Spin on oil filter
 

Has anyone converted to the spin on oil filter adapter offered by Pelican. Does this offer better filtration and flow or are there drawbacks to this system?

Yes, we have many customers running them. The option offers 100% filtration, around 30% finer filter media, and much lower cost filters. Only downside is you need a filter cutter to open up the cannister to check the filter after use.

Do a search on the subject, you will find lots of users and their opinions.

+1.
that was the first mod i did to my car.

I question that a spin on is better.

More convenient sure but perhaps there is an unintentional compromise that could lead to catastrophic engine failure with the spin on.

Here are my thoughts:

Porsche and VW engines have historically relied on oil cooling to keep the engine from being damaged during the aircooled era.

You may have noticed that the new engines although water cooled still rely on effective oil cooling and they have gone through great pains to engineer the engine will lots of oil passages, baffling and large volume reliable oil pumps to ensure the engine never suffers from a shortage of oil.

Now why would they use a coarser oil filter with some of the oil bypassing the filter element, do you think?

Could it be because the high rates of oil flow in the engine are required to keep everything properly lubed and at the same time cool the engine and should the filter ever become plugged, the bypass will still allow the oil to circulate?!!!

Ahaaaaa!!!!!!!

Spin on finer filter could reduce oil flow because it clogs easier and combined with no oil bypass could lead to engine siezure if the filter gets sufficiently plugged?

I would never consider the spin on for that reason alone. Perhaps the likelyhood of that happening is small, but the consequences are 5 digits $$$$$ dire.

For the same reason they did not provide ant protection from oil scavenging during high G corners, and faulty IMS bearings.

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I have no idea why they spec a filter with larger pore diameters, but they do. Meanwhile, the spin on is fully capable of outflowing the OEM filter, and the capacity of the oil pump as well, so flow is not an issue.

As for the by-pass, by the time it opens due to the filter clogging, your engine is already toast and full of metal debris. We have seen both spin on and OEM style filter users have rods fail (middle of the rod beam separation, dropped valves, or rod bolt failures) on the track, destroying the engine in the process, and their data loggers showed the car had no interruption of oil pressure when it was shut down (you should see the pressure drop and then come back up if the by-pass was forced to open). The by-pass never came into play.

Hmmmm, thats good info and seems to take care of my theory on that.

With a finer filter pores how can the spin on pass more flow. Is the filter area that much larger to compensate?

Racing experiences typically flesh out and proves these sorts of details as the engines are pushed to the limits.

I remember seeing pictures of plastic and rubber seal "Worms" in some peoples engines and wonder how the filter handles those things?

I suppose there is the coarse screen at the pickups to keep big stuff out of the oil passages but if the screen gets blocked....

There is an SAE test method (I'm away from the shop at the moment, so I don't have the test number at hand) that is used to determine the maximum flow rate of a filter that is used by the manufacturer. Some use more pores of a smaller size to keep up the flow rate without having to resort to making the filter larger, which isn't always possible to to fitment limitations.

The "worms" you are referring to are ususally bits of case sealant (a silicone type product) that squeeze out and eventually break loose into the oil. They usually do not cause a problem unless there is so much of them that they block the oil pickup screens, which cuts off the flow. Jake had some pictures of an engine pickup screens that were totally blocked with this stuff because someone had used way too much sealant when working on the engine.