Full Flow Oil Filter Adapter - Pressure-Relief
- Price: $587.00 plus tax and shipping (complete Kit)
- DIY Installation Kit Price: $49.00 plus tax and shipping
- Availability: In stock now
- Please note that the DIY Kit is NOT required for installation of the Full Flow or Remote kits. It is designed as an aid to the hobbyist who is inexperienced in layout and probably doesn't have gaskets on hand. If your engine is out of the car or apart for service, the DIY kit will be of little help.
Why you should care about clean oil
Clean oil means longer engine life and lower rebuild costs.
In the 1920s, some race cars ran 'total-loss' lube systems. The oil lubed the bearings and fell out the bottom. The engines were rebuilt for each race, and contaminates fell out the bottom before they could cause problems.
By the 1950s, all cars (mostly) contained the oil (and the contaminates) in the sump and the idea of filtration became a good idea, if you could find a place to hang the can and run the lines. That's what Porsche and most other factories did, known as "by-pass" filtration as only some small part of the circulating oil went through the filter. In the case of 356s, approximately 92% of the oil passes through each cycle without filtration. Cars (and engines) got badges for 60,000 mile durability.
By the introduction of the T-6 cars, air filtration had improved greatly but oil was left with an 8% filtration rate for each passage. For very good business reasons, Porsche left it that way for the remainder of the 356 production.
By the 1980s oil was 100% filtered in almost all automobiles; 100,000 miles durability was considered minimum durability.
We don't have Porsche's business reasons to leave our 356s alone, and we have every reason to keep our cars healthy. Good filtration is important on a new engine and it can extend the life of high-mileage engines. Like the old saw about when you should plant a tree, it's either 20 years ago or now.
There are several methods of fitting Full Flow Filters to a 356 engine (PDF) (see Registry VX, #Y); some require 'standard' race car parts and quite a bit of modification to the engine cases. Others require 356-specific parts and less modification. Ours are designed to require the least possible modifications and deliver the best possible results.
Our Full Flow and Remote adapters are fitted with minimal modifications to the engine and the engine can be returned to original appearance and function by removal of the adapter and replacement of stock parts.
The photo on the left shows the stock pump cavity. The one on the right shows the notch required to fit a Pre Mat Adapter. No other modifications are required.
Our Full Flow systems fit post-1960 engines with stock mufflers and electric tachometers. Our Remote adapter fits the same but fit with 'custom' exhaust systems.
Noise is a consideration. Our Remote adapter (and any system employing hoses and separate component mounts) will transmit noise in tune with the gear rotation. If you are 'plumbing' to separate filters and/or coolers, design with resilient mounts as best you can. Our Full Flow adapters are silent in that they employ both the engine mass and the resilient engine mounts to dampen the sound. Charles Navarro has found a way to plumb a cooler into the Full Flow adapter if you find that to be a requirement.
We offer the several alternatives to suit various applications, but these notes apply to all; let's call it a definition of "best practice".
Best practice in fitting any new pump cover means removing the timing cover, fitting the pump cover and confirming there is no binding in the pump gear rotation.
Fitting a new pump cover (either an aftermarket or a factory part) to an existing oil pump does not carry a guarantee that the pump gears will be properly aligned. Our Adapters are machined to factory dimensions, but the pin holes in the cases do vary. So a 'factory' or any 'aftermarket' pump cover using pin-location may not align with the pin holes in your timing cover.
Further, some pump gears are eccentric and require 'timing'. This is obvious when rotating the gears shows binding at one particular part of the rotation. If you find this, look at the back end of the gears for a 'spot' and rotate that 'spot' to another engagement point with its mate. I don't think the factory put those 'spots' on the gears for fun.
While we offer the DIY Kit to allow fitting of the Adapters 'in-situ', we do so with the buyer understanding the above. The risk is there, but we believe it is small: In the (now) 200 or so Adapters in use, approximately half of those were installed 'in-situ', without removing the timing cover. Of those approximate 100, none has resulted in any known damage.