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Remote mounted oil filters

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Act Three

Contributing Member
Getting a little tired on unscrewing the block-mounted oil filters on my Chrysler 360s and having at least some of the oil drool out into an aluminum roasting pan covered with diapers under the engines. My bilge still has some old oil in it from 30 years of someone changing the oil this way.

I've got two remote filter adapters for these engines and two filter brackets. I'm having a local shop make up four really good quality hoses to run from the blocks to the filters. My plan is to mount the filters on the stringers aft of the engines, offset by an inch or more, so that when I drop the filters into the old aluminum pan, nothing will be spilled.

The hoses from the filter adapter to the new filter location will be fairly long, 48-inches on one side to 60 inches on the other. That will increase my oil capacity a little. I'll support the hoses where needed.

Am I missing anything here? Any reason why this won't work or why it is not a good idea?

Bill
 
Not all remote assemblies are created equal, cheapies restrict flow. Make sure it's a reputable brand rated for your application. Do you have engine oil coolers? Now would be a good time to consider this if you don't.
 
Two problems with them: It takes longer to achieve oil pressure at cold start (gotta take it easy), and there's more places for an oil leak.

Jeff
 
Thanks for the comments. I put remote filters on my previous boat (a 32 ft. Chris Craft) and it did take a little longer for the oil pressure to come up. On a cold start, you do have to take it easy and I always did. I never did have any leaks, although you have to be careful mounting all the hoses.

I'm having the hoses made up by a local shop that fabricates hydraulic hoses. The hoses are pricey but probably well worth it since there are no hose clamps involved. When they made the hoses for my old boat, they warned me that the new hoses had to be supported properly, since even really good quality hose will sag a little when it heats up. This time, I asked them to put right-angle fittings on the filter ends of the hoses but they told me that was a bad idea, since those fittings add restriction.

I'll finish this job over the next few weeks and let you know how it turns out.

Bill
 
I finished the installation of the remote oil filter on the starboard side yesterday. That side uses two 40-inch hoses. The filter is now mounted on an inboard stringer in front of the engine (V-drives so that's the stern of the boat) with enough room to simply unscrew the filer and drop it in a pan. I filled the oil filter before installing it but it still took about four very long seconds for the hoses to fill and the pressure to come up when I started the engine. On subsequent starts, the pressure came up much more quickly.

That was the easy side. The port side has very tight access so that one is going to take more time. Probably a lot more time hanging over the top of the engine and doing everything by feel.

Bill
 
There are pre-oilers available if the pressure delay worries you. These will pressurize the system before running the engine. Several makes available; do a web search. Don't know where you boat but the colder the temp, the worse the delay in pressure.
 
fastjeff said:
Two problems with them: It takes longer to achieve oil pressure at cold start (gotta take it easy), and there's more places for an oil leak.
Click to expand...
Jeff, I'll give you the second one. :)

As to the cold start and oil pressure; I'd say that this is a greater concern during/after an oil change than at any other time.

Basically, there is nothing for the oil pump supply side and the oil journal side of the remote lines to bleed out into, as long as the cartridge is in place!
During an oil change the new cartridge will be pre-filled, and will be installed quickly!

This may pose a small issue if the filter cartridge base was mounted low in elevation and if the cartridge was not replaced quickly enough.
But once done, you're home free there after until the next oil change.
IOW, from cold start to cold start..... it would require a breach (of some sort) in order for the lines to become void of oil that may cause any system oil starvation.

Ditto the use of the correct components.
Filter cartridge size can be increased also.

.
 
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the pipes on my starboard engine are 5 ft long, takes maybe 5 seconds after an oil change to build pressure,the filters are mounted on the rear bulk head, had the units on for at least 8 yrs, never had a problem
 
pete31 said:
........... takes maybe 5 seconds after an oil change to build pressure, ................ had the units on for at least 8 yrs, never had a problem
Click to expand...
And I'll bet that in the interum (between oil changes), there is no noticeable delay in pressure!
That's the nature of Hydraulics! :D
 
Jegs or Summit Racing (on-line) sells a pre-oiler kit for race cars. It stores a quart or so of oil at shutdown and uses that to pre-oil the motor at cold start. You could also add some Lucas oil additive (similar to but far superior to STP) to protect the bearings during cranking. My old RV engine used to rattle and bang like crazy after sitting a few weeks, but the Lucas stuff totally eliminated that.

Jeff
 
I completed the remote filter installation on the port engine and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Before the boat came out of the water, I had a chance to run it a few times and get the engines up to temp. Now, there's virtually no lag in developing oil pressure on a cold or warm start-up.

Just being able to unscrew and drop the old filters into a container will save me a lot of difficult cleanup of spilled oil in the bilge. The cost of the two remote filters was about $100, most of that going into making up custom hydraulic hoses. No labor charges except the beer I had as the engines warmed up.

Bill
 
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