Oil Filter cutter

[Michael C Henry]

Has anyone seen an oil filter cutter,so the pleats can be examined? Who sell same?

[Ibr8k4vetts]

I have always used a utility knife, but be carefull
Mike

[Richard Hudgins]

Michael,

Check out Andy Duns build site .

He is the King of filter cutting. (and other destructive testing methods.)

[Clois Harlan]

Richard,

If you know how to contact Andy Dunn let him know that he is not alone in has mis-fortune. I too made that costly mistake. I had my remote oil filter "in" and "out" lines crossed. I had my oil pan off and two or three times because I thought the oil pump was not working. Long story short I ended up replacing three pistons, all my rings, all my bearings, and I had to turn a brand new steel crank .010 to clean it up. I am still pissed off at my ignorance. I have about $10,000.00 in this engine. I can't believe how I kept over looking the oil lines.

Looking back I had a lot of signals eg: noisey lifters, no oil flow to heads, above normal temps etc. I replaced the lifters, the oil pump and pickup, rocker arms, push rods,cams, oil filters, oil pressure sending unit, I flet like a dog chassing his tail.

Since most of us don't build engines every day we need to be extra careful when installing different accessories. I had this same set up installed on my old 302 engine and it worked just like it was supposed to. I never thought I could make such a dumb mistake.

[Andy Dunn]

Clois, thank you for sharing your story with me and others. I feel just as you did. I was chasing my tail for months. It is a tricky problem to diagnose. I am now in the process of what you just described of finding out which parts are toast and which parts can be saved. At the dyno this week, I told the operator my tale of woe. He said I was not the first, nor will I be the last. My hope is that our stories might help future cobra builders. I was joking with Richard this week when reading through my huge build note binder that I assemble with all parts literature. In the back, and a tiny piece of dark read paper it said "failure to follow all instructions may restrict oil flow entirely and result in severe engine damage or failure to your engine or transmission". I wish it had been on giant paper, fluorescent orange, and 2" type. Here is a recent picture of my bearings - barely a spec of surface material left...I am shocked the engine even ran.
http://www.cobralads.com/bearings/MVC-732S.JPG.html

Michael! A great tool is an oil filter cutter opener. I held back from buying one since they seem pricey, but I now feel they are well worth the money. The filter cutter actually was the final key to me discovering what had occured in my engines. Without me describing that there was bearing material "inside" the pleates, rather than "outside" like normal, the mystery might still not have been solved. Grover the engineer picked up on this and saved engine 3. There are many makes and models of cutters. I liked a Tavia unit

http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerc...30&prmenbr=361


I found a unit recently that looks excellent and has been reviewed by flying mags
http://www.airwolf.com/Products/Oil-Filter-Cutter.htm



hope this info helps

Andy

[Mr.Fixit]

Tavia makes one, very nice all billit aluminum, about $60, I loaned mine out about a year ago, never got it back.