Running without an oil Filter.

Moriazbane

Sharpest Tool
Jan 27, 2017
308
Mount Vernon IL
First Name
Scott
Willys Model
  1. Jeepster
Willys Year:
  1. 1948
My '48 flathead was rebuilt (in '95) but never run when I got it. It runs great now, and I did change oil about a month after I got it running. (very low time though) and I've been changing it in the Spring ever since. I just use it to run to town on pavement, and though I bought an original style filter at a swap meet off who knows what, I haven't put it on because my thinking is, it isn't a full flow anyway, and I'm not using it in dusty conditions, and it has run since '48 this way, why fix it? Thoughts?
 
I think you're fine, doing what you're doing.

Most engines had no oil filter before WWII, and they were an option for essentially everybody until the mid-1950's, or later. And the optional filter, as you say, was not full-flow at that. With the non-detergent oils of the time, contaminants were expected to "settle out." That's why it's normal and not a bad thing when you drop the pan on an old engine to find an inch of sludge.

With the increasing performance and RPMs into the 60's, and the advent of full flow filters and the use of detergent oil to keep the contaminants in suspension so the filter could capture them, then it matters far more.
 
The first thing I would do with a fresh engine is get an oil drain plug with a magnet. That will catch a lot of the minute the iron shavings that come with breaking in a fresh engine. I would change oil at 4 to 500miles then once a year or at 1500 miles which ever comes first. In addition use a an additive or oil with zinc.
 
Bad idea, Even a by-pass filter is better than no filter, and the small amount of oil is bypassed is not going to drop your oil pressure...Phil
 
In 1964 I purchased my first Jeep. A 1947 CJ2A from a farmer in Oklahoma. I did not ask questions, did not know that I needed the history of the Jeep. Never named it but drove it for six years and have really good memories of that Jeep. It did not have an oil filter. The one time I dropped the pan there was a layer of thick sludge on the bottom. The head on the block had script Ford in an oval. Original to the Jeep or a replacement I do not know.
Oil filters have changed over the years. The filters on my TJ and Chevy pickup are much smaller than the one on my 64CJ5 F head.
If you are happy with out an oil filter, ok. If you want an oil filter, go for it. Its your Jeep, your rules.
 
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