Canton Billet Oil Filter - Thoughts?

[CV355]

Paging CJShaker- I found an old thread of yours from 2014 where you were reviewing the Canton billet oil filter.  7 years later, do you still like it?  Any long term concerns with the anti-bypass feature?

Anyone else have input on one of these?

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ctr-25-464

[bobb428]

I have one of there originals. I found it was easier just to go get a Ford filter versus ordering a element each time. I am curios to know others comments as well.

DSC_0020 by Bob Smith, on Flickr

[GerryP]

Fine for drag racing.  Not so good for a street car.  The problem is that without the bypass, all of the oil must pass filtration.  That's not easy when the oil is cold and thick or the engine is at higher rpm.  If you can't get that oil through the filter media, the engine oil starves.  With a bypass, the bypass will open to allow oil to bypass the filter media and keep the engine alive.  You should know that you are not usually filtering oil when the oil is cold or the oil flow exceeds the filter's capacity to pass it through the media.  The problem with older oiling systems is that the pump has to be big enough to move sufficient volume at low rpm.  But this means that at higher rpm, it pumps too much.  Once you have a differential of around 10PSI, the bypass opens and passes unfiltered oil.  That "higher rpm" is different for different engines.  You can figure you're in bypass at around 3kRPM, but the valve will flutter in and out.  So, there is always some filtering, but that also means there is some no-filtering.

There is just no way that filter can run 45GPM with an 8 micron filter.  Maybe if the filter was the size of a refrigerator you could get that flow.  Most regular fiber filters run in the 20 to 40 micron filtering range and they have a bypass.

If you are interested in a non-bypass filter, I would recommend the Oberg 8" with a 60 micron screen and a tattletale sensor.  Yes, they are very expensive.  The tattletale is very important.  It lets you know the filter is packing up.  If you ignore it, it will eventually just block oil flow and your engine will die.  You will find you have to attend to a non-bypass filter system more than you would normally since the filter has to stay fairly clean and you don't have the same filtration area.  If it were me, I'd just run a good quality traditional bypass filter.

[gregaba]

I remember in the 60's that there was a big deal about the non bypass filters.
People were buying non Ford filters and blowing engines.
Dad lost 2 of his 427's to oil stravition.
He found out later that at that time only Ford and Wix sold their filters with a bypass.
There was even a artical in Hot Rod about it around 63 or 64.
Greg

[philminotti]

I used a Jomar non bypass filter for the break-in period on both of my FE builds... Seemed to make sense to me for that purpose.

[cjshaker]

I've been very happy with mine. I buy the cartridges in boxes of 6, so I never really have to wait on one to do an oil change. I also keep a few of the O-ring seals handy.

As with a lot of things, opinions can vary greatly on the benefits and drawbacks of using these filters. I really really don't like the idea of unfiltered oil going through the engine. It's just my opinion, but when that by-pass opens, how many particles and junk is it carrying with it that were trapped in the filter? When there's a sudden rush of fluid, it tends to carry previously latent material with it. I see that as a big negative. I do know that a lot of guys don't have any issue running bypass filters, and I run them on all my regular FE's. The Mustang gets a lot of street miles, but also sees a fair amount of racing. When doing Drag Week, it'd get 1000 street miles and 7 or so runs down the 1/4 in a week, so I wanted the best filtering I could get, and I didn't want a bypass possibly sending junk into the engine before a 200-300 mile trek.

As for not flowing when it's cold, I crank my engine for 5-6 seconds and then I start to see the needle move. At that point, I know there's oil flowing into the engine. Then I fire the engine and the pressure comes up right away. I don't see any issue with cold flow, even with the 15w-40 that I run. I've also used a straight 30w with the same results. But I do NOT rev the engine at all until I see the temp come up to about 140 or so. I keep it at a low idle until then.

The filter itself is a fiber mesh that is wrapped and layered in about 4-5 wrappings, so there is plenty of surface area. I have yet to see the first layer get any amount of debris to affect flow or pressure, and if somebody were getting enough of anything in the media to allow pressure to drop, on ANY filter, then you have much bigger issues, or you're simply not changing it often enough. No filter should ever get to that point except for 2 reasons. 1: You're pushing a lot of crud through the engine, or 2: you're going years on end, or thousands and thousands of miles above what you should be, without changing it. Neither of those is acceptable.

I have a Moroso Accumulator that I'm going to install, which would pressurize the system before starting and eliminate me even having to crank on it for several seconds.

[gregaba]

The Moroso Accumulator is a great piece of equipment and you won't regreat installing it.
Greg

[cammerfe]

I have used a Mecca Accumulator and an Oberg filter for many years on my FE engines. Part of the starting procedure is to trip the switch to dump the oil in the Mecca to pressurize the engine. One of the nice things about an Oberg filter is being able to see, at regular intervals, what is going through your engine. It only takes five minutes to pull the corner bolts out of the Oberg, spray off the screen---I use gasket remover spray---and do the same thing to both halves of the filter body. Then you put the bolts back. And you don't even have to get under the car.

KS

[fekbmax]

+1 on oberg filter. (Racing)

[blykins]

I use System One filters on my high end stuff.  It has a removable/washable element and an oil temp sending unit port on the top.