Hi everyone!
Thanks for looking in. This is an evolving question, as more pictures arrive to illustrate the idea.

My brother & I have a 1949 FORD F-1 pickup still running with its OEM six cylinder 226-H engine! Runs great at 87k+ miles! Since we got the truck in 2018, we have improved many things... the ignition system went to an HEI type, the induction went up with mods to allow a FORD 94 two barrel carburetor, extraction of exhaust by a Reds Header and dual exhaust of this engine. These steady improvements have yielded great results.

Last year, we pulled off the oil pan to replace it with an eBay find 226-H oil pan...(because someone jacked up the truck under the oil pan, long before we got it). Once off, we were amazed at how surprisingly clean the crankshaft, connecting rods and oil pump pickup were! As it still retains the original oil filter system, we thought it would be far worse.


After the dented oil pan was removed... we saw a much cleaner engine than expected!


Still, I wanted to see if there was another option for us to utilize a modern spin-on oil filter. Recently pulling off the oil filter mount from the block for the first time in 75 years... it was not pretty inside. Even though the filter was changed over the years in this engine, the filter's 'clean oil' return hole on the inside riser to the engine block was clogged shut... and the base of the mount under where the oil enters the canister holding the filter element was filled with 70+ years of oily dirt sediment... Yum!



The oil filter assembly from FoMoCo shop manual.

The stock oil filter mount bolts to a low triangular location towards the rear of the engine block. With 3 holes for oil, (2 on top, 1 on bottom), and 3 fastening holes on the corners of the triangle. Oil passes out and back in those top 2 holes on the engine block into the oil filter mount. It has a channel over those 2 holes in block that has a small passage up to feed the oil filter... (this is where the 'partial flow' part starts). Inside the oil filter mount oil flows up from the small hole tapped in the flow channel, into the base of the canister bowl where the filter element sits inside. Passing through the element, the oil is 'filtered' and returns to the engine block through one small return hole, 3/4 up the filter retaining riser.

The OEM oil filter assembly on our 226-H engine.

We would like to ditch the canister style partial flow oil filtering to get better results. I base this on an idea to use another OEM canister style oil filter mount, (below with annotations), (yet to be), modified to pick up another pressurized source from the engine.
That will feed a modern oil filtration set up & re-use the existing oil return pathway back to the block from that upgraded filtration system...


A second OEM oil filter assembly picked from eBay. (a newer style? From a 254-H? Unknown.)

Same bolt pattern and line up. Has higher base for the canister cylinder, no problems bolting up in a test fit.
The solution appears to me to be simple ... there is an existing same sized plug as the oil pressure gauge uses, on the block behind the oil fill tube riser that appears part of the oil system..? See below annotated image.

FoMoCo manual of 6 cylinder exploded view.
Our area of interest is the lower drawing, right side near the oil filter mount area.

Picking up oil from this plug and having it feed an upgraded filter intake on an OEM modded mount?


All the elements are there. It seems this is a doable idea...

What do you folks think?

Both my brother Rick & I thank you for your time on this matter, JTHapp.

 

Hello all,
Since the existing OEM oil filter assembly was removed and cleaned... It's actually working again as designed! Doing it's job of partially filtering the oil flow now!
Every bit helps!
As such, this project to upgrade to a 'full flow' filter has gone to a lower priority for the foreseeable future.

The large takeaway from this, that the oil filter appeared to be working all the time we've had the truck, (2018-to present) ... but it's flow was greatly reduced due to crud & dirt in the bottom of the filter canister bell and internal oil flow passages.
...
If we had not gone into the oil filter assembly looking around to see if it could be updated, we would not have known it wasn't doing it's job due to all crud in it, from decades of neglected service before we got it.
...
After recognizing that information, a good preventive measure would be to remove the entire filter assembly from the block and take it apart & clean all the passages. It comes apart & cleans up fairly easily.. (not very hard to fab up a new block mounting surface gasket, if not able to salvage the orignal one).
Hope this helps!
JTH.