Gulf Coast Bypass Filter

[ssmokn]

I was checking out some bypass filters on the web and the Gulf Coast 01-JR (single roll of TP for a filter) looks like an interesting setup.

I was thinking of putting one on my 4.6L Ford (Crown Vic) as an experiment. I don't drive the miles to justify one (maybe 20K or so per year but I have more than one vehicle) but I'm curious to see what these things do.

The biggest problem I have with bypass filters is the installations alway seem jury-rigged. Oil flow is important and having hoses running all over is not good in my opinion. For inlet to the filter Gulf Coast recommends tee-ing off the oil pressure switch mount. This seems reasonable to me. For the return they expect you to punch a hole in your oil pan and use a self threading bolt. That is ridiculous. If something goes wrong your screwed and you must pull the motor to change the pan or try to weld it on the vehicle.

Is there a better return location on the 4.6L block. Maybe an unused tapped plug or something.

This is why I have never used them in the past. Some of the Amsoil systems return via the oil filler cap. In my opinion this is jury-rigged too but way smarter than punching a hole in the oil pan.

How about some input from you guys that use these things on something other than an 18-wheeler

 

[deepsquat]

I use a universal sandwich adapter on mine about 25$$ draws oil from the oil filter plate and returns it there...no fuse no muse

 

[ssmokn]

Ya, I also have a '97 F350 Powerstroke. That is one easy setup for a bypass. My Crown Vic is my "experimental" vehicle.

There is no room for a sandwich adapter on the oil filter. I actually have to turn the steering wheel right to make room to remove the OEM filter.

Maybe Ralph or one of the other individuals selling these units will have some ideas for the 4.6L Ford. The valve cover makes more sense to me than the oil pan. It just freaks me out to punch a hole in the pan and screw a self tapping bolt into thin sheet metal. Some of the pans have inner reinforcement panels spot welded for rigidity. What if you hit one of these in the wrong place

 

[RalphPWood]

SSMoken,

The best way I have found to hook up a bypass filter is with a PermaCool sandwich adapter. I have a Motor Guard submicronic bypass filter on my Subaru Legacy using a PermaCool sandwich adapter 771-189 universal adapter from www.jegs.com. These adapters make all of the oil from the Motor Guard go through the stock full flow before entering the engine. The 771-181 Ford and the 771-189 will both take a Ford filter. These two adapters both have built in bypass valves which makes the oil flow nicely. The Chevy V8 771-185 doesn't have a built in bypass valve so the adapter converts the engine to a straight bypass system. The only oil getting to the full flow filter is what is coming from the Motor Guard. The bypass valve in the filter mount stays open. Gulf Coast doesn't like for me to use the adapters with their 0-1 jr filters. That is not a problem for me. I brought back my favorite little filter to use with the PermaCool adapters. My Camry has too small a mount for the PermaCool adapter. The Camry has the same threads as a Ford but the gasket is 2 1/2"OD. The standard size Ford filter is 2 3/4"OD. Older Toyotas used the same gasket size as a Ford. I will be putting a V-8 Chevy adapter on a Detroit 8.2 litre engine but I will drill the adapter. The Detroit has the same size filters as the Chevy V8 or Dura Max diesel. The Detroit has 2 filters. The big FL-1A Motor Craft hung a little low on the Legacy so I used a FL-300 MotorCraft.
The little Motor Guard M-30 has put me in the red. I had to have internal parts made by a CNC machine shop to adapt it to 1 5/8 ID T.P.. I replaced the polypropylene parts with Delrin. The Motor Guard M-30 is the easiest to service of any filter I've dealt with. My web site has some pictures that might be of some use to you.
J.C. Whitney and Summit Racing also have the adapters. They are ordinarily used for oil coolers or high volume full flow filters. The bypass valve is in case you get a restriction in the cooler etc. Filters that clean oil are always a restriction. The oil always has to have another way to get to the engine. The bypass valve is fool proof. It is a ball with a spring under it. It's a master piece of simplicity.

Ralph

 

[ssmokn]

Ralph,

Some good info. here but your also confusing the hell out of me

It doesn't take much.

I think your recommendation is a Permacool adapter to a Motor Guard canister that you modify. I'm open to ideas and I would be interested in purchasing from you.

I need to look at the 4.6L in my '99 Crown Vi because I wonder if the steering linkage would be an issue. I'll check out your site for pics and info. Thanks.

 

[ssmokn]

I looked at your website and Permacool.

If I can get this to work this would be preferable to me rather than punching a hole in the oil pan.

My 4.6L has an M22x1.5 thread which would require the Permacool 188 adapter. This motor takes the Motorcraft FL820S filter.

 

[RalphPWood]

PermaCool has several sandwich adapters I'm not familiar with. The universal model 189 has bushings to make the adapter fit the mount then you use a filter with 3/4 - 16 Ford threads on the adapter. The Frantz filter company had a similar sandwich adapter. I'm not sure if they make them now.
The self tapping hollow bolt works very well. The Gulf Coast hollow bolt comes with a shoulder punch so that you won't punch the hole too large. The flared hole is very strong. You tighten the self tapping hollow bolt until the rubber gasket makes a seal. When you remove the filter you screw a 1/8" pipe plug in and purchase a new self tapping hollow bolt. These things have been used a long time. I crawled up under a Ford Ranger "Splash" once. It was a V 6 with an aluminum oil pan. I punched the valve cover next to the fill cap where I could be sure I wasn't interfering with the valves and the oil had an easy path through the head. After 39 years I've made mistakes like returning the oil where it could be pulled into the intake through the crankcase ventilation or where a leaky valve seal could pull the oil into a cylinder. On my Camry I drilled a hole in the plastic fill cap. I pushed a 1/4" barbed hose fitting up through the hole and pushed the hose down on it then put a clamp on it. There are a lot of choices. I've used sandwich adapters for 20 years. They are nice to have for some installations.
I punched a hole in a Volvo oil pan once. It was a very tough oil pan and there wasn't much room. Then I spent the rest of the day looking for an adapter for the oil pressure switch. The switch had parallel threads with a copper gasket. Then to add insult the oil pan gasket started leaking because of punching the hole. If I had had a PermaCool adapter or a Frantz filter company sandwich adapter I would have been out of there in an hour. The Volvo would have taken the 771-181 3/4 - 16 adapter or the Frantz 1750 sandwich adapter. I had Frantz adapters at home.
I set up the new Motor Guard to filter from the bottom up lke the old ones. No spillage. The Motor Guard is designed to not leak compressed air. It is high precision. The people that really like them are boaters. I sent some to a group of boaters. They like the PermaCool adapters. The leader of the group is a marine diesel mechanic. He installed two Motor Guards on his diesel engine in parallel with the PermaCool universal adapter. He also installed one Motor Guard on the transmission.
Gulf Coast uses the big 500 HP diesel filters the same way. A 1,000 HP diesel engine takes 4 rolls of Bounty big roll paper towels. One marine fleet in Louisiana uses up to 1000 rolls of Bounty big roll towels a week. Oil field work boats. The big engines don't need self tapping hollow bolts. They are set up for bypass filters. Ford Powerstrokes don't need adapters or holes punched.
Motor Guard went by crankcase capacity; one filter for up to 12 qts; two for 12 to 24 qts and four for over 24 qts.

Ralph

 

[msparks]

quote:

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Originally posted by ssmokn:
Ralph,

Some good info. here but your also confusing the hell out of me

It doesn't take much.

I think your recommendation is a Permacool adapter to a Motor Guard canister that you modify. I'm open to ideas and I would be interested in purchasing from you.

I need to look at the 4.6L in my '99 Crown Vi because I wonder if the steering linkage would be an issue. I'll check out your site for pics and info. Thanks.

---

You can use a hollow drain plug, that should work. Buy a spare one and have a good machinist tap a whole in the drain plug. Then you can use a swival type fitting, and run your return line from the By-pass to the drain plug. This is what I plan to do.

Good luck.

 

[ssmokn]

Lot's of great discussion here. I'm going to give you a call Ralph. Hopefully I can figure something out that will work for me and I'll pickup the hardware from you.

I love the idea of the sandwich filter adapter but it is not going to work for me. There just is not enough room. The 4.6L Ford has the filter mounted horizontally to the front of the block. My car is a police car which also has the cooler lines attached here which makes everything more bulky. There is tight clearance around the filter AND there is only about 1" or less beetween the bottom of the filter and the steering.

I'm not going to punch a whole in the oil pan. Too risky in my opinon. If I have a problem the motor has to be pulled to get the pan down. The valve covers I think are plastic and they are pretty thin. They don't seem like the best solution either.

I could do the oil cap. I never liked that solution but it does make sense since replacing the oil cap is a quick and cheap proposition.

A hollow drain plug would also work. I use a Superplug magnetic drain plug but if I went back to stock plug that is an option. A couple of my good friends are machinists and drilling/tapping a plug would be no problem.

Even mounting the filter housing is going to be a challenge. The inner fender liners on this car are plastic. Nice since they last but makes it tough to mount stuff. I'll look around. There is a lot of room behind the grill in front of the radiator. That might be an option if I can run the lines safely but the radiator and supports.

I also have to check out the pressure sender. On the standard Crown Vic they are screwed in to the filter adapter housing. On the police Vic with the cooler setup, the sender is moved. I'm not sure where since the manuals don't call it out. I need to take another look under the hood.

In the service manual they show a pipe plug between two cylinders in the block that I think is part of the oiling system. That could also be a nice feed line location if the exhuast manifolds aren't in the way.

Thanks again for sharing information here. It is helping me a lot and giving me ideas.

 

[Lightman]

I have the oilguard system installed in my tdi diesel, and have the return line going to the valve cover. The valve cover was thickest/strongest by the oil filler cap, so we installed the fitting there. No problems/leaks in 27k with the oilguard installed.

 

[alexiskai]

quote:

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Originally posted by Lightman:
I have the oilguard system installed in my tdi diesel, and have the return line going to the valve cover. The valve cover was thickest/strongest by the oil filler cap, so we installed the fitting there. No problems/leaks in 27k with the oilguard installed.

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I have the same one and did the same thing. Seems to work fine - no leaks ever since I tightened things down a little more.

 

[Eiron]

ssmokn,
Did you ever come up with a solution on this?

I was thinking I could put a return fitting in the side of my filler tube, & secure a locknut inside the tube with some of that LocTite which requires a torch to remove (is that the red stuff?). That way, I could monitor the flow with the cap off, & if I ever wanted to remove the system all I'd have to do is plug the fitting.

 

[ssmokn]

quote:

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Originally posted by Greg Netzner:
ssmokn,
Did you ever come up with a solution on this?

I was thinking I could put a return fitting in the side of my filler tube, & secure a locknut inside the tube with some of that LocTite which requires a torch to remove (is that the red stuff?). That way, I could monitor the flow with the cap off, & if I ever wanted to remove the system all I'd have to do is plug the fitting.

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I haven't come up with a solution yet. I did order a Permacool sandwich adapter from Summit. It was backordered for over a month but just came in via UPS a couple of days ago. I was looking at the adapter and now I'm really confused. I don't think this adapter will work because the way it is plumbed it would be sending all the oil through the bypass filter (the adapter is meant for an oil cooler) before any gets to the full flow filter.

I don't think I have room for this but I figured I would investigate the options a little at my next oil change.

I'm slowly thinking this through and I need to call Ralph but I wanted to get a good look at the sandwich adapter first. Now I don't think this adapter will work.

I really do want to come up with a solid solution. I'm convinced that bypass filtration is a very positive solution to keep my oil clean.

 

[RalphPWood]

SSmokn,
If the PermaCool adapter is for a car that has the bypass valve in the filter the adapter will have a built in bypass valve. If the adapter is for a car that has the bypass valve in the block it will have no bypass valve.
I get mine from www.jegs.com. The Ford 3/4-16 thread is #171-181. The universal adapter 771-189. These both have the bypass valve. It is a little steel ball with a spring behind it. There are two ways to get oil to the full flow filter through the Motor Guard and through the bypass valve. If you use an adapter with no bypass valve the bypass valve in the block will stay open. The oil will still get to the engine but it won't be filtered.
Back in the 60's the Frantz filter company and Motor Guard filter company both had adapters to eliminate the almost useless full flow filter. I will really get you confused. I just installed a Motor Guard ATF filter on my engine oil with the PermaCool universal adapter. The ATF Motor Guard has a 1/8" element bypass. For cold weather the extra stream of oil is heating up the filter. In hot weather the extra oil flow will work good with a cooler. The ATF filter won't work without the adapter on motor oil. The ATF filter can only be used with the PermaCool adapter or for ATF.

Ralph

 

[ssmokn]

Ralph,

Your last post really confused me. I have no idea what you were trying to say and I read the post several times.

The permacool 188 that I purchased is an M22-1.5 thread that bolts the adapter to the block. Then it converts to a 3/4-16 for the new filter.

There is a bypass ball and spring in the sandwich adapter.

If I installed the adapter and plumbed it to a bypass filter all of the oil would be trying to go through the bypass filter before it reaches the full flow filter.

Are you saying that the bypass is the mechanism for the oil to get to the full flow? I'm missing something here.

Thanks.

 

[RalphPWood]

SS mokn,
When the engine is running the pressure relief will be open. The oil is going both through the relief valve and the Motor Guard M-30. You are right. Most of the oil is going through the pressure relief valve because the resistance of the oil going thru the Motor Guard is too great for the pressure relief to stay closed. If you had a partially plugged oil cooler the relief valve would also be open. The oil pump has no problem pushing the relief valve open.
If you removed the Motor Guard or oil cooler and put pipe plugs in the adapter the oil would do the same thing. It would push open the relief valve. The oil would flow through the full flow filter to the engine. These adapters are fool proof. The oil will get to the engine. If the adapter has no relief valve the engine must have a relief valve for the oil pump to push open some where else. On many GM cars it will be the pressure relief in the filter landing.
I just put a 181 PermaCool adapter on a Dodge truch today 350 engine. I used the Motor Guard M-30 ATF filter with the adapter. The ATF filter will heat up a lot faster in cold weather. He uses Pennzoil 30 wt oil. Filters that clean oil take as long time to heat up in cold weather. For Alaska use we used heaters in the old days.
If you have an oil presssure gauge you know everything is working when the oil pressure gauge looks good and the Motor Guard gets hot. I've used sandwich adapters for over 20 years. They are as natural to me as tying my shoes. I used 1/4" 10 hose today. If I had used the filter with an oil cooler I would have used 1/2 ID hose like PermaCool recommends.
J.C.Whitney calls the adapters oil cooler and remote filter adapters. Motor Guard is a remote filter.

Ralph

 

[Tommy]

Wow, all that for a bypass filter installation!

I subscribe to the "keep it simple" philosophy. The valve cover is the easiest dumping point - a bulhead fitting can be used here even with a plastic cover. I would recommend using a very flexible line (non wire-braid) from the filter to the valve cover so that the line cannot torque on the fitting. Remember, there is no pressure here providing the orifice is at the filter head. Someone also mentioned dumping into the filler tube - good idea. I have done this on an industrial transmission application with no problems.

 

[RalphPWood]

Tommy,
I've been at it for 40 years. I've done it about every way you can imagine. Returning the oil to the valve cover usually works OK. Somtimes it doesn't. Sometimes the oil will get pulled into a leaky valve seal. Sometimes the oil will be pulled into the crakcase ventilation system or sometimes a rod journal will throw the oil up into a cylinder. Ordinarily there is so much oil flying around in an overhead cam engine a little more won't hurt. Actually the Motor Guard submicronic bypass filter with a PermaCool adapter will out filter any other bypass filter. The adapter lowers the stress on the element. That's why two full flow filters will work better than one. You have lowered the stress on the elements.
The Motor Guard is fed by the resistance of the oil flowing through the relief valve. We learned many years ago about sandwich adapters. There are other ways to lower the stress on filter elements. Smaller orifices and multiple filters. I have a few Frantz sandwich adapters left. Frantz called them dual filtration adapters. Mazda used a very small orifice on their bypass filters on the Ford Escort diesel engine .035 approx. Most submicronic filters use approx. .060.
You could use a PermaCool dual remote filter mount and install an orifice at the inlet. Then feed it with a PermaCool sandwich adapter. It wouldn't be submicronic but it would be a lot better than the high volume full flow filter. It would greatly extend the life of the engine.
When I send someone a Motor Guard filter I have to think about the time I returned the oil to the valve cover on a Peugeot diesel. The engine ran away. It was running on motor oil. I had to stuff my jacket into the air intake to kill it. What if it had been a customer?

Ralph

 

[Tommy]

quote:

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When I send someone a Motor Guard filter I have to think about the time I returned the oil to the valve cover on a Peugeot diesel. The engine ran away. It was running on motor oil. I had to stuff my jacket into the air intake to kill it. What if it had been a customer?

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Can you please explain to me the specifics of a Motor Guard installation? Do you have a diagram? How much flow was being sent back to the Peugeot valve cover - was it bypass flow only? Thanks Ralph - this is interesting stuff!

 

[SteveD2]

quote:

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Originally posted by RalphPWood:

.....
When I send someone a Motor Guard filter I have to think about the time I returned the oil to the valve cover on a Peugeot diesel. The engine ran away. It was running on motor oil. I had to stuff my jacket into the air intake to kill it. What if it had been a customer?

Ralph

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Valve cover on that Peugeot?...I'm not sure. Somehow your filter return oil got into the air intake system and was fuel for that diesel.

Ken