I used the wix 51515 once in my '67 1200. Will never use it again. The lifters would tap for about 10-15min after I started it up. Never did that with fram (yea that's right), motorcraft, or group7 filters. Honestly, I don't care if some bigger particulates are floating around in the oil. If the lifters are tapping and starving for oil, its going to do a lot more damage than some tiny particulates in the oil. Just my $.02
Are there different grades of Wix oil filters?
- Thread starter Rusty Scout
- Start date
Scoutboy74
Moderator
Interesting observations, but your testimony and reasoning won't convince me to spin a fram filter onto my rusty junk. Not after I've seen what they look like inside. No thanks.
overdrivesteve
Member
Lifters tap 10 to 15 minutes after startup? If it was 10 to 15 seconds I would guess it could be the anti-drainback valve is not working – a common problem for many cheap filters or wrong oils. But for 10 to 15 minutes, all I can think is the filter must be plugged and the bypass is not working for some reason. Or more probably, a wrong oil got put into the engine somehow when you changed the oil and put on this filter, such as by a mislabeled can of oil. Either way, if it did that when new out of the box, I would have put in a claim to wix for engine damage. That filter is far too common and has been installed on far too many vehicles over far too many years to think that is anything but a once in millions chance of happening. And I'm inclined to think it was more probably a mislabeled can of oil. But a claim and subsequent analysis by wix could have determined which it was.
Makes me think of the time many years ago when I was going to high school, and was working in the corner liquor store. As I was stocking the shelf I noticed a bottle of 7-up had something in it. It was a plastic straw in a filled and capped bottle of 7-up, direct from the bottling factory. This was long before they ever invented twist-off bottle caps. I bought it and had it for years as a novelty.
My only point is that yes, I agree serious damage could be done to your engine, and some damage probably was done, but I think it’s a once in a million anomaly, like finding a plastic straw in an unopened bottle of soda. I still would not hesitate to use a wix 51515 filter in my vehicle. This filter is still a major seller for wix, with many years to its name without incident.
Here are some general do’s and do not’s regarding all oil filters, direct from wix technical support.
-1-
do not ever use an oil filter that has been dented. Return it to the store for a replacement. The dent can put a crease or strain on the filter media causing it to prematurely fail internally at that point.
-2-
do not use a filter (at least for our daily-driver vehicles) with an “r” after the part number, such as a 51515r. That is a filter for racing applications only, with a very high flow rate, but very poor filtering ability.
-3-
do not over-tighten a filter when installing it. Over tightening can actually make it not seal as well, possibly causing it to leak.
-4-
always apply a drop of oil to the gasket before installing a spin-on filter. This includes a drop of oil on the gasket of spin-on gasoline filters too, per wix.
-5-
an oil or fuel filter made for diesel engines can be used on gasoline engines (providing all other specs such as flow rate, by-pass valve psi etc. Are compatible). However, an oil or fuel filter made for a gasoline engine should never be used on a diesel engine. That’s because diesel has a way of attracting moisture that will quickly destroy a filter designed for a gas engine.
-6-
change the oil filter at least once a year, regardless of the number of miles driven. Most oil filters (but not all) use paper (or a combination of paper and glass on newer filters) as the filtering medium. And paper, soaking in oil for an extended time will degrade (I forget the word they used) over time.
-7-
if you pull an old vehicle out of a barn that’s been sitting for years and start it up, you should replace the oil filter before you give it its first crank of the starter, unless you’re planning on an immediate engine rebuild. An old oil-soaked paper filter can very likely blow out a small piece of the filtering medium from the newly applied oil pressure, sending it and everything collected in that filter throughout your engine. Wix labs is very good at determining how long a filter has been in use (or exposed to oil) and it will not honor any claim for engine damages from a filter installed 5 or more years. They would not tell me the exact install-time cut-off point, but I got the impression it was on a case by case basis prior to 5 years.
-8-
generally speaking, the larger the fluid (oil) reservoir (pan), the larger the filter should be to get the same amount of use out of the oil as a smaller system. In other words, ideally if you have a loadstar type engine oil pan on your gas v8 engine, and this pan holds 9 or so quarts, ideally you should use the larger 7 in filter. Otherwise you May be changing the oil more often than necessary as a smaller filter will get loaded up making the oil dirty before the oil has reached the end of its useful life. This May somewhat be rectified by changing the filter more than once between oil changes.
In my case, I checked the oil after taking possession of my first IH. It did not appear to be very dirty, (and it has a deep pan that holds about 9 quarts of oil) so at first I only replaced the carquest filter with a wix 51452 filter. I noticed almost a doubling of oil pressure both cold and hot idle on my dash gauge with the same old oil.
-9-
and finally, my own advice. If you change brands of filters, don’t depend on interchange tables to determine which filter you should use based on the filter you were using. Look in their application section to find your vehicle/engine and their recommended filter. Or, if you have a IH sv v8 or equivalent gas engine, look in my next post (as soon as I have time to type it). There I list the best of the best filters to use in our engines. Those filters were all chosen based on their engineering specifications and compatibility with our gasoline engines, and any cross to another brand found in cross-reference tables May not only be incompatible, but it could do serious damage to the engine. If using wix or baldwin, just use one of the filters I recommend in my next post below (it will be a very long post, as soon as I have time to type it). If using another brand, use whatever they have listed for the application, and not what they list as their crosses with these wix and baldwin oil filters.
In my research I found three instances in baldwin’s cross-reference tables where they were referring incompatible oil filters to replace wix filters, and one in the wix cross-reference tables where they were replacing baldwin filters. Who knows how many crosses in the tables of the other brands are wrong. To baldwin’s credit, while they were on the phone with me, they pulled up their engineering test results for the wix filters in question, and agreed they were recommending the wrong baldwin filter equivalents. They made some report while I was on the phone with them, and told me they would change their catalog. But who knows how long it will take for the changes to appear in their next catalog edition, or in their web site, or how long for that new catalog edition to replace the old in auto and truck parts stores. As for wix, when brought to their attention in my product analysis/comparison quest, perhaps they did not understand me, but basically they told me they’re “not responsible for bad cross reference information” in their catalogs. More on their poor attitude will be mentioned in the next post.
-10-
finally, the best way I’ve found to determine when to change the oil filter is to have a good oil pressure gauge connected to your engine. And when you see about a 5 psi drop in oil pressure as opposed to your pressure reading with a new filter, that is an indication your oil filter has filled with contaminants. And if your pressure has dropped 7 psi or more, your filter is no longer doing its job as the oil is now only going through the bypass valve.
You May want to bookmark this thread because of the hundreds of filters that will “fit” our v8 gas engines, (yes, I analyzed almost 300 that “fit”) the next post will cover the dozen or so very best of the best oil filters in a head-on, no holds barred, no favoritism, technical comparison. There might be some there you never before considered.
Steve
Last edited:
overdrivesteve
Member
* * * * *
note: because I talk too much (and exceeded the posting limits of the forum), this post is divided into 5 sections. The tables referred to are under the last, 5th section of this post.
* * * * *
people upgrade their drum brakes to newer technology disc brakes, and their engine with newer technology electronic ignition and fuel injection, so to go along with these upgrades why not upgrade your engine’s oil filtering with a newer filtration technology, rather than using something that was designed 40 years ago?
Therefore the question “are there different grades of wix oil filters?” to me contains an implied second question of “what is the best wix oil filter for our engines?” and more generally, “what is the best (any brand) oil filter for the IH sv v8 gasoline engine?
So here’s the answer directly, so you don’t need to read any of the other supporting info I type below. The following information applies to the IH v8 gasoline engines 304, 345, and 392 but also applies to a lot of other engines too, both IH and non-IH. You be the judge for your application.
.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
.
– I –
the best: baldwin: b7311-mpg
.
if you have the room, presently the very best of the best of all the spin-on full-flow oil filters we could put on our engine, and by a wide margin over any stock filter, is the synthetic oil filter made by baldwin, the b7311-mpg .
.
– II – the best 7 inch (referred to as 2 quart) oil filters in preferred order:
– 1 – baldwin: b7311-mpg - the best of all wix/baldwin oil filters
– 2 – baldwin: bt217, bt237 - same filter, different part numbers
– 3 – baldwin: bt251
– 4 – wix: 51459
.
– iii – the best 5 inch (referred to as 1 quart) oil filters in preferred order:
– 1 – baldwin: b2-hpg
– 2 – baldwin: b2
– 3 – wix: 51452
– 4 – wix: 51806
– 5 – wix: 51515
.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
.
For our daily driver applications, I would always prefer any 7 inch filter listed here to any 5 inch filter. They flow better, with less pressure drop, have more contaminant holding ability, and it’s less likely the by-pass valve will open on cold starts because of the greater flow/media filtering area.
Note that all of the filters listed above meet and most far exceed the original oem requirements with technologies not available 40 years ago. I would not hesitate to use any of the above listed filters on my truck.
The goal of this whole post is maximum protection and ultimately extended time between engine rebuilds. My IH 304 holds 9 quarts of oil. I don’t know how typical that is of these v8 engines, but that’s a lot of oil and $$ at oil change time. I don’t need that oil to get dirty from an inferior filter any sooner than possible.
.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
filters considered:
.
due to time constraints, I only looked at the oil filters from two manufacturers, wix and baldwin . but of the thousands of oil filters wix and baldwin makes, there are 147 wix and 226 baldwin full-flow spin-on oil filters that will “fit” our engine . yes, I counted and looked at them all . and this is not taking into consideration the other “brand” filters they manufacture such as napa, carquest, hastings, purolator, etc . both manufacturers seem to keep their best filters in their name only . hence you will not find a napa equivalent to the wix 51452, or a purolator equivalent to the baldwin b7311-mpg filter . therefore in this comparison I did not ever look at, consider, or in any way include the other “brands” these two companies manufacture .
our v8 engines could possibly have either of two different sizes of spin-on oil filter threads . the oil filter plate that attaches to the block in a loadstar* type of gasoline v8 engine application uses a 1 – 12 oil filter thread which is different from the oil filter plate that attaches in a Scout or pick-up application with the exact same gas v8 engine block . that plate has an oil filter thread of 3/4 – 16 . and all those other loadstar type filters were looked at too .
but as it turns out if you have a loadstar type gas engine, and want the very best filter present production technology has to offer, you need to get an oil filter plate from a Scout or pick-up truck engine, put it on your engine block, and run one of the 7 inch filters listed above . I have not found any loadstar type filter you can run that exceed the specifications, and most don’t come close, to the filters listed above . so based on that fact, that’s another reason why my belief is all the filters above meet, and most far exceed the requirements of the old IH v8 gas engines in all categories - for particle size captured, quantity of contaminants held, and equal or better less restricted flow . and in some cases significantly less restriction and much better oil flow than a stock** filter and therefore less pressure drop resulting in higher oil pressure for the engine . and all filters above and in the tables attached use the properly rated by-pass valve and contain the anti-drainback valve .
*note: I use the word “loadstar” to represent all vehicle applications larger than a 1 ton truck that use these gasoline engines .
**note: for the purpose of clarity and comparison in this post I am calling the wix 51452 or 51515 as “stock” .
.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
filters not considered:
.
By-pass oil filters were not considered. Although highly desirable as evidenced by their use on larger, more expensive engines, I would not recommend them because our oil pumps have such marginal reserve capacity. Although they (by-pass filters) could be used utilizing a small electric 12 volt oil pump, such as a weldon, mocal, exa-pump, tilton, shurflo, varna, or something custom from companies like www.enginegearonline.com/, etc., the additional plumbing introduces the potential for more leaks, especially when driving hard off-road.
Also stainless steel screen mesh filters, despite their use in aircraft and in race cars, were not considered.
Canister filters were also not considered as very little data is available on them.
And there are other oil filter manufacturers not considered but worth taking a close look at too, such as donaldson and racor come to mind. But in the end there is only so much time and so I concentrated on the two largest, most established companies that produce the largest selection of spin-on engine oil filters, wix and baldwin.
I have no brand loyalty. I have no pre-conceived idea or emotional preference to which brand filter is best. My conclusions are not based on “feeling” this brand or that brand filter is best because I’ve always used that filter all my life, or my friend’s supermarket butcher recommends it because its always worked great in his truck. Before I purchased my IH truck, I’ve never seen an IH pick-up truck before, and never met anyone who has owned an IH, and could care less about filters. A fram or a sears automotive brand was fine with me for my car. My filter conclusions above, starting from a clean slate, are unbiased and based solely on current and available published engineering data. Consequently you May see other filters here more highly rated than your “favorite” filter.
.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
filter requirements:
.
to me, the most important requirement of a filter is to filter . and the finer the contaminant particles it filters, the better for less engine wear . (for a frame of reference, 25 microns is about .001 inch) . and it must filter finer particles without increasing the pressure drop across the filtering medium . in other words, it must not cause your engine to see a lower oil pressure from increased resistance to flow just because it is filtering smaller particles . this also directly equates into better lubrication protection for your engine from the higher oil pressure, and better gas mileage from less parasitic drag losses, although that May not be noticeable .
in addition, the filter must provide a by-pass in the event it becomes plugged up with contaminants, or more importantly, when the oil is too cold to pass through the filter medium such as when the engine is first started on a cold morning . the by-pass valve allows continued full oil pressure to the engine, even though that oil is then dirty, unfiltered oil . for our engine, that by-pass setting should be at 8 psi .
also, it should contain an anti-drainback valve, so at start-up your oil pump does not need to refill your oil filter before pressurizing the remaining engine . but more importantly a one-way anti drain back valve keeps dirty oil from back-flushing into the engine from the filter when the engine is shut down . otherwise this could happen regardless of the filter’s mounting orientation .
some filters also contain a “standpipe” . all that does is allow the filter to be mounted in any direction, including pointed upward in addition to horizontal or downward . for our stock applications, a standpipe does not matter in any way . I just mention it only for those who May see that spec on some of the filters and wonder what that is all about .
.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
judgement criteria:
.
Despite the attempt by the filter manufacturers council (the organization that represents the entire north American filtration industry) to standardize testing procedures so comparisons between different manufacturers and their filters can be made, in reality they have not been very successful in doing so. There aren’t a lot of cross-over specs between manufacturers, so comparisons between the different manufacturers’ filters can be very difficult, at best.
<<<<< part 2 continued below >>>>>
note: because I talk too much (and exceeded the posting limits of the forum), this post is divided into 5 sections. The tables referred to are under the last, 5th section of this post.
* * * * *
people upgrade their drum brakes to newer technology disc brakes, and their engine with newer technology electronic ignition and fuel injection, so to go along with these upgrades why not upgrade your engine’s oil filtering with a newer filtration technology, rather than using something that was designed 40 years ago?
Therefore the question “are there different grades of wix oil filters?” to me contains an implied second question of “what is the best wix oil filter for our engines?” and more generally, “what is the best (any brand) oil filter for the IH sv v8 gasoline engine?
So here’s the answer directly, so you don’t need to read any of the other supporting info I type below. The following information applies to the IH v8 gasoline engines 304, 345, and 392 but also applies to a lot of other engines too, both IH and non-IH. You be the judge for your application.
.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
.
– I –
the best: baldwin: b7311-mpg
.
if you have the room, presently the very best of the best of all the spin-on full-flow oil filters we could put on our engine, and by a wide margin over any stock filter, is the synthetic oil filter made by baldwin, the b7311-mpg .
.
– II – the best 7 inch (referred to as 2 quart) oil filters in preferred order:
– 1 – baldwin: b7311-mpg - the best of all wix/baldwin oil filters
– 2 – baldwin: bt217, bt237 - same filter, different part numbers
– 3 – baldwin: bt251
– 4 – wix: 51459
.
– iii – the best 5 inch (referred to as 1 quart) oil filters in preferred order:
– 1 – baldwin: b2-hpg
– 2 – baldwin: b2
– 3 – wix: 51452
– 4 – wix: 51806
– 5 – wix: 51515
.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
.
For our daily driver applications, I would always prefer any 7 inch filter listed here to any 5 inch filter. They flow better, with less pressure drop, have more contaminant holding ability, and it’s less likely the by-pass valve will open on cold starts because of the greater flow/media filtering area.
Note that all of the filters listed above meet and most far exceed the original oem requirements with technologies not available 40 years ago. I would not hesitate to use any of the above listed filters on my truck.
The goal of this whole post is maximum protection and ultimately extended time between engine rebuilds. My IH 304 holds 9 quarts of oil. I don’t know how typical that is of these v8 engines, but that’s a lot of oil and $$ at oil change time. I don’t need that oil to get dirty from an inferior filter any sooner than possible.
.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
filters considered:
.
due to time constraints, I only looked at the oil filters from two manufacturers, wix and baldwin . but of the thousands of oil filters wix and baldwin makes, there are 147 wix and 226 baldwin full-flow spin-on oil filters that will “fit” our engine . yes, I counted and looked at them all . and this is not taking into consideration the other “brand” filters they manufacture such as napa, carquest, hastings, purolator, etc . both manufacturers seem to keep their best filters in their name only . hence you will not find a napa equivalent to the wix 51452, or a purolator equivalent to the baldwin b7311-mpg filter . therefore in this comparison I did not ever look at, consider, or in any way include the other “brands” these two companies manufacture .
our v8 engines could possibly have either of two different sizes of spin-on oil filter threads . the oil filter plate that attaches to the block in a loadstar* type of gasoline v8 engine application uses a 1 – 12 oil filter thread which is different from the oil filter plate that attaches in a Scout or pick-up application with the exact same gas v8 engine block . that plate has an oil filter thread of 3/4 – 16 . and all those other loadstar type filters were looked at too .
but as it turns out if you have a loadstar type gas engine, and want the very best filter present production technology has to offer, you need to get an oil filter plate from a Scout or pick-up truck engine, put it on your engine block, and run one of the 7 inch filters listed above . I have not found any loadstar type filter you can run that exceed the specifications, and most don’t come close, to the filters listed above . so based on that fact, that’s another reason why my belief is all the filters above meet, and most far exceed the requirements of the old IH v8 gas engines in all categories - for particle size captured, quantity of contaminants held, and equal or better less restricted flow . and in some cases significantly less restriction and much better oil flow than a stock** filter and therefore less pressure drop resulting in higher oil pressure for the engine . and all filters above and in the tables attached use the properly rated by-pass valve and contain the anti-drainback valve .
*note: I use the word “loadstar” to represent all vehicle applications larger than a 1 ton truck that use these gasoline engines .
**note: for the purpose of clarity and comparison in this post I am calling the wix 51452 or 51515 as “stock” .
.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
filters not considered:
.
By-pass oil filters were not considered. Although highly desirable as evidenced by their use on larger, more expensive engines, I would not recommend them because our oil pumps have such marginal reserve capacity. Although they (by-pass filters) could be used utilizing a small electric 12 volt oil pump, such as a weldon, mocal, exa-pump, tilton, shurflo, varna, or something custom from companies like www.enginegearonline.com/, etc., the additional plumbing introduces the potential for more leaks, especially when driving hard off-road.
Also stainless steel screen mesh filters, despite their use in aircraft and in race cars, were not considered.
Canister filters were also not considered as very little data is available on them.
And there are other oil filter manufacturers not considered but worth taking a close look at too, such as donaldson and racor come to mind. But in the end there is only so much time and so I concentrated on the two largest, most established companies that produce the largest selection of spin-on engine oil filters, wix and baldwin.
I have no brand loyalty. I have no pre-conceived idea or emotional preference to which brand filter is best. My conclusions are not based on “feeling” this brand or that brand filter is best because I’ve always used that filter all my life, or my friend’s supermarket butcher recommends it because its always worked great in his truck. Before I purchased my IH truck, I’ve never seen an IH pick-up truck before, and never met anyone who has owned an IH, and could care less about filters. A fram or a sears automotive brand was fine with me for my car. My filter conclusions above, starting from a clean slate, are unbiased and based solely on current and available published engineering data. Consequently you May see other filters here more highly rated than your “favorite” filter.
.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
filter requirements:
.
to me, the most important requirement of a filter is to filter . and the finer the contaminant particles it filters, the better for less engine wear . (for a frame of reference, 25 microns is about .001 inch) . and it must filter finer particles without increasing the pressure drop across the filtering medium . in other words, it must not cause your engine to see a lower oil pressure from increased resistance to flow just because it is filtering smaller particles . this also directly equates into better lubrication protection for your engine from the higher oil pressure, and better gas mileage from less parasitic drag losses, although that May not be noticeable .
in addition, the filter must provide a by-pass in the event it becomes plugged up with contaminants, or more importantly, when the oil is too cold to pass through the filter medium such as when the engine is first started on a cold morning . the by-pass valve allows continued full oil pressure to the engine, even though that oil is then dirty, unfiltered oil . for our engine, that by-pass setting should be at 8 psi .
also, it should contain an anti-drainback valve, so at start-up your oil pump does not need to refill your oil filter before pressurizing the remaining engine . but more importantly a one-way anti drain back valve keeps dirty oil from back-flushing into the engine from the filter when the engine is shut down . otherwise this could happen regardless of the filter’s mounting orientation .
some filters also contain a “standpipe” . all that does is allow the filter to be mounted in any direction, including pointed upward in addition to horizontal or downward . for our stock applications, a standpipe does not matter in any way . I just mention it only for those who May see that spec on some of the filters and wonder what that is all about .
.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
judgement criteria:
.
Despite the attempt by the filter manufacturers council (the organization that represents the entire north American filtration industry) to standardize testing procedures so comparisons between different manufacturers and their filters can be made, in reality they have not been very successful in doing so. There aren’t a lot of cross-over specs between manufacturers, so comparisons between the different manufacturers’ filters can be very difficult, at best.
<<<<< part 2 continued below >>>>>
overdrivesteve
Member
And the comparisons between wix filters and baldwin’s filters are even more complex because each company takes an approach to their filters’ specifications/applications exactly opposite of each other. Wix takes the “application” approach where you tell them the vehicle, and they will tell you which filter they recommend. Consequently they see no need to share most of their filter specification data. But if you highly modify your engine, that leaves the wix phone tech just kind of guessing which filter to recommend, depending on their understanding of your modified engine and its intended use, and the time they have before they must move onto the next caller.
And many of the specs wix does share are very incomplete or make no sense. For example, they state all their filters have a maximum flow rate of 7 to 9 gallons per minute, but never mention at what pressure. Is that maximum flow of 7 to 9 gpm at 25 psi, 50 psi, 75 psi, or what? Higher pressures flow higher gpm but our engines are low pressure engines – compared to most present day engine manufacturers. And it becomes even more clearly a bogus spec by wix when they say all the filters (under consideration for our application) all flow the exact same maximum 7 to 9 gpm regardless if it’s a 3 inch filter with a paper medium such as the wix 51085, or a 5 inch filter, or a 7 inch filter using a synthetic filtering medium, or some other size/media combination. And they never state any minimum flow rate at lower pressures.
So how is one to select the best wix filter if they have made upgrades to their engine and want to upgrade to a newer technology with a better filter specification, rather than the 40 year old spec originally dictated? It’s very difficult with wix, but I’ve done my best to answer that question with this post.
Contrast the wix “application” approach to the baldwin’s “engineering specification” approach. Using the same example, baldwin will tell you exactly how well each filter flows compared to their other filters (if you ask them), or any other engineering spec requested too. For example, the b2 flows 1.5 gpm @ 3 psi; 3 gpm @ 5 psi; 5 gpm @ 10 psi; 7.5 gpm @ 15 psi; 9 gpm @ 20 psi; and 11 gpm @ 25 psi. And the b2 has 315.3 sq inches of filtering medium capable of holding 20 grams of contaminants. And this filter’s filtering is rated at 12 microns nominal and 30 microns absolute with 85.44% average efficiency. All these specs as compared to only the wix 7 to 9 gpm and 21 nominal micron rating specs. But baldwin only lists a handful of applications for the b2 when in reality it includes the same hundreds of applications as wix lists for its 51515 filter. So you can see this comparison and quest to find the best filters with the newest technologies for our engines has been no easy task.
The specifications for all the filters above and for a few close filters that would work as good filter replacements but that did not make the grade because they were not the “best” imho are in the two tables attached to the bottom of this post.
Wix is happy to share all kinds of general information about filters in general, as you can see by my previous posts. However they have told me both over the phone and in email that they will not share any specific technical information about any of their filters other than what is on their web site. For example, they will not disclose the square inch filtering area of their various filters. This, despite the fact that anyone can buy a filter, cut it open, unravel and measure for themselves the sq in. Area of the filtering media.
Basic information, such as nominal and absolute micron ratings, flow rates, the filtering area and contaminant holding ability are needed in order to do basic comparisons not only between the filters they sell, but also between their filters and their competitors’ (baldwin) filters. Consequently, for the filtering medium part of the comparison I can only use their nominal micron rating. But that is definitely not the only specification taken into account, as you will see by my comments below. The filter’s engineered specifications (all that were made available), intended applications, physical size, flow rates, and micron filter ratings, on filters with anti-drain-backs and proper by-pass valve psi ratings were all used in the filter comparisons. Chances are a couple of the wix filters could move up in placement if technical data was available on them. But in this comparison they fall where they do because I will only rate them based on the data they provide, and not what is “inferred” or what I “feel” about them.
The attachments at the bottom of this post contain tables comparing all the different filters listed above and their specifications, (or all that were made available), with a few other filters. Information for this post is culled from a stack of catalogs and technical brochures almost a foot high mostly from wix and baldwin, and some technical info from the filter manufacturers council in addition to multiple emails and phone discussions with the tech support of both companies.
Online retail price is mentioned for each filter in the attached tables but only for your comparison, and is sure to be different from place to place. Price was not taken into consideration for the selection of filters made, only the filters’ performance data was used. Prices in the table of baldwin filters were obtained from www.apartsdepot.com. And prices for the wix filters were obtained from www.rockauto.com Except for the last two were from http://woodys-auto-supply.com Because they were not listed online by rockauto.com. This is not an endorsement of these sellers, only the source of my price comparisons. And the prices are current as of April 11, 2013. Prices constantly change, but should hopefully stay in the same relative proportion to each other.
.
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baldwin oil filters table attachment:
.
- - - - - -
b7311-mpg
.
this filter flows much better than any other filter listed above (10 gallons per minute at only 3 psi, while other filters require 10 to 20 psi to achieve this flow), resulting in the least pressure restriction/drop of any of the filters . this has the resulting benefit of allowing the highest possible oil pressure throughout the engine of any above listed filter . (this is important for our low pressure engines) . and it does this while providing the finest particle filtration of any full-flow oil filter I’ve ever found that will fit our engines, (trapping particles 4 times smaller than a stock 51515 filter) . this high-end synthetic media filter has smaller passages to trap smaller particles, but can also pass more fluid through because it has more passages, thus increasing the inherent surface area . it provides 5 micron nominal and 20 micron absolute filtration as opposed to the wix 51515’s 21 micron nominal rating and unknown absolute micron rating . (in other words, the b7311-mpg filters far better than any other filter listed above, my most important requirement for a filter, while providing the least resistance to flow and therefore the highest oil pressure to the engine of any filter listed above, my second most important filter requirement) .
it holds 32.4 grams of contaminants in 463.1 sq . in . of filtration media, which is more than any stock filter, but not as much as other 7 inch filters . therefore this filter is best on regularly maintained engines for keeping the oil absolutely the cleanest of any full-flow filter I’ve found . but for a very dirty engine that has not had its oil changed regularly, you May want to first use the bt217 or bt237 as they hold the most contaminants of any filter at 49.5 grams . of course the largest, most efficient filter with the finest filtration with the best flow with the least pressure drop comes with almost the highest retail price of any filter, just under $12 a filter .
also note if you live in a cold climate: on a cold start your engine oil is much more viscous than at other times, creating a lot of resistance to flow through the pickup screen and passageways . cold oil has a very hard time passing through a cellulose paper oil filter, usually causing the bypass valve to open . and an open bypass valve May allow the crud the filter has already captured to flow through the engine . this is another example of when a high-flow synthetic oil filter such as this b7311-mpg would be better .
they (baldwin) do not usually record flow rates above 10 gallons a minute because a stock engine is only going to pump 3 gallons a minute, so anything more is unnecessary . therefore the b7311-mpg was only tested for flow up to 3 psi as there is no point going further, as who cares if it May flow 30 gallons per minute at 25 psi, if the engines are only capable of pumping 3 gallons a minute . bottom line, this filter has the least restriction to oil flow of any filter here .
however, this filter and all baldwin filters are cycle tested with oil pressure pulses of 0 to 100 psi 50,000 times to insure the integrity of the filter design . and all baldwin filters listed here have a burst pressure of 200 psi . so us starting an engine cold where the oil pressure spikes at 60 psi will not harm these filters . this was important to know as some of these filters in the attached tables have published flow ratings with pressures as low as 1 psi, so I needed to verify that each of these filters would perform properly at our 10 to 60 psi pressure range .
<<<<< part 3 continued below >>>>>
And many of the specs wix does share are very incomplete or make no sense. For example, they state all their filters have a maximum flow rate of 7 to 9 gallons per minute, but never mention at what pressure. Is that maximum flow of 7 to 9 gpm at 25 psi, 50 psi, 75 psi, or what? Higher pressures flow higher gpm but our engines are low pressure engines – compared to most present day engine manufacturers. And it becomes even more clearly a bogus spec by wix when they say all the filters (under consideration for our application) all flow the exact same maximum 7 to 9 gpm regardless if it’s a 3 inch filter with a paper medium such as the wix 51085, or a 5 inch filter, or a 7 inch filter using a synthetic filtering medium, or some other size/media combination. And they never state any minimum flow rate at lower pressures.
So how is one to select the best wix filter if they have made upgrades to their engine and want to upgrade to a newer technology with a better filter specification, rather than the 40 year old spec originally dictated? It’s very difficult with wix, but I’ve done my best to answer that question with this post.
Contrast the wix “application” approach to the baldwin’s “engineering specification” approach. Using the same example, baldwin will tell you exactly how well each filter flows compared to their other filters (if you ask them), or any other engineering spec requested too. For example, the b2 flows 1.5 gpm @ 3 psi; 3 gpm @ 5 psi; 5 gpm @ 10 psi; 7.5 gpm @ 15 psi; 9 gpm @ 20 psi; and 11 gpm @ 25 psi. And the b2 has 315.3 sq inches of filtering medium capable of holding 20 grams of contaminants. And this filter’s filtering is rated at 12 microns nominal and 30 microns absolute with 85.44% average efficiency. All these specs as compared to only the wix 7 to 9 gpm and 21 nominal micron rating specs. But baldwin only lists a handful of applications for the b2 when in reality it includes the same hundreds of applications as wix lists for its 51515 filter. So you can see this comparison and quest to find the best filters with the newest technologies for our engines has been no easy task.
The specifications for all the filters above and for a few close filters that would work as good filter replacements but that did not make the grade because they were not the “best” imho are in the two tables attached to the bottom of this post.
Wix is happy to share all kinds of general information about filters in general, as you can see by my previous posts. However they have told me both over the phone and in email that they will not share any specific technical information about any of their filters other than what is on their web site. For example, they will not disclose the square inch filtering area of their various filters. This, despite the fact that anyone can buy a filter, cut it open, unravel and measure for themselves the sq in. Area of the filtering media.
Basic information, such as nominal and absolute micron ratings, flow rates, the filtering area and contaminant holding ability are needed in order to do basic comparisons not only between the filters they sell, but also between their filters and their competitors’ (baldwin) filters. Consequently, for the filtering medium part of the comparison I can only use their nominal micron rating. But that is definitely not the only specification taken into account, as you will see by my comments below. The filter’s engineered specifications (all that were made available), intended applications, physical size, flow rates, and micron filter ratings, on filters with anti-drain-backs and proper by-pass valve psi ratings were all used in the filter comparisons. Chances are a couple of the wix filters could move up in placement if technical data was available on them. But in this comparison they fall where they do because I will only rate them based on the data they provide, and not what is “inferred” or what I “feel” about them.
The attachments at the bottom of this post contain tables comparing all the different filters listed above and their specifications, (or all that were made available), with a few other filters. Information for this post is culled from a stack of catalogs and technical brochures almost a foot high mostly from wix and baldwin, and some technical info from the filter manufacturers council in addition to multiple emails and phone discussions with the tech support of both companies.
Online retail price is mentioned for each filter in the attached tables but only for your comparison, and is sure to be different from place to place. Price was not taken into consideration for the selection of filters made, only the filters’ performance data was used. Prices in the table of baldwin filters were obtained from www.apartsdepot.com. And prices for the wix filters were obtained from www.rockauto.com Except for the last two were from http://woodys-auto-supply.com Because they were not listed online by rockauto.com. This is not an endorsement of these sellers, only the source of my price comparisons. And the prices are current as of April 11, 2013. Prices constantly change, but should hopefully stay in the same relative proportion to each other.
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baldwin oil filters table attachment:
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b7311-mpg
.
this filter flows much better than any other filter listed above (10 gallons per minute at only 3 psi, while other filters require 10 to 20 psi to achieve this flow), resulting in the least pressure restriction/drop of any of the filters . this has the resulting benefit of allowing the highest possible oil pressure throughout the engine of any above listed filter . (this is important for our low pressure engines) . and it does this while providing the finest particle filtration of any full-flow oil filter I’ve ever found that will fit our engines, (trapping particles 4 times smaller than a stock 51515 filter) . this high-end synthetic media filter has smaller passages to trap smaller particles, but can also pass more fluid through because it has more passages, thus increasing the inherent surface area . it provides 5 micron nominal and 20 micron absolute filtration as opposed to the wix 51515’s 21 micron nominal rating and unknown absolute micron rating . (in other words, the b7311-mpg filters far better than any other filter listed above, my most important requirement for a filter, while providing the least resistance to flow and therefore the highest oil pressure to the engine of any filter listed above, my second most important filter requirement) .
it holds 32.4 grams of contaminants in 463.1 sq . in . of filtration media, which is more than any stock filter, but not as much as other 7 inch filters . therefore this filter is best on regularly maintained engines for keeping the oil absolutely the cleanest of any full-flow filter I’ve found . but for a very dirty engine that has not had its oil changed regularly, you May want to first use the bt217 or bt237 as they hold the most contaminants of any filter at 49.5 grams . of course the largest, most efficient filter with the finest filtration with the best flow with the least pressure drop comes with almost the highest retail price of any filter, just under $12 a filter .
also note if you live in a cold climate: on a cold start your engine oil is much more viscous than at other times, creating a lot of resistance to flow through the pickup screen and passageways . cold oil has a very hard time passing through a cellulose paper oil filter, usually causing the bypass valve to open . and an open bypass valve May allow the crud the filter has already captured to flow through the engine . this is another example of when a high-flow synthetic oil filter such as this b7311-mpg would be better .
they (baldwin) do not usually record flow rates above 10 gallons a minute because a stock engine is only going to pump 3 gallons a minute, so anything more is unnecessary . therefore the b7311-mpg was only tested for flow up to 3 psi as there is no point going further, as who cares if it May flow 30 gallons per minute at 25 psi, if the engines are only capable of pumping 3 gallons a minute . bottom line, this filter has the least restriction to oil flow of any filter here .
however, this filter and all baldwin filters are cycle tested with oil pressure pulses of 0 to 100 psi 50,000 times to insure the integrity of the filter design . and all baldwin filters listed here have a burst pressure of 200 psi . so us starting an engine cold where the oil pressure spikes at 60 psi will not harm these filters . this was important to know as some of these filters in the attached tables have published flow ratings with pressures as low as 1 psi, so I needed to verify that each of these filters would perform properly at our 10 to 60 psi pressure range .
<<<<< part 3 continued below >>>>>
overdrivesteve
Member
Another possible point of confusion I had to clear up before recommending this filter was its only listed application, carrier refrigeration units. This could have meant it’s intended to filter the refrigeration compressor’s oil on the refrigeration units of large high-rise office buildings, which would render it useless for our vehicles. But baldwin assured me in an email that was not the case, but rather it’s the filter for the engines that drive these refrigeration compressors, especially in semi-trucks. And they assured me it’s used in other truck engines too. It just happens to initially be designed for the engines that drive the carrier refrigeration units.
This is the only baldwin filter with no average efficiency rating because despite its very fine particle filtration, it’s off the scale with its flow-ability rating at normal operating pressures.
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oem notes:
.
anytime you see the word oem in the attached tables, it means baldwin is the original equipment manufacturer for that filter . wix won’t tell you that kind of info, but I suspect wix at one time was the oem for IH with its 51452 filter . no proof, just a hunch .
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synthetic filter notes:
.
Here is a quote about synthetic media, but don’t recall where I got it from: “an engineered synthetic media is course on the outside and progressively finer toward the inside effectively increasing its filter area by "filtering in depth". All filter media to some extent filters in depth but the synthetic media can be so much more uniform in thickness and spacing that not only are comparisons between cellulose and synthetic area based on visual inspection or area meaningless, but visual comparisons between different synthetic media also can not be done”.
I would change that slightly to read “meaningful visual comparisons can not be done without a microscope”. That’s why engineering data like baldwin provides and wix won’t is so important when choosing to upgrade your engine’s filtration system/filter.
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by-pass valve notes:
.
our engines definitely need a filter with a by-pass valve (which should be 8 psi) . this allows oil to flow through to the engine when the filter becomes too plugged-up with debris to allow the oil to flow through its filtering medium . and the by-pass valve allows the oil to flow through to the engine when the oil is too thick or cold to flow through the filtering media, which frequently happens when the engine is first started on a cold morning with a paper filter . unfortunately every time the valve opens to allow the oil to flow through, that oil is unfiltered, dirty oil .
there are two schools of thought regarding the best location for the by-pass valve . one is that the best place is at the top of the filter so the unfiltered oil does not wash across the dirty side of the filter first, collecting more contaminants before entering the engine .
the other, held by baldwin, is that actual testing has determined it really doesn’t matter where the valve is located . the contaminants are lodged in the filter medium, and either way the valve is below the threads, and the swirling, pulsating oil will still pull any loose contaminant not embedded in the filter’s medium and pump it through your engine in addition to the other unfiltered oil when the bypass valve is open . and if your filter is so loaded with contaminants that it’s not all imbedded in the filter medium, but rather sitting loose at the bottom of the filter can, then you should have changed your filter long ago as it’s now in a fully loaded state where the filter is already mostly operating in a state where the by-pass valve is always open .
just another reason why it’s important to replace your filter regularly .
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.
I was going to describe the specifications about each filter and why I ranked it where I did, like I did with the first filter, but I can see now, if I did that, this post would be 20 pages long. So open a second window for the attachments as I refer to them for filter specification details and I’ll keep my remarks to a minimum, only stating my reasons for ranking it where I did. For flow rates I did not list all the test points in the attached tables, only the top and bottom published flow specification for each filter.
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bt217
bt237
.
these are exactly the same filters in every way, per baldwin, except they have different part numbers for marketing/oem purposes .
I ranked this set of filters second because of their good flow rate but especially because of their exceptional ability to hold a lot of “dirt”, almost 50 grams with 515 sq . in . of filter paper . and the only filters with substantially finer filtration than these two filters (other than the b7311-mpg) are the two b2 series of filters, but their flow and filter capacity can’t compete, so that leaves this set of filters as my second choice .
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bt251
.
I ranked this third because it doesn’t have quite as much contaminant holding ability as the previous set of filters. However it does flow better than the above filters because it doesn’t have a standpipe or as much filtering paper stuffed into the can. And if you consider the better flow (less pressure drop) to be more important than the extra contaminant holding ability, I see where you could easily rank it above the bt217/bt237 set of filters. But these filters all flow so well, I don’t know if the pressure difference would be noticeable until they start to reach the limits of their dirt holding capacity. Perhaps someone some day can try both and let us know if there is any noticeable pressure difference between the bt251 and the other filters.
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b2-hpg
.
this comes in at the top of the 5 inch filters because it has good flow, great contaminant filtering ability and the best dirt holding capacity of any 5 inch filter .
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b2
.
With a little better flow (less pressure drop) and about the same or slightly worse filtering ability than the b2-hpg, but because of much less contaminant holding ability, I rank this below the b2-hpg. But here again, if you consider the flow/pressure drop more important, I can see ranking it above the b2-hpg. But at this point I don’t know if the very slight difference in flow characteristics would equate into a noticeably different engine oil pressure reading. I suspect it would not until the filter begins to approach the limit of contaminant holding ability. That’s why when things are nearly equal I will go with the filter that can hold the most contaminants.
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bt216
.
I debated if I should include this filter in the list of the best of the best at the top of the post . it appears to have almost double the flow of the other 5 inch filters above, and the same contaminant holding ability as the best 5 inch filter, the b2-hpg, both very important to the ranking of the filter . but it achieves this by doubling the size of the holes in the filtering medium compared to the other 5 inch filters . and based on my premise that the most important requirement of a filter is to filter, is the reason why I did not put this filter in the list of the best of the best . but study the specifications in the attached tables as you May find you would prefer it to the other filters if you have to run a 5 inch filter . it has the same filtering rating as some of the 7 inch filters .
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wix oil filters table attachment:
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51459
.
The 51459 filter seems to be the verifiably best filter of any of the wix filters. It has a higher capacity (therefore should hold more “dirt” and flow better) than any of the wix 5 inch filters with similar or better filtering abilities compared to all the other wix filters, except for the unknown wix filter 57515, which has finer filtering. And as for applications, it has a long list of heavy duty and off-road truck applications with many similar to the same heavy-duty off-road applications as the wix recommended 51452 filter. And it has what I feel is a better by-pass valve psi rating for our low oil pressure engines – a rating of 7 to 9 psi as compared to most of the other filters’ 8 to 11 psi ratings. And it’s the only wix filter where their beta ratios and nominal micron rating specifications seems to be almost congruent. But because of its lack of technical data, I cannot rank it higher among the 7 inch filters. Based on applications, and that’s about all I have to go on with wix, it should be an excellent filter for our engines. It’s the second filter I ever put on my IH 304 v8 truck, and presently have on there now as of the date of this post. Once I install an accurate oil pressure gauge to supplement the dash gauge, I will be able to provide some actual numbers.
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51773
.
the 51773 filter wix says is the high capacity version of the popular 51515 . but according to their published data, it doesn’t filter anywhere near as well as the 51459, or any baldwin 7 inch filter, and there is no beta ratio data published for the 51773 filter . consequently it does not make the recommended grade . it’s mostly used on a lot of Ford big cu in engines, and a few diesels . and I’m sure it’s a good filter that you can use ok, but why when there are other better filters available .
<<<<< part 4 continued below >>>>>
This is the only baldwin filter with no average efficiency rating because despite its very fine particle filtration, it’s off the scale with its flow-ability rating at normal operating pressures.
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oem notes:
.
anytime you see the word oem in the attached tables, it means baldwin is the original equipment manufacturer for that filter . wix won’t tell you that kind of info, but I suspect wix at one time was the oem for IH with its 51452 filter . no proof, just a hunch .
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synthetic filter notes:
.
Here is a quote about synthetic media, but don’t recall where I got it from: “an engineered synthetic media is course on the outside and progressively finer toward the inside effectively increasing its filter area by "filtering in depth". All filter media to some extent filters in depth but the synthetic media can be so much more uniform in thickness and spacing that not only are comparisons between cellulose and synthetic area based on visual inspection or area meaningless, but visual comparisons between different synthetic media also can not be done”.
I would change that slightly to read “meaningful visual comparisons can not be done without a microscope”. That’s why engineering data like baldwin provides and wix won’t is so important when choosing to upgrade your engine’s filtration system/filter.
.
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by-pass valve notes:
.
our engines definitely need a filter with a by-pass valve (which should be 8 psi) . this allows oil to flow through to the engine when the filter becomes too plugged-up with debris to allow the oil to flow through its filtering medium . and the by-pass valve allows the oil to flow through to the engine when the oil is too thick or cold to flow through the filtering media, which frequently happens when the engine is first started on a cold morning with a paper filter . unfortunately every time the valve opens to allow the oil to flow through, that oil is unfiltered, dirty oil .
there are two schools of thought regarding the best location for the by-pass valve . one is that the best place is at the top of the filter so the unfiltered oil does not wash across the dirty side of the filter first, collecting more contaminants before entering the engine .
the other, held by baldwin, is that actual testing has determined it really doesn’t matter where the valve is located . the contaminants are lodged in the filter medium, and either way the valve is below the threads, and the swirling, pulsating oil will still pull any loose contaminant not embedded in the filter’s medium and pump it through your engine in addition to the other unfiltered oil when the bypass valve is open . and if your filter is so loaded with contaminants that it’s not all imbedded in the filter medium, but rather sitting loose at the bottom of the filter can, then you should have changed your filter long ago as it’s now in a fully loaded state where the filter is already mostly operating in a state where the by-pass valve is always open .
just another reason why it’s important to replace your filter regularly .
.
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.
I was going to describe the specifications about each filter and why I ranked it where I did, like I did with the first filter, but I can see now, if I did that, this post would be 20 pages long. So open a second window for the attachments as I refer to them for filter specification details and I’ll keep my remarks to a minimum, only stating my reasons for ranking it where I did. For flow rates I did not list all the test points in the attached tables, only the top and bottom published flow specification for each filter.
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bt217
bt237
.
these are exactly the same filters in every way, per baldwin, except they have different part numbers for marketing/oem purposes .
I ranked this set of filters second because of their good flow rate but especially because of their exceptional ability to hold a lot of “dirt”, almost 50 grams with 515 sq . in . of filter paper . and the only filters with substantially finer filtration than these two filters (other than the b7311-mpg) are the two b2 series of filters, but their flow and filter capacity can’t compete, so that leaves this set of filters as my second choice .
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bt251
.
I ranked this third because it doesn’t have quite as much contaminant holding ability as the previous set of filters. However it does flow better than the above filters because it doesn’t have a standpipe or as much filtering paper stuffed into the can. And if you consider the better flow (less pressure drop) to be more important than the extra contaminant holding ability, I see where you could easily rank it above the bt217/bt237 set of filters. But these filters all flow so well, I don’t know if the pressure difference would be noticeable until they start to reach the limits of their dirt holding capacity. Perhaps someone some day can try both and let us know if there is any noticeable pressure difference between the bt251 and the other filters.
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b2-hpg
.
this comes in at the top of the 5 inch filters because it has good flow, great contaminant filtering ability and the best dirt holding capacity of any 5 inch filter .
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b2
.
With a little better flow (less pressure drop) and about the same or slightly worse filtering ability than the b2-hpg, but because of much less contaminant holding ability, I rank this below the b2-hpg. But here again, if you consider the flow/pressure drop more important, I can see ranking it above the b2-hpg. But at this point I don’t know if the very slight difference in flow characteristics would equate into a noticeably different engine oil pressure reading. I suspect it would not until the filter begins to approach the limit of contaminant holding ability. That’s why when things are nearly equal I will go with the filter that can hold the most contaminants.
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bt216
.
I debated if I should include this filter in the list of the best of the best at the top of the post . it appears to have almost double the flow of the other 5 inch filters above, and the same contaminant holding ability as the best 5 inch filter, the b2-hpg, both very important to the ranking of the filter . but it achieves this by doubling the size of the holes in the filtering medium compared to the other 5 inch filters . and based on my premise that the most important requirement of a filter is to filter, is the reason why I did not put this filter in the list of the best of the best . but study the specifications in the attached tables as you May find you would prefer it to the other filters if you have to run a 5 inch filter . it has the same filtering rating as some of the 7 inch filters .
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wix oil filters table attachment:
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51459
.
The 51459 filter seems to be the verifiably best filter of any of the wix filters. It has a higher capacity (therefore should hold more “dirt” and flow better) than any of the wix 5 inch filters with similar or better filtering abilities compared to all the other wix filters, except for the unknown wix filter 57515, which has finer filtering. And as for applications, it has a long list of heavy duty and off-road truck applications with many similar to the same heavy-duty off-road applications as the wix recommended 51452 filter. And it has what I feel is a better by-pass valve psi rating for our low oil pressure engines – a rating of 7 to 9 psi as compared to most of the other filters’ 8 to 11 psi ratings. And it’s the only wix filter where their beta ratios and nominal micron rating specifications seems to be almost congruent. But because of its lack of technical data, I cannot rank it higher among the 7 inch filters. Based on applications, and that’s about all I have to go on with wix, it should be an excellent filter for our engines. It’s the second filter I ever put on my IH 304 v8 truck, and presently have on there now as of the date of this post. Once I install an accurate oil pressure gauge to supplement the dash gauge, I will be able to provide some actual numbers.
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51773
.
the 51773 filter wix says is the high capacity version of the popular 51515 . but according to their published data, it doesn’t filter anywhere near as well as the 51459, or any baldwin 7 inch filter, and there is no beta ratio data published for the 51773 filter . consequently it does not make the recommended grade . it’s mostly used on a lot of Ford big cu in engines, and a few diesels . and I’m sure it’s a good filter that you can use ok, but why when there are other better filters available .
<<<<< part 4 continued below >>>>>
overdrivesteve
Member
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51452
51806
51515
.
The next set of filters, the 51452, 51806 and 51515 all seem to be identical filters, except the 51806 has a slightly lower cut-in psi value for its bypass valve, which I think is good for our low oil pressure engines. Therefore application data was the primary determining factor for ranking these filters. Although the 51806 has many off-road truck applications, it should be noted that the 51452 is the filter wix recommends for our IH gas engines. Be sure to read my previous post detailing the application differences between the 51515 and the 51452 filters. If you want the wix recommended truck filter, use the 51452, if you want the same truck filter but with a slightly lower by-pass valve psi cut in point, use the 51806, and if you want to use the same filter but made to passenger car specs, use the 51515. All good filters.
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57515
.
the wix non-paper glass media filter, 57515, is supposed to be the equivalent of the 51515 but claims to filter twice as well as any of the paper media filters . this filter could potentially be at the top of the list of wix filters and above many baldwin filters, if actual engineering test data was available for it . however, this data is not available so I cannot recommend it, and it has no applications listed . it’s here primarily because it has the potential, based on its published nominal micron rating and media type . however, if you plot out the beta ratios on a graph, at some point it would seem a filter’s stated nominal micron ratings would be crossed, but with wix, unlike baldwin, it does not happen with all but one of their filter’s beta ratio filter specifications . therefore it would seem either their beta ratios or their stated nominal micron ratings are bogus in most cases, just like their flow rating specifications, as explained earlier . therefore you can see why I cannot recommend this potentially great filter . the filter’s here because I’m sure it could be a great filter for our use, but how good, I cannot say, and wix will not say . with wix, in the quest to find the best filter, I can only recommend filters which include listed applications, and not based just on their partially disclosed, and often-times questionable engineering data alone .
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51515xp
.
The 51515xp is touted by their marketing department as the extended performance, or for their diesel applications, extended duty, premium filters because of its extended time period before it needs to be replaced. Of course, when asked directly how it compares with another filter, such as the 51515 or the 57515, they reply with “that information cannot be released” and to just “look at the web site”, which doesn’t tell you any needed technical details. However, through unofficial channels it was learned that the xp line of filters really is only a marketing ploy and that these filters last longer because they don’t filter as well. And that would make sense based on the nominal micron rating compared to their other synthetic filter, the 57515. The 51515xp has a micron rating only equal to their paper filters. It gives you less value, but technically it is extended performance because less particulate will be caught by the filter, so it will last longer. So if you want a good synthetic filter but with only paper filter performance, here it is.
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.
the filters listed in the tables are only intended for the gasoline IH 304, 345, and 392 engines but there are many other engines, both IH and non-IH that these filters also apply to . in my quest for the best, only the ones in black are my pick as best of the best . but the other part numbers in brown are listed because you May consider some specification they have as more important for your application than I do for my application . hopefully these tables take the mystery out of selecting the best filter for your application . it’s not rocket science, and you really can’t go wrong with any of the filters in the tables, even if I did not select it to be in my best of the best group . I’m sure they are all better than fram and many other similar manufacturers’ filters that are “made” for our engines .
be aware this list of filter recommendations only applies as of right now . any day wix could come clean with their engineering data and publish true specifications . I have seen in other forums where people have documented conflicting specifications released by wix for the same filter . and I found one instance where they had a different spec for the same filter in two different places . and there could be changes made to a particular filter by any manufacturer at any time or a new line of superior filters by any manufacturer could be added at any time . technologies are constantly changing and there could come a day soon when even these filters in this post will become “old technology” or obsolete and replaced by something different and better . nano technologies are still in its infancy, and that opens up a whole new universe of possibilities .
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Warning: if you use a wix or baldwin oil filter, do not trust their interchange tables. Doing so can do serious damage to your engine. As of the date of this post, some of their web site interchange recommendations are still wrong! If you use a wix or baldwin oil filter, use only the filters listed in the attached tables (except for loadstar filter applications). Do not use any of their other cross-recommended oil filters on these old v8 gas engines.
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there are a couple other filters worth mentioning but not listed above, and not listed in the attached tables because I have not done the research needed to say more than just passing comments on them . I mention them only because they might apply to someone else’s situation, but they definitely don’t apply to mine .
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8431-l
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First, there is a spin-on stainless steel filter made by a company called pure power - http://gopurepower.com. It is a lifetime spin-on filter that can be disassembled and cleaned as it uses a very fine stainless steel screen mesh filtration media. They also manufacture faa approved aviation filters, and on the surface have some very impressive flow numbers that paper filters cannot achieve. Here are a few quotes from their web site: “multiple patent pending designs… provides for “one-pass” absolute filtering… filtration: sae j1858 tested: 90% more efficient than "throw away" filters… cooler operating temperatures, increased horsepower, extended oil drain intervals, greater oil flow, improved fuel mileage. 100% absolute filtration”. Of course many of these same claims can be made by any good-flowing filter – cooler operating temperatures, increased horsepower, extended oil drain intervals, greater oil flow etc. Although this could be a good race car filter, no actual micron filtration numbers are provided by them. Also could not get a straight answer regarding bypass valve psi rating. They are also the manufacturers of the k & n stainless steel screen mesh oil filters.
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wix 57514
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if you have a show only truck, wix makes a chrome spin-on oil filter, part number 57514 . however, it is for show only as it is intended for small engines of 200 cu . in or less . same claimed rated filtration, flow, etc as our stock 51515 filters, but I don’t know about its ability to properly seal on our engines as it uses a different gasket . best use - after you put your truck on the showroom floor, then put the chrome filter on it .
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wix 51515r
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And finally there are the race car filters, such as the wix 51515r. If you’re looking for that last bit of horsepower, and great flow to keep your high-revving engine well lubricated, this is a filter to consider. Although it has very poor filtration ability, with a 61 nominal micron rating, its rated flow is 28 gallons per minute. By comparison most filters listed above are flow rated at 7 to 9 gallons per minute but our stock engines only pump about 3 gallons per minute.
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and for the sake of completeness, although not heavily researched, my gasoline filter of choice would be either the baldwin bf7633 (2 micron nominal, 5 absolute at 98.11% average efficiency with 651.5 sq in of filtering media capable of holding 25.4 grams of contaminants, and tested with 0 to 50 psi pulses 100,000 times) or the wix 33528 (2 micron nominal, ? absolute, ? efficiency) . this high-capacity spin-on gasoline filter should go between the gas tank and fuel pump . both use wix base part number 24770 . as contrasted to the little plastic or metal in-line gas filters that have between 12 and 140 micron nominal filtering capability and ? absolute filtering capability . in my truck I’ve attached the 24770 / 33528 filter to the firewall below and to the right of the heater box . (next time it will be a baldwin) ;-)
and if your fuel pump has the glass bowl filter attached, that is a 19 nominal micron filter, wix 33943 or baldwin pf859 .
and as for coolant filters, I’ll do an update to this thread or create a new thread in the engine cooling section later as that topic can be much more involved . but you should also consider a quality cooling system filter for maximum protection .
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So is all this over-kill? Perhaps. But then again so is fuel injection on these engines, unless you want the best of the best from these power plants. Or you want the best engine protection insurance money can buy. It’s all about educated choices and I hope I provided you with a few with something as simple as your engine’s oil filtration choices.
<<<<< part 5 continued below >>>>>
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51452
51806
51515
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The next set of filters, the 51452, 51806 and 51515 all seem to be identical filters, except the 51806 has a slightly lower cut-in psi value for its bypass valve, which I think is good for our low oil pressure engines. Therefore application data was the primary determining factor for ranking these filters. Although the 51806 has many off-road truck applications, it should be noted that the 51452 is the filter wix recommends for our IH gas engines. Be sure to read my previous post detailing the application differences between the 51515 and the 51452 filters. If you want the wix recommended truck filter, use the 51452, if you want the same truck filter but with a slightly lower by-pass valve psi cut in point, use the 51806, and if you want to use the same filter but made to passenger car specs, use the 51515. All good filters.
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57515
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the wix non-paper glass media filter, 57515, is supposed to be the equivalent of the 51515 but claims to filter twice as well as any of the paper media filters . this filter could potentially be at the top of the list of wix filters and above many baldwin filters, if actual engineering test data was available for it . however, this data is not available so I cannot recommend it, and it has no applications listed . it’s here primarily because it has the potential, based on its published nominal micron rating and media type . however, if you plot out the beta ratios on a graph, at some point it would seem a filter’s stated nominal micron ratings would be crossed, but with wix, unlike baldwin, it does not happen with all but one of their filter’s beta ratio filter specifications . therefore it would seem either their beta ratios or their stated nominal micron ratings are bogus in most cases, just like their flow rating specifications, as explained earlier . therefore you can see why I cannot recommend this potentially great filter . the filter’s here because I’m sure it could be a great filter for our use, but how good, I cannot say, and wix will not say . with wix, in the quest to find the best filter, I can only recommend filters which include listed applications, and not based just on their partially disclosed, and often-times questionable engineering data alone .
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51515xp
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The 51515xp is touted by their marketing department as the extended performance, or for their diesel applications, extended duty, premium filters because of its extended time period before it needs to be replaced. Of course, when asked directly how it compares with another filter, such as the 51515 or the 57515, they reply with “that information cannot be released” and to just “look at the web site”, which doesn’t tell you any needed technical details. However, through unofficial channels it was learned that the xp line of filters really is only a marketing ploy and that these filters last longer because they don’t filter as well. And that would make sense based on the nominal micron rating compared to their other synthetic filter, the 57515. The 51515xp has a micron rating only equal to their paper filters. It gives you less value, but technically it is extended performance because less particulate will be caught by the filter, so it will last longer. So if you want a good synthetic filter but with only paper filter performance, here it is.
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the filters listed in the tables are only intended for the gasoline IH 304, 345, and 392 engines but there are many other engines, both IH and non-IH that these filters also apply to . in my quest for the best, only the ones in black are my pick as best of the best . but the other part numbers in brown are listed because you May consider some specification they have as more important for your application than I do for my application . hopefully these tables take the mystery out of selecting the best filter for your application . it’s not rocket science, and you really can’t go wrong with any of the filters in the tables, even if I did not select it to be in my best of the best group . I’m sure they are all better than fram and many other similar manufacturers’ filters that are “made” for our engines .
be aware this list of filter recommendations only applies as of right now . any day wix could come clean with their engineering data and publish true specifications . I have seen in other forums where people have documented conflicting specifications released by wix for the same filter . and I found one instance where they had a different spec for the same filter in two different places . and there could be changes made to a particular filter by any manufacturer at any time or a new line of superior filters by any manufacturer could be added at any time . technologies are constantly changing and there could come a day soon when even these filters in this post will become “old technology” or obsolete and replaced by something different and better . nano technologies are still in its infancy, and that opens up a whole new universe of possibilities .
.
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.
Warning: if you use a wix or baldwin oil filter, do not trust their interchange tables. Doing so can do serious damage to your engine. As of the date of this post, some of their web site interchange recommendations are still wrong! If you use a wix or baldwin oil filter, use only the filters listed in the attached tables (except for loadstar filter applications). Do not use any of their other cross-recommended oil filters on these old v8 gas engines.
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there are a couple other filters worth mentioning but not listed above, and not listed in the attached tables because I have not done the research needed to say more than just passing comments on them . I mention them only because they might apply to someone else’s situation, but they definitely don’t apply to mine .
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8431-l
.
First, there is a spin-on stainless steel filter made by a company called pure power - http://gopurepower.com. It is a lifetime spin-on filter that can be disassembled and cleaned as it uses a very fine stainless steel screen mesh filtration media. They also manufacture faa approved aviation filters, and on the surface have some very impressive flow numbers that paper filters cannot achieve. Here are a few quotes from their web site: “multiple patent pending designs… provides for “one-pass” absolute filtering… filtration: sae j1858 tested: 90% more efficient than "throw away" filters… cooler operating temperatures, increased horsepower, extended oil drain intervals, greater oil flow, improved fuel mileage. 100% absolute filtration”. Of course many of these same claims can be made by any good-flowing filter – cooler operating temperatures, increased horsepower, extended oil drain intervals, greater oil flow etc. Although this could be a good race car filter, no actual micron filtration numbers are provided by them. Also could not get a straight answer regarding bypass valve psi rating. They are also the manufacturers of the k & n stainless steel screen mesh oil filters.
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wix 57514
.
if you have a show only truck, wix makes a chrome spin-on oil filter, part number 57514 . however, it is for show only as it is intended for small engines of 200 cu . in or less . same claimed rated filtration, flow, etc as our stock 51515 filters, but I don’t know about its ability to properly seal on our engines as it uses a different gasket . best use - after you put your truck on the showroom floor, then put the chrome filter on it .
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wix 51515r
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And finally there are the race car filters, such as the wix 51515r. If you’re looking for that last bit of horsepower, and great flow to keep your high-revving engine well lubricated, this is a filter to consider. Although it has very poor filtration ability, with a 61 nominal micron rating, its rated flow is 28 gallons per minute. By comparison most filters listed above are flow rated at 7 to 9 gallons per minute but our stock engines only pump about 3 gallons per minute.
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and for the sake of completeness, although not heavily researched, my gasoline filter of choice would be either the baldwin bf7633 (2 micron nominal, 5 absolute at 98.11% average efficiency with 651.5 sq in of filtering media capable of holding 25.4 grams of contaminants, and tested with 0 to 50 psi pulses 100,000 times) or the wix 33528 (2 micron nominal, ? absolute, ? efficiency) . this high-capacity spin-on gasoline filter should go between the gas tank and fuel pump . both use wix base part number 24770 . as contrasted to the little plastic or metal in-line gas filters that have between 12 and 140 micron nominal filtering capability and ? absolute filtering capability . in my truck I’ve attached the 24770 / 33528 filter to the firewall below and to the right of the heater box . (next time it will be a baldwin) ;-)
and if your fuel pump has the glass bowl filter attached, that is a 19 nominal micron filter, wix 33943 or baldwin pf859 .
and as for coolant filters, I’ll do an update to this thread or create a new thread in the engine cooling section later as that topic can be much more involved . but you should also consider a quality cooling system filter for maximum protection .
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So is all this over-kill? Perhaps. But then again so is fuel injection on these engines, unless you want the best of the best from these power plants. Or you want the best engine protection insurance money can buy. It’s all about educated choices and I hope I provided you with a few with something as simple as your engine’s oil filtration choices.
<<<<< part 5 continued below >>>>>
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overdrivesteve
Member
And know these filters May plug up sooner than the filter you are presently using if it filters finer and filters more contaminants out of your oil than your present oil filter. So initially when converting to some of these filters, it’s possible you May want to change the filter more than once between oil changes. The best way to monitor your filter’s status is to install an accurate oil pressure gauge. And when you see a 4 to 5 psi drop compared to the time the filter is first installed, you will know it is time to change the filter as soon the by-pass valve will be doing its thing, and because of the by-pass valve, you will not notice a drop in pressure much beyond that. And remember its always best to fill an oil filter with oil prior to installing your new filter so the time the engine is running without full oil pressure is kept to a minimum.
I would like to conclude with a quote from jeremy wright of noria corp, a well-known and factual reference on anything related to lubrication, “it May cost a few extra dollars in the beginning, but there have been multiple case studies on the effect of the cleanliness of the oil affecting component life to the tune of three to four times the life extension of the engine.
Ask yourself the next time you are standing in front of a store shelf full of engine oil filters … “is it worth a few extra dollars to me now to save an expensive rebuild down the road?” ”
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Disclaimer:
I am neither a professional engineer nor a member of the society of automotive engineers, or a professional mechanic. Therefore my opinions expressed are not professionally held and should not hold any more weight than any other person’s uneducated opinion.
This post is only for the education and enjoyment of IH enthusiasts.
and so why did I do all this? For a couple reasons. First , I’m new to the IH world of trucks. And I did not seem to find any definitive answers as to which oil filter is best. It all seemed to be circumstantial or anecdotal evidence such as “I’ve always used this one” and someone else stating “but I’ve found that one to be better”. But never this one or that one is best because it filters the most efficiently, capturing the smallest contaminants, or most contaminants, or flows the best with the least pressure drop, etc. So after I found my answers, I wanted to put something together for the education and use of all IH enthusiasts because I wanted to give back to the community that has helped me so much with my project truck. And won't you have an answer the next time someone innocently asks, "what filter do you think I should use?"
thank you all for the help, support, advice and motivation throughout this forum, thereby keeping my project on track.
Steve
this concludes part 5 of this 5-part post.
<<<<< end of post >>>>>
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I would like to conclude with a quote from jeremy wright of noria corp, a well-known and factual reference on anything related to lubrication, “it May cost a few extra dollars in the beginning, but there have been multiple case studies on the effect of the cleanliness of the oil affecting component life to the tune of three to four times the life extension of the engine.
Ask yourself the next time you are standing in front of a store shelf full of engine oil filters … “is it worth a few extra dollars to me now to save an expensive rebuild down the road?” ”
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Disclaimer:
I am neither a professional engineer nor a member of the society of automotive engineers, or a professional mechanic. Therefore my opinions expressed are not professionally held and should not hold any more weight than any other person’s uneducated opinion.
This post is only for the education and enjoyment of IH enthusiasts.
and so why did I do all this? For a couple reasons. First , I’m new to the IH world of trucks. And I did not seem to find any definitive answers as to which oil filter is best. It all seemed to be circumstantial or anecdotal evidence such as “I’ve always used this one” and someone else stating “but I’ve found that one to be better”. But never this one or that one is best because it filters the most efficiently, capturing the smallest contaminants, or most contaminants, or flows the best with the least pressure drop, etc. So after I found my answers, I wanted to put something together for the education and use of all IH enthusiasts because I wanted to give back to the community that has helped me so much with my project truck. And won't you have an answer the next time someone innocently asks, "what filter do you think I should use?"
thank you all for the help, support, advice and motivation throughout this forum, thereby keeping my project on track.
Steve
this concludes part 5 of this 5-part post.
<<<<< end of post >>>>>
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Scoutboy74
Moderator
Very well done steve. Thank you for putting so much time and effort into this research topic.
overdrivesteve
Member
with your permission, I'm going to share this with my club! Mostly Jeep 4.0l, but I see a lot here that May help them, too. Our group is pretty hard equipment, so this is a good thread for some of them to study! Thanks for the effort, and I hope more of the gang reads it
Hi, you're all welcome.
And yes, that's fine with me. The info is for everyone's use.
Steve
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overdrivesteve
Member
Hi,
just thought I'd post a couple pictures of the fuel filter I added to my truck. I spoke a little about them on the previous page - how it has between 2 micron nominal and 5 micron absolute filtering, and holds 25 grams of dirt, rust, etc as opposed to the little inline filter people usually use that has a big 140 micron nominal filter rating and unknown absolute filter rating.
I must admit I have not had any more stuck-open carb float needles since installing this filter, and I have never cleaned out my gas tank, and by the looks of it, neither has the previous owner. I run my truck at least once every other week.
The last picture is of a little fuel / water separator filter I added to the carb's inlet. It let's me see if there is any moisture in the fuel, and the general condition / color of the gas.
Steve
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just thought I'd post a couple pictures of the fuel filter I added to my truck. I spoke a little about them on the previous page - how it has between 2 micron nominal and 5 micron absolute filtering, and holds 25 grams of dirt, rust, etc as opposed to the little inline filter people usually use that has a big 140 micron nominal filter rating and unknown absolute filter rating.
I must admit I have not had any more stuck-open carb float needles since installing this filter, and I have never cleaned out my gas tank, and by the looks of it, neither has the previous owner. I run my truck at least once every other week.
The last picture is of a little fuel / water separator filter I added to the carb's inlet. It let's me see if there is any moisture in the fuel, and the general condition / color of the gas.
Steve
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Wow, quite a bit of research there steve. You've certainly done a lot of homework. I never would have thought of filter ruggedness until you brought the difference in street vs offroad, gas vs diesel.
The main thing that filter specifications fail to tell, though some do, besides efficiency in % and arrestance in grams of dirt holding power is how long they last. Some advertising says 100% absolute, absolute at what micron? Boulders or pebbles? Some boxes I've read claim 99%, then in fine print it's at 25 or 30 micron, then 90 or 92% at 10 or 15 micron. We never get the oil really clean, but a filter can keep the dirt levels low enough that the dilution of it per oil charge won't cause high rates of wear. Or, to put it another way, a good filter cleans the oil just enough to put it ahead of the rate dirt is entering. The particle size most responsible for engine bearing wear is in the 10-20 micron range.
The media itself is not linear spaces of discrete dimension, but actually a mix or large and small pores of all shapes. Various types of forces are at work to restrict non fluid particles, the main thing that is depended on is impingement. Just the oil changing direction through the pores causes the dirt to get flung out of the stream and stuck on a fiber. Imagine pouring sand on a big random, unstacked pile of logs. A lot of sand gets trapped just piling up on the tops of the logs. Same thing happens in a filter. The larger particles get trapped in the pores too small to let them pass, like dropping boulders on the same log pile. Some stuff just gets through, now it's like dropping golf balls on that same log pile, some get stuck in the crevices and some just bounce through. How long it all lasts can depend on oil quality, driving and vehicle use. Stop and go driving really piles up the contaminates. Some testing done in 1965 showed that filter life lasted about 2,500 miles give or take a few, then intervals from that; based not on pressure drop or relief valves lifting but at the engine wear rate that occurred. What was found was that the smaller pores that provided the finest filtration filled up first, leaving only the larger pores to just strain big dirt.
Good homgenous media, and lots of it, is not cheap. Neither is a good construction and valves to hold it. I doubt much has changed in filtering for the consumer since 65, and seeing that I feel safe with my oil lasting maybe 4 or 5k miles as it is not stop 'n go; 2 filter changes is a good way to keep it clean that long. The single biggest factor that owners of very high mileage engines that still work good and don't smoke has been consistent regular oil/filter changes and maintenance. In answer to the 1st question, yes there are "grades" or economy vs premium. More media, higher efficiency, ruggedness will have a slightly higher cost than "standard" or economy. Thanks for the part numbers steve!
The next biggest single source of engine dirt is the induction; how about those air filters?
The main thing that filter specifications fail to tell, though some do, besides efficiency in % and arrestance in grams of dirt holding power is how long they last. Some advertising says 100% absolute, absolute at what micron? Boulders or pebbles? Some boxes I've read claim 99%, then in fine print it's at 25 or 30 micron, then 90 or 92% at 10 or 15 micron. We never get the oil really clean, but a filter can keep the dirt levels low enough that the dilution of it per oil charge won't cause high rates of wear. Or, to put it another way, a good filter cleans the oil just enough to put it ahead of the rate dirt is entering. The particle size most responsible for engine bearing wear is in the 10-20 micron range.
The media itself is not linear spaces of discrete dimension, but actually a mix or large and small pores of all shapes. Various types of forces are at work to restrict non fluid particles, the main thing that is depended on is impingement. Just the oil changing direction through the pores causes the dirt to get flung out of the stream and stuck on a fiber. Imagine pouring sand on a big random, unstacked pile of logs. A lot of sand gets trapped just piling up on the tops of the logs. Same thing happens in a filter. The larger particles get trapped in the pores too small to let them pass, like dropping boulders on the same log pile. Some stuff just gets through, now it's like dropping golf balls on that same log pile, some get stuck in the crevices and some just bounce through. How long it all lasts can depend on oil quality, driving and vehicle use. Stop and go driving really piles up the contaminates. Some testing done in 1965 showed that filter life lasted about 2,500 miles give or take a few, then intervals from that; based not on pressure drop or relief valves lifting but at the engine wear rate that occurred. What was found was that the smaller pores that provided the finest filtration filled up first, leaving only the larger pores to just strain big dirt.
Good homgenous media, and lots of it, is not cheap. Neither is a good construction and valves to hold it. I doubt much has changed in filtering for the consumer since 65, and seeing that I feel safe with my oil lasting maybe 4 or 5k miles as it is not stop 'n go; 2 filter changes is a good way to keep it clean that long. The single biggest factor that owners of very high mileage engines that still work good and don't smoke has been consistent regular oil/filter changes and maintenance. In answer to the 1st question, yes there are "grades" or economy vs premium. More media, higher efficiency, ruggedness will have a slightly higher cost than "standard" or economy. Thanks for the part numbers steve!
Do you have an extra deep or high capacity pan?
Affinia filtration is a part of affinia group, a holding company that also includes wix and brands that were under Dana corp before it's spiral downward. Tooling and product haven't changed, they make the house brands for napa, carquest, acdelco. Clarcor, baldwin, purolator, and donaldson are still their own and going strong.
The next biggest single source of engine dirt is the induction; how about those air filters?
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overdrivesteve
Member
I think its implied that they will last until it reaches its maximum dirt holding capacity, however long that is. And that's the unknown. The best we can do is to monitor the oil pressure drop with a good mechanical oil pressure gauge and once the oil pressure is reading about 5 psi less than when the filter was new, then its time to change the filter.
So true....
So true, and very confusing for filter comparisons. But the beta ratio specs address this inconsistency. I had another couple pages written up on just beta ratios, what they realistically mean, how they're calculated, how to graph and extend their graph to cover the entire filtering spectrum of a particular filter, etc. But I thought the post was already too long to hold most people's attention, so I just completely deleted that long part of the post. Plus it really didn't matter as most of the beta ratio information supplied by wix is bogus anyway, it just would not graph out properly. Only their 51459 filter came anywhere close. And from a subjective viewpoint, it just doesn't make sense that nearly all the wix filters have the same beta ratios, from their small 3 inch filter on up.
I don't have my notes handy, but generally speaking when a spec lists absolute micron size, that means 98% of all contaminants that size or larger will be caught by the filter (until it reaches its maximum holding capacity). That's why I like to look for the largest filter with the smallest absolute micron spec possible.
Yeah, I agree with all that. And combustion does put a never-ending supply of new contaminants into the oil.
I agree. The wix extended performance filter 51515xp is a good example of that - it lasts longer because the holes are on purposely larger.
That's why I try to go with the largest filter that has the smallest absolute micron rating specification.
I don't agree with that. Recently, with the use of new nano-technology, the all synthetic filter is very much improved over the previous paper/cellulose filter. Both baldwin and wix each had two synthetic filters applicable to our engines with the baldwin b7311-mpg coming in far superior to any other filter, and the two wix synthetic filters coming in last only because they had no specs or applications listed for them, so their performance is really unknown.
Below is a picture of traditional cellulose filter media and the newer synthetic nano-technology filter media. The red dots represent in size a 2 micron and 5 micron particle. This was taken with a scanning electron microscope magnified 1000 times. Unfortunately these newer synthetic filters cost about double what a traditional filter costs.
First picture is of a cellulose/paper oil filter media, compared to a synthetic oil filter media.
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yes, exactly, I totally agree with all you just said !
yes, and I wish there was some way to track down the original use or origin of this engine . is there some serial number somewhere on this engine unique only to this engine assembly ? the po told me it came from some old low mileage military vehicle, but who really knows .
here's a picture of my very deep oil pan, with less than two inches clearance to my tie rod
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yes, I started researching air filters too . although there are thousands of different ones, for the most part we really are limited to what will fit under the hood and in our air filter housing . if you have a choice, get the air filter made for a truck application and not a car application, especially not a high performance car or race car . the truck filter, although the appearance will be the same as for a car, will do a much better job of filtering finer particles . also note the cfm rating of an air filter is different from the cfm rating of a carburetor - completely different scale and unrelated rating specs so don't even try to match them together when choosing an air filter assembly .
thanks .
steve
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overdrivesteve
Member
Hi,
I believe it's an old style loadstar type oil pan, but not sure. It's about 9 1/2 inches deep at the front, and the front sump part goes back about 9 1/2 inches, a little less at the bottom, and a little more at the top of the sump hang-down. If you count the drain plug, and pan part around the drain plug, it would be a little deeper than 9 1/2 inches but the tie rod has pushed (squished) that part of the pan upward, so the drain plug is even with the rest of the pan's bottom. Makes it very difficult to fit a socket to change oil. Eventually hope to upgrade to a Dana 70 so the tie rod will be behind the axle, like in the picture below.
