just part of the "lube, oil and filter" routine. When the air cleaner was serviced, the entire unit would be checked and oil would be added to the cleaner housing to bring it up to the level that was shown. The base of the air cleaner, attached to the carburetor venturi flange, with the top of the air cleaner being held on by the wing nut on top of the stem from the top of the carburetor.

If you are into restoration, you might want one, but honestly, I know of no other reason. But, you gotta know that there was a lot of doubt about the ability of a paper filter to properly clean the air going into an engine, when they came out. Nowadays, we impregnate the cotton filter media of our K&N filters and it cleans the air beautifully for 50K miles!!

Re: Oil Bath Air Cleaner?
 

If you cornered too hard the oil would spill out over the engine. That's why the hot rodders of the day started lookin for some other solution and they come up with dry paper element.

Re: Oil Bath Air Cleaner?
 

I'll agree with everything said here except...

Might want to do some research by some one other than K&N on that...it simply isn't true.

Re: Oil Bath Air Cleaner?
 

The bad thing is that they're hard to find for 4bbl carbs. I've been trying to find one for my truck. There's one on the 1953 Buick Roadmaster that my Dad has, the engine is the original Nail-Head 322 V8 with a 4bbl Stromberg carb.

Re: Oil Bath Air Cleaner?
 

Thanks for all the info, I didn't realize that I knew so little about the history of air filters... I was looking for a air filter housing for a straight 6 with power brakes and came across this. Long term, if I do everything I want to with this truck, the oil bath cleaner wouldn't be practical.

For day to day operation, I was hoping having the heat riser on the air filter housing would help with cold weather driveability with this 1 bbl carb. That'd be the only reason to pursue this now it looks like. Right now, I've got a chrome jobber on there with a tall paper filter and in cold weather it runs about as good as any carbed engine ever has. Kind of sluggish and slow to respond to the accelerator.

Re: Oil Bath Air Cleaner?
 

OIL bath I have one on my 41 chevy big 1 barrel

Re: Oil Bath Air Cleaner?
 

Engine rebuilders loved oil bath air cleaners. Engine rings usually wore out within 75,000 miles. That all changed when the pleated paper element was introduced.

Re: Oil Bath Air Cleaner?
 

Oil baths did an excellent job of filtering if you kept oil in them. Had one in my 52 when I bought it. My biggest problem was bouncing the oil out going over bumps. When I swapped engines I put on a paper filter.

I always took off the hot air ducting on my trucks. The sheet metal on the exhaust manifold would make a hot spot, more prone to cracking. It was put on to help with pollutants when cold, but I never could tell the difference. If your truck is sluggish on acceleration check the accelerator pump in the carb, they were a problem with the Rochesters.

Re: Oil Bath Air Cleaner?
 

[QUOTE=Fred T]Oil baths did an excellent job of filtering if you kept oil in them. Had one in my 52 when I bought it. My biggest problem was bouncing the oil out going over bumps. QUOTE]

If you order the research paper "Ingested Dust, Filters, and Diesel Engine Ring Wear" published by the Society of Automotive Engineers publication #680536 available at: http://www.sae.org/servlets/productD...PROD_CD, you'll never allow any oil bath air cleaner to be installed on ANY engine you own - even a Briggs & Stratton.