Oil filter question

View media item 103Here is a K&N Gold filter. If you get a wild hair and think its worth paying 12-14$ for a K&N. Although it is well constructed, and has a handy wrench fitting, they are shorting you on media, and you are not getting an upfront bypass.
 
Another point to make is that premium filters have a spiral metal center support tube to prevent filter collapse. you can compare this on the photo for the WiX XP above. Inferior filters use straight seemed center tube that can collapse easily if the pressure differential becomes high. When using thick oils, cold days, and when media becomes loaded, filters without strong center tubes can collapse. Ive seen my fare share, especially on race motors. Believe it or not, some economy brand filters like STP use a thin plastic center tube.
 
I cant find my AC Delco filter to show y'all, but I will pick one up next week and dissect it for comparison.
 
So what is the best oil weight and type for the 86 Turbo? Keep in mind I live in FL so cold starts are not really an issue.
 
I just do filters. Im not a chemist or oil expert by any means. But with a flat tappet cam, I like a oil fortified with ZDDP (often referred to a Zinc). I like a heavier 40 or 50 weight oil in FL because its hot, and the turbo adds more heat which thins the oil and lowers oil pressure. These motors are not the tightest tolerance of engines, unlike newer motors. The heavier oil helps keep the oil pressure up once the engine is at operating temp. There are a lot of opinions regarding oil, so its hard to say which one is better than another.
 
wix xp vs wix.jpg fram vs wix.jpg fram vs wix 2.jpg napa gold =wix.jpg K&N gold vs wix.jpg wire backed mesh.jpg sorry I messed up the photos on the above links. here they are
 
Wix XP vs regular Wix.
I've always used Wix or Napa Gold but I was always curious to know many microns does the 51036 and 51036xp filters down to respectively? Seems you're the perfect person to ask :).[/QUOTE ]
The short answer is I don't know what "micron" rating this particular part number is because we use a Beta Ratio to rate this filter's efficiency. Without getting overly technical, "Micron rating" is a terrible measurement of how good a filter its. Most premium filter manufactures use what is called Beta ratio to calculate the filter's efficiency. There is no industry standard on micron ratings, therefore, filter manufactures can pretty much give their filters whatever micron rating they want if it stops just one particle of X size. On the other hand, beta ratio ratings involve introducing a known number of many particles of X size to a filter, then compares the number of downstream particles to determine a beta ratio. This give you a filter "efficiency" of X size particle.

The important thing to understand is that particle filtration and oil flow are a trade off. In all filters including fuel and air. Much like a K&N air filter is great at flowing air but are terrible at trapping dirt, our racing oil filters are high flow and allow oil pressure and volume to be priority . They put all emphasis on oil flow to the engine bearings, but don't filter particles all that well. Most race engines are very clean and normally have the oil changed at very short intervals so particle filtration is not a huge deal.
All filters become more efficient at filtering particles once they begin to get dirty, because smaller particles start to be trapped in a filter loaded with other particles. But the pressure differential becomes high and flow suffers. Our Wix XP filters are designed to flow and filter particles well. They become efficient over time, but start off as a very high flowing filter. This is good in a high performance application where oil flow is important, or in an application where someone might want to go 10 or 15k miles between oil changes. But if you want the best particle filtration, just stick with one of our premium filters (Wix or Napa Gold) like you are using.
 
When changing the oil is it just drop the fluid, filter then refill and start or is there a special priming procedure with the turbo before start up?
 
Right, not really any different than any other car. I guess you could try to prime the filter with fresh oil if you want to prevent that initial dry start, but it would be difficult to install a horizontally mounted filter full of oil without spilling it all over. If it was vertical like a small block Chevy, it is a good idea to prime that vertically mounted filter to prevent a dry start condition.
 
Wix on all my stuff. I use the gold on the Buicks and the select on my daily drivers. I get mine through Napa .
 
What is the xp filter number for the external/remote oil adapter

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I have a Mobil 1 extended performance filter cut, I will show you compared to our Wix XP extended performance filter.
 
Multigrade oil like 5w-30 behaves like two different oils. The w stands for winter. Meaning it flows like 5 weight oil when cold. As it warms up it then acts as 30 weight. Straight 30 wt is disgusting on a 0 degree day.
 
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