Oil bath air cleaner - questions and fixes..

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B

bazanaius

Member
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74
Location
UK
Hello All,

today I cleaned up my oil bath air cleaner and after getting all the mug and cruff off it, it wasn't black as I was expecting. It was bare metal (so a combination of shiny steel and surface rust).

What are people's thoughts on how to proceed? Painting it black with something like POR15 will probably protect it best, but is it better to keep the original finish (including rusty patina)? If so, I guess clear lacquer is an option but potentially that's not the best thing to use in an engine bay.

Thoughts?

Also - When taking the top off, the stud poking out of the top sheared off. Any thoughts on how to repair this? It seems a shame to get a whole new cleaner just for a stud. Current thoughts are to somehow drill and tap the (worryingly thin) shaft that's left behind, or get a new bit of stud welded on...

cheers,

B
 
If you lacquer over rust it will be just the same as painting over rust. Wont last very long. Retaining the patina or rot sounds fun but is hard work. The traditional way is wax. But you have to do it regularly.
Not sure I'm familiar with the bit you broke. A photo may help.
 
I am not sure which stud you are talking about either. would it be possible to post up a picture of the damage?

I thought the oil bath air filters were black, so it ma just have lost its paint over time and cleaning it removed what was left. I would repaint it black, It will definitely need something and the rust will need to be cleaned off and neutralised first..
 
This is the bit I've snapped off. Having taken a load of white spirit and a wire brush to it, it appears that it is a stud that is located in the top of the 'fins'. Can't move it for love nor money though, so grind and weld a new stud on seems to be the way forward.
GOPR0015_1521129482017_high.JPG


I will go for black, POR15 - I have started treating the rust with what I'm calling the 'evaporust nappy' solution; Kitchen roll soaked in evaporust and then sealed with cling film. See what 24hrs like that does for it! Evaporust is amazing so I have high expectations!

GOPR0044_1521129482017_high.JPG
GOPR0045_1521129482017_high.JPG
 
Bobsticle said:
Never seen one like that before. What’s it off
Click to expand...
As you say: that is a queer looking thing.
PS: thinking about that broken stud: is there enough left to tap a thread on it? Then you could screw a nut half on and screw another length of stud into it and lock it all together with a bit of weld - or does it fit too close to whatever is held on top of it and the nut would hold it all apart? Just a passing thought...

Edit: Just figured out what it's off: a series 1 centrifugal filter??
 
Last edited:
Hello all - I suspect my photos are just a bit misleading as I think its just a normal oil bath air cleaner. Slightly blurry photo from the operations manual, it looks exactly like this. NB photo was taken with part E removed.

GOPR0046_1521457319122_high.JPG

The other photos show it wrapped in clingfilm (and upside down) so don't take that as what it looks like! The only other thing is that I think it might be from a six pot as it has a straight outlet to the air intake.
 
Yes it looks exactly like that - the strap is the mount (part of the chassis/battery box). The vented part in the photo above has been taken off, below that is the stud and air inlet in my original photos.
 
rob1miles said:
Can you drill out the remains of the stud and braze / weld a bolt in?
Click to expand...
This stud is part of the vent below. You can't drill it out (it is actually the center piece of the fins below) but you can extend the broken bolt without welding:

Instead of welding, get a connector nut (elongated nut) in #10-24 thread size, cut it to the same length as the little spacer that was there (alternatively, cut about half the distance from the lower part of the filter to the bottom of the lid), cut the remaining part of the broken bolt that still attached to the filter to half of the spacer length, thread the connector nut on, take a #10-24 bolt and thread it on, put lid on, cut bolt as needed, put regular #10-24 nut on, and voila! I don't think the original thread size is #10-24, more likely a coarse British thread size, but the modern #10-24 thread fits nicely.
 
bazanaius said:
This is the bit I've snapped off. Having taken a load of white spirit and a wire brush to it, it appears that it is a stud that is located in the top of the 'fins'. Can't move it for love nor money though, so grind and weld a new stud on seems to be the way forward.
View attachment 144652

I will go for black, POR15 - I have started treating the rust with what I'm calling the 'evaporust nappy' solution; Kitchen roll soaked in evaporust and then sealed with cling film. See what 24hrs like that does for it! Evaporust is amazing so I have high expectations!

View attachment 144653 View attachment 144654
Click to expand...
 
bazanaius said:
This is the bit I've snapped off. Having taken a load of white spirit and a wire brush to it, it appears that it is a stud that is located in the top of the 'fins'. Can't move it for love nor money though, so grind and weld a new stud on seems to be the way forward.
View attachment 144652

I will go for black, POR15 - I have started treating the rust with what I'm calling the 'evaporust nappy' solution; Kitchen roll soaked in evaporust and then sealed with cling film. See what 24hrs like that does for it! Evaporust is amazing so I have high expectations!

View attachment 144653 View attachment 144654
Click to expand...
 
Slit disc down an inch or so on all four fins real close to the remains of the stud, weld new stud in, wire brush the casing and slap some black paint on it, the bottoms can rot out.
The oil bath filter is a great set up, I still run the original with my tdi.
 
lynall said:
Slit disc down an inch or so on all four fins real close to the remains of the stud, weld new stud in, wire brush the casing and slap some black paint on it, the bottoms can rot out.
The oil bath filter is a great set up, I still run the original with my tdi.
Click to expand...

Hope he got it fixed 4 years ago and is not heading out to garage to try the last 2 suggestions...
 
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