Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Hello,

I have a 63-1/2 degree adapter on my O-320. The adaper just screws on where the oil filter goes and because of the 63-1/2 degree angle points the filter cost to vertical. I was changing the filter and I would like the adapter to be a little tighter on the engine. I thought a new seal may do the trick. Anyone have any idea on where I may be able to find a seal like this? I thought maybe I could use the seal out of an oil filter but it is a little bit to big of a diamiter. I thought an O-ring may be an option but not sure I can find one thick enough. I have uloaded images to my gallery.

I may have to leave the adapter off for this oil change in order to get to The Valley.

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

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Matt Smith
Des Moines, IA
55RC

Matt: I think you need to find the correct adapter and the filter that will fit . You need an adapter that can be rotated to the correct position for the filter . Have you tried a smaller filter in length ?

RB

If you can’t make the adaptor work for now you can keep the bird in the air by screwing a K&N HP1009 fliter on. It will fit the Lycoming filter base and clear the “A” frame.

Lou

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http://www.dixiefriedfabrication.com/

Matt, I am about the last person who should be giving advice on here, but I would like to offer you something to think about. If you have to do some tweaking with your current set up, think about installing the remote oil filter system Rich has on his plane. I followed his lead on that and having that oil filter at the side of the plane where I can reach it is outstanding.

I mounted the filter on the drivers side firewall, when changing the filter I put a ziplock around the filter and un screw it , no oily mess.

Thanks Lou for the K&N filter number. No one around here stocks K&N oil filters. Although someone was able to cross reference to a WIX filter. Hold on, no one worry, I did not put the wix filter on my Thorp, however I was able to take the seal off the filter and use that for my replacement seal for my adapter. The adapter is tight with the filter straight down and I did a test run and no leaks. It didn't leak before but it was not tight enough to suit me.

This adapter has been working great for, I assume, 24 years and 1365 hours. No hoses or plugs to leak, and puts the filter in an easy to reach location and almost vertical.

I will try the ziplock bag next time I remove the filter.

Thanks everyone.

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Matt Smith
Des Moines, IA
55RC

I used up my last K&N HP1009 oil filter, and they do not appear to be available any more.

Are you folks having the same problem? Has anyone found a good quality replacement that is known to work in our application?

D

Dick,
It depends on your filter mount, I use K&N HP-2005 filter on a remote mount, no restriction on length.

Take a look at the K&N HP-2004 height of 4.0" similar to the HP-1009 height 3.5"

Some where on the web, probably the K&N site, there is a table of K&N filter specifications, I don't have a link.

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Bruce Finney
N18JF T-18C #262
Yelm, WA USA

I buy HP 2008 filters from Summit Racing. When you buy 10 or so, it mitigates the shipping and makes them cheaper than local auto parts stores.
Cubes