PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

[Joe L.]

Well, I finally had a friend of mine who is the original owner of his 1970 Camaro Z-28 check his oil filter configuration for me. He factory-ordered this car and it was delivered to him in May, 1970. This car has less than 200 original miles and it's 100% certain that it has its original oil filter. I feel very confident that Corvettes used the same oil filter. Here's how it is:


PF-25

canister is painted WHITE, the same as SERVICE PF-25 filters of the period

canister has embossment on the bottom, the same as SERVICE PF-25 filters of the period

silk screen printing is BLACK, unlike SERVICE filters of the period which were silk-screened in blue printing

AC logo is WHITE ON BLACK unlike SERVICE filters of the period which had red silk-screened AC logo

filter lacks printing on the side opposite the AC logo, seen on SERVICE filters of the period, which advises that this shorter filter has the same capacity as the PF-11 and PF-25 which it replaces.

[Pat M.]

Re: PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

Interesting, Joe. Have you ever heard of similarly-configured filters of this era?

[Joe L.]

Re: PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

Interesting, Joe. Have you ever heard of similarly-configured filters of this era?

Pat------

No, I have not but that's not surprising. Assembly line-installed oil filters of the period are about as rare today as anything could be, whether or not they were exactly the same as SERVICE. The last time I saw an assembly-line installed 1969 oil filter was when I removed and replaced the original oil filter on my car sometime in late 1969 or early 1970. I recall very little about it. Any other assembly-line installed oil filters of the period I observed were observed about the same time and I don't recall anything about them, either.

[Pat M.]

Re: PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

Pat------

No, I have not but that's not surprising. Assembly line-installed oil filters of the period are about as rare today as anything could be, whether or not they were exactly the same as SERVICE. The last time I saw an assembly-line installed 1969 oil filter was when I removed and replaced the original oil filter on my car sometime in late 1969 or early 1970. I recall very little about it. Any other assembly-line installed oil filters of the period I observed were observed about the same time and I don't recall anything about them, either.

But our JG calls for 70 filters to be configured more like the service filters you referenced (blue lettering, red AC logo, capacity wording), right? I wonder why your friend's known original is different, perhaps just an anomoly?

[Terry M.]

Re: PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

That sounds like the Camaro filter shown here:

http://www.1970z28camaro.com/engine/

[Joe L.]

Re: PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

That sounds like the Camaro filter shown here:

http://www.1970z28camaro.com/engine/

Terry------


Yup, although I have not personally seen it, I expect it's exactly like the one shown in the link you provided. However, I can see no reason, at all, that such filters would have been exclusive to Camaros. I fully expect they would have been supplied to all the vehicle assembly plants of the period.

[Joe L.]

Re: PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

But our JG calls for 70 filters to be configured more like the service filters you referenced (blue lettering, red AC logo, capacity wording), right? I wonder why your friend's known original is different, perhaps just an anomoly?

Pat------

I don't think it's an anomaly, at all. In fact, if it is then there's another "anomaly" for the car that Terry's link describes.

I think the source of the notion that the original 69+ filters were silk-screened in blue and red was an "extrapolation" from the known-original SERVICE filters from the day. I am definitely included in the group of those that made that "extrapolation". I was QUITE SURPRISED to learn of the black silk-screening on the known-original filter on my friend's car. Why did we make such an "interpolation"? Who has a known-original filter off of a 1969-70 Corvette as a reference point? However, I am 100% certain that this filter is original to his car and was installed on the assembly line and I have no reason to believe that the filters installed on the assembly line for Corvettes were any different.

[Pat M.]

Re: PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

Pat------

I don't think it's an anomaly, at all. In fact, if it is then there's another "anomaly" for the car that Terry's link describes.

I think the source of the notion that the original 69+ filters were silk-screened in blue and red was an "extrapolation" from the known-original SERVICE filters from the day. I am definitely included in the group of those that made that "extrapolation". I was QUITE SURPRISED to learn of the black silk-screening on the known-original filter on my friend's car. Why did we make such an "interpolation"? Who has a known-original filter off of a 1969-70 Corvette as a reference point? However, I am 100% certain that this filter is original to his car and was installed on the assembly line and I have no reason to believe that the filters installed on the assembly line for Corvettes were any different.

Intriguing, thanks.

[Edward J.]

Re: PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

Well, I finally had a friend of mine who is the original owner of his 1970 Camaro Z-28 check his oil filter configuration for me. He factory-ordered this car and it was delivered to him in May, 1970. This car has less than 200 original miles and it's 100% certain that it has its original oil filter. I feel very confident that Corvettes used the same oil filter. Here's how it is:


PF-25

canister is painted WHITE, the same as SERVICE PF-25 filters of the period

canister has embossment on the bottom, the same as SERVICE PF-25 filters of the period

silk screen printing is BLACK, unlike SERVICE filters of the period which were silk-screened in blue printing

AC logo is WHITE ON BLACK unlike SERVICE filters of the period which had red silk-screened AC logo

filter lacks printing on the side opposite the AC logo, seen on SERVICE filters of the period, which advises that this shorter filter has the same capacity as the PF-11 and PF-25 which it replaces.

Joe being around the Chev dealership from 1977/88 as line tech for many years I can always remember that the production line oil filters were always a little different in respect to the over the counter ones, The filter that you are explaining and one one on the camaro website remind me of just how slight differences were.So it makes perfect sence and is likely a original.I am sure there may be a reason for this, maybe a warrenty claims, or early engine failures, ot internal problems.

[Terry M.]

Re: PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

I absolutely agree with you Joe.

[Kenneth B.]

Re: PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

JOE
Great info. Thanks for sharing. Wonder why it hasn't come out before. I wonder how many other parts were assembly line only also. HUM

[Joe L.]

Re: PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

JOE
Great info. Thanks for sharing. Wonder why it hasn't come out before. I wonder how many other parts were assembly line only also. HUM

Kenneth------

VERY, VERY few were some unique configuration supplied to the assembly line only. In those rare cases where it was so, the differences were mere nuances (such as is the case with the PF-25).

[Paul O.]

Re: PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

Joe


Thanks for the updated information on the PF-25 we need all we can get about what was actually used at the factory. I wonder why we have never seen a PF-25 in this finish with all the low mileage Corvettes that have been ether judged or found by our members. It can not be that the Camaro and Nova guys do not change their oil it just seems strange we have not seen this.

Now I am wondering about the PF-25's predecessor the PF-29 I have seen in service boxes in a blue body with a red/blue silk-screening and also in white with the blue/red silk-screening. Have never seen a White with Black silk-screen but it is older then the PF-25 and if there are some that are rarer the the 25's.


Paul 18046

[Terry M.]

Re: PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

We don't see the original filters (oil & air) because we (Corvette Owners) are all good Boy Scouts and changed the filters soon after we bought the cars. I did just like Joe and pitched the original oil and air filters within months of getting the car, and paid no attention to what I was disposing. The Camaro production was 50 times the Corvette production (I am guessing at that. Someone else can do the math.) and so the laws of averages favors finding several Camaros with zero oil and filter changes.

Chevelle production was even higher than Camaro, but the odds of Chevelles being modified are substantially higher than those of Corvettes or Camaros. That has to do with the demographics of the buyers.

I have posted this here before, but since it is on topic for this thread I will again tell you the original factory installed oil filters on both my daughter's 2006 Malibu Maxx and my 2008 Corvette are slightly different than the available over the counter versions. Should it be a surprise GM did this "way back when"?

We based the information in the TIM&JG on the period correct over the counter filters because that was the only data we had. Increasingly it would appear our basic premise was/is faulty. As we used to say when I was in the research business: "That is the high price of research". We also used to say: "A good piece of research raises more questions than it answers".

[Kenneth B.]

Re: PF-25 Oil Filter Revelation

Kenneth------

VERY, VERY few were some unique configuration supplied to the assembly line only. In those rare cases where it was so, the differences were mere nuances (such as is the case with the PF-25).

JOE
Would that be like the head gaskets on C-1'S