Here's another vintage VW 1500 performance accessory: a Type 3 oil filter. I found it on eBay a few years ago. The seller had bought it at Bill & Steve's back in the '90s — a good example of the kind of stuff they used to regularly have in stock that's now practically impossible to find. It's essentially the same kind of oil filtering system used on Okrasa engines as well as the Porsche 356 and 912.
It's an official VW-approved accessory, listed in this VW accessory catalog [the yellow highlighting is mine]:
Here are all the parts in the kit:
And here they are loosely assembled. The filter mounts under the left rear corner of the engine hatch opening. One of the braided hoses is connected between the oil cooler and the oil pressure sender via a banjo fitting; the other hose connects to a hollow bolt that replaces one of the crankcase breather stand's mounting studs.
When installed it siphons off some of the oil circulating through the system at the oil cooler mount, filters it, and then returns it at the breather stand. Some people are skeptical that a bypass filter can really do much good. My opinion is that it may not be as effective as a full-flow filter, but if Porsche used the same system for years it can't be all bad.
Installation instructions:
For the 1500 Karmann-Ghia the instructions call for cutting and bending part of the lower engine bay sheet metal for clearance. I'm not thrilled about that idea but I would really like to install the filter, so I'm looking at alternate ways to mount it. Or maybe I should just bite the bullet and install it exactly per the instructions... what do you think?
2 comments:
Very cool, I have only seen that kit once before many years ago. A guy showed up with a ton of weird Type 3 stuff for sale at a VW swap meet and he had one of these kits all used and oily like he had just pulled it off an engine. Everything was expensive for the time and of course now I wish I had bought all of it!
I first became aware of them just after Bill and Steve's had sold their last one. Dirk Brogdon had one on his old '63 Type 34 — the car that's up on eBay now with the strange aftermarket sunroof. I think Larry Edson might have one on his '66 too. I'm sure there are a lot more out there just sitting on shelves somewhere.
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