I am wondering if someone can fill me in on how i would know if my truck came with an oil bath or paper air cleaner? I have both with the truck. Which is better? I am unfamiliar with oil bath air cleaners. Thanks,

 

I have both...but the oil bath to me is a pain.
I like the paper filter better.

 

What weight oil should be used?

 

All 1957-60 ford trucks used a dry filter element air cleaner. I would say a paper element is better at fine particles(dust).

 

I agree your truck came with a paper filter, but I'm not sure what one is better. I would go with a K&N air filter. The reason for this is K&N is a combo of both filters. It uses oil and a modern filter to collect contamites.

 

Paper filter was standard, but oil bath was an option. Oil bath has that "vintage" look, but does not filter as well, and are a pain to clean. (yes, they do need to be cleaned about every 15,000 miles). I would use the paper filter, as you will get good filtration, easy maintenance (elements are available at most auto parts stores, may take a day or so to come in from warehouse), and the correct look. If you like the look of the oil bath, clean the element real good with kerosene, let it dry out, dip it in oil and let the excess drip out, wipe the inside of the housing clean, fill it with oil to the line, and put it together. Oh, and use SAE 30 oil.

 

Thanks, i think i will follow my gut and all of your advice of sticking with the paper filter.

 

I agree, the paper is a better filter than the oil bath. However, how about converting the oil bath to a paper filter element? I kept the nostalgic look and got the better filtration. Something not mentioned previously is that the metal mesh in the oil bath gets clogged with 50-60 years of gunk. I tried cleaning mine with solvents but couldn't get it clean. When I cut that mesh portion off and installed the paper filter, the engine reved up faster. I believe that the mesh was restricting the flow.

Good luck, Jag

 

How can a paper filter filtrate better than a liquid?

I always thought--just based on physics--that an oil bath woulf filter much better, but restrict the flow much more.

 

Oil Bath
An oil bath air cleaner consists of a round base bowl containing a pool of oil, and a round insert which is filled with fibre, mesh, foam, or another coarse filter media. When the cleaner is assembled, the media-containing body of the insert sits a short distance above the surface of the oil pool. The rim of the insert overlaps the rim of the base bowl. This arrangement forms a labyrinthine path through which the air must travel in a series of U-turns: up through the gap between the rims of the insert and the base bowl, down through the gap between the outer wall of the insert and the inner wall of the base bowl, and up through the filter media in the body of the insert. This U-turn takes the air at high velocity across the surface of the oil pool. Larger and heavier dust and dirt particles in the air cannot make the turn due to their inertia, so they fall into the oil and settle to the bottom of the base bowl. Lighter and smaller particles are trapped by the filtration media in the insert, which is wetted by oil droplets aspirated there into by normal airflow.
Oil bath air cleaners were very widely used in automotive and small-engine applications until the widespread industry adoption of the paper filter in the early 1960s. Such cleaners are still used in off-road equipment where very high levels of dust are encountered, for oil bath air cleaners can sequester a great deal of dirt relative to their overall size, without loss of filtration efficacy or airflow. However, the liquid oil makes cleaning and servicing such air cleaners messy and inconvenient, they must be relatively large to avoid excessive restriction at high airflow rates, and they tend to increase exhaust emissions of unburned hydrocarbons due to oil aspiration when used on spark-ignition engines.<SUP style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap" class=Template-Fact title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from November 2007">[citation needed]</SUP>

 

^^^Wow, that was pretty helpful, thank you.

 

Indeed it was. Thanks blsd49

 

Should have said that I took that off the internet. I did know that oil filters work well but being a carpenter and shade-tree mechanic I could not have explained the workings so eloquently. Both my trucks have oil bath cleaners and I clean them yearly, certainly more than they need due to miles driven.

 

I've thought of fitting a paper element into my oil type air filter. Has anyone done this ? Any hints or suggestions on how to perform this modification would be great. Thank you in advance.
Greg M-47

 

Uh huh.

B9TE9600M .. OIL BATH AIR CLEANER / Fits: 1957/60 F100/700 272/292.

An oil bath air cleaner does a far better job of filtering air than any paper air cleaner element...especially when it comes to fine dust.

With an oil bath, you'll never have to buy a replacement paper filter element, which can be difficult to find in autoparts stores for trucks of this vintage.

1957/60 F100/350: As original, there were TWO different air cleaner elements:

1957/60 223 & 1957 272/292: B7A9601C (Motorcraft FA9) / 7.18" I.D. / 9.45" O.D. / 3.47" high / Obsolete

1958/59 272/292 & 1960 292: B8C9601A (Motorcraft FA62) / 6.68" I.D. / 9.19" O.D. / 7.08" high / Obsolete