427 oil filter fill

[Owen L.]

Owen mentioned that he bought a reproduction stick from CC and it was 1/2” longer than his original.

Ken, the replacement piece I bought was a tube for my 454 car - the old one had gotten somewhat crushed at some stage of its life. My comment was only intended to relay the need to measure any replacement tube you got.

No idea if these pics will help or not. This is my original '67 427/390 tube and gauge. Overall it's 15" long with the flare right about 13.75". The bracket is about 1.25" from the top. The pic has a slight perspective error which makes it appear the tube is extending beyone the 1" and 16" marks — it's not. I could do a much more accurate measure if needed, just let me know.

IMG_1427.png IMG_1429.png

[Joe L.]

Ken, the replacement piece I bought was a tube for my 454 car - the old one had gotten somewhat crushed at some stage of its life. My comment was only intended to relay the need to measure any replacement tube you got.

No idea if these pics will help or not. This is my original '67 427/390 tube and gauge. Overall it's 15" long with the flare right about 13.75". The bracket is about 1.25" from the top. The pic has a slight perspective error which makes it appear the tube is extending beyone the 1" and 16" marks — it's not. I could do a much more accurate measure if needed, just let me know.

IMG_1427.png IMG_1429.png

Owen-----

It appears to me that these tubes measure just shy of 12" from the base of the bracket to the top of the flare. However, the measurement on the grid does not take into account the developed length of the tube between these 2 points. If possible, could you apply a piece of masking tape between the base of the bracket and the top of the flare running along the curvature? Then, remove the tape, apply the tape to a flat surface and measure its length. This will be the developed length.

[Owen L.]

I did my best, the tube has bends both horizontally and vertically, so I chose what appeared to be the longest curves. As you look at the full length pic, the tape was attached to the top side of the tube such that you'd be looking at the edge of the tape

IMG_1431.png IMG_1432.png IMG_1433.png

[Kenneth K.]

IMG_1337.jpg IMG_1310.jpg Joe/Owen-

I calculate 11-1/2 inches from the bottom of the bracket to the top of the flare. I used a length of 13-3/4 inch from the top of the tube to the top of the flare and subtracted 2-1/4 inches from the top of the tube to the bottom of the bracket. Please verify if these measurements are correct. I may be off by 1/8-inch which would put the distance at 11-5/8 inches. This are the same measurements I get on the reproduction CC tube and my best estimate for my original tube. Very disappointing. I was hoping to find a 1/2-inch discrepancy. Please let me know if you agree with this conclusion that the repo tube is consistent with Owen’s original tube.

If the repo CC tube is correct then the only other possibility that comes to my mind is the angle on the bracket is not correct or my oil pan is not correct.

Attached is a photo that shows the distance from the top of the repo CC tube to the center of the bolt hole in the bracket is just shy of 2-1/2 inches. I placed the tube parallel to my metal square and then measured the distance with the engineer’s scale. This looks about the same distance that is in Owen’s photo above with the yellow tape. His tube is not exactly parallel with the metal square but I would guess it’s pretty close. If this is correct then it seems the angle on the bracket on the repo CC tube and Own’s tube are the same.

That leaves the oil pan. I purchased the car in April 1976. It was only 7 years old and while I don’t know for sure if the pan was changed before I got the car it seems highly unlikely. The pan is consistent with the description in the judging guide. The oil plug is offset to the left, the sump is 11-inches long by 8-inches deep. It sure looks like the original BB pan to me. The top of the flare where the tube is inserted is approximately 1-inches below the oil pan flange but I don’t know if 1-inch is the correct length. But even if the flare was 1/2-inch higher to fully insert the tube the oil dipstick would read low.

What do you guys think?

Ken

Ps- Owen thank you for the pics. Very helpful.

[Joe L.]

I did my best, the tube has bends both horizontally and vertically, so I chose what appeared to be the longest curves. As you look at the full length pic, the tape was attached to the top side of the tube such that you'd be looking at the edge of the tape

IMG_1431.png IMG_1432.png IMG_1433.png

Owen-----


Great job. It appears that the developed length is right at 11-5/8". Curiously, it looks like the "straight-line" length from your previous measurement is just about the same. So, apparently, the curvature makes a negligible difference in this case. I suppose that's reasonable since the curvature is rather slight.

I re-measured mine and it looks like it's actually 11-7/8" "straight-line". Maybe there's that much manufacturing variability.

[Mark E.]

Ken,

Other oil filters for your consideration that I use on my '70 454:

- AC PF35L, WIX 51036XP: Same size and capacity as PF35 (almost 1 quart) but sport synthetic media (vs. cellulose). The WIX is US made.

- AC PF932, WIX 51794, NAPA Gold 1794: Twice the capacity of the above (almost 2 quarts) with cellulose media. The WIX and NAPA are US made. On a big-block, they're about an inch shorter than the oil pan and provide a total capacity of almost 7 quarts.

I've looked but haven't found a 2 quart oil filter with synthetic media.

[Kenneth K.]

Joe/Owen-

Thank you for all the information you provided in trying to solve the mystery with my dipstick. After giving it some thought I think I am back where I started and will need to calibrate the reproduction tube and stick.

Thanks,
Ken

[Kenneth K.]

Mark-

I am using the PF-1218. I did some looking on the internet and AC markets the PF-1218 as a 1-qt filter. However, what I found is while the canister volume is approximately 1-qt it only accepts 1/2-qt. of oil. I assume that the filter media takes up approximately 1/2 qt so the net volume for oil is only 1/2 qt. I verified this when I filled my new PF-1218 with oil before I installed it. It took almost exactly 1/2 qt to fill it to the top of the canister.

I believe the PF-1218 is the replacement filter for the OEM PF-25. I think you mentioned in an earlier post that the PF-1218 and the PF-25 are the same size. Is this correct? The PF-25 is a 1-qt canister that holds 1/2 qt oil?

The 1969 AIM (pg J369) instruction 7c says to add 5-1/2 qt oil to the crankcase. The diagram on this page shows the oil filter installed. I am assuming the oil filter is empty and was installed after the engine was tested as explained by Duke. Duke said that the crankcase was drained after it was tested so there must have been some residual oil left in the crankcase. When I removed my pan to replace the gasket I measured about 10 oz of residual oil remaining.

When the car left the factory the crankcase would have about 5 qt and 10 oz and the oil filter would contain 1/2 qt. If this is correct then I am going to calibrate my dipstick to this volume using the 1/2 qt PF-1218 filter. This assumes the PF-1218 is the same volume as the PF-25 and the dipstick was on the FULL mark when it left the factory…

Thank you for listing all the oil filter options.

Ken