My take on the Magnetic Oil Filter Housing
 

First I want to thank Tommy for donating me a housing to tinker with for this project. I used High Temperature magnets. Gluing them on was a tough and not without risk job in itself For one thing the little devils are slicker than snot on wax paper, the Cyanoacrylate did not have a good surface to hold onto. Next problem was after drying over night (I did one per night) the attraction was so strong the newly wet magnet would pull the previous one off and slam together splashing super glue everywhere. So I had to resort to using an accelerator or ester to make them stay in place. The next big job was finding triple wall heat shrink big enough to go around this and be tough enough to stand the rather hostile environment. I do not know how well it will hold up, time will tell the true story. I plan on doing my first oil change with Royal Purple this weekend and we will see.

http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/t...psvikjx9yf.jpg

If that is standard electrical heatshrink, I doubt if it will be robust enough to withstand the +/- 100 deg C oil temperature for very long. You will find it may go brittle & fatigue with extended high temps - at least it does on electrical joints that suffer a high resistance fault.
Personally I would have used S/S hose clamps to secure the magnets.

Thanks Steve, I think the duty rating on this is 170C in temp. Is the thickness of a truck tire inner tube...or perhaps a bit thicker....time will tell

That thing will almost pull a head bolt down to the sump with those magnets. Did you touch a wrench to the inside? Very strong inside? Better use those magnet proof wallets for your CCs.

I'm not in the know of how oil flows in the housing, but I was wondering if one or maybe two magnets would do the trick?

That heat shrink is a neat idea, be interesting to see how it holds up over time.

I was surprised and pleased to see how my Mag filter captured some very fine metal particles that was the consistency of sludge and easily wiped out of the filter housing with a rag during my oil change.

Getting these fine abrasive particles out of the oil should do good things to the longevity of the engine and especially the bearings.

Like you I could only use seven magnets as the pull is so strong it would be near impossible to position them before securing them down.

I simply used a stainless steel pipe clamp around the housing and semi tightened it and pushed each magnet into place under the clamp before doing the final tightening. Worked like a charm.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-s...33_resized.jpg

Magnetic Sludge visible at each magnet position. The particles are so fine they pass through the filter element.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Q...-Ic42/oil3.JPG

I have my magnets! Ready for my next oil change!

Dwight, aren't you afraid of changing the Earth's gravity?

Actually he IS changing the speed of time with those magnets.

Time will run faster with those magnets and unfortunately make your track times worse, but will make you early for appointments :)

Forget that mini-magnet that LN sticks on the end of an oil drain plug; you guys are damn serious!

I like it.:cheers:

Could one simply stick a magnet (would have to be the right shape and size) inside the filter housing?

Mine is inside the canister. :p

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...E05DDAC2FB.jpg

I know that's not exactly what you meant. Not sure how that would work with the stock setup. If the magnet were small enough or broken, it might be possible for it to be sucked up through the bypass, but I don't know enough about the stock set up to say for sure.

Where do you get the magnets from?
I think this is a great idea.

Bottom component of the Flux Capacitor :cheers:

I got the magnets from

www.kjmagnetics.com

these
https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BY042SH&cat=167

Hi temp one so they will not loose their strength at operating temperatures ....or so they claim

Thanks for the link, Dwight ;)

I just ordered a 3/4" x 1/4" high temp disc magnet to put on top of my existing magnet in the canister. The one that's in there now is kind of small and weak. It looks like it will fit in there nicely and with 18lbs of pull will be much stronger than what I have now.

Just as an aside, 1 of those large bar magnets would be sufficient. 2 would be overkill. 7? :eek: :D

Most welcome
 

Now this would be overkill

https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BZX0ZX0Y0-N52

That is nuts :D

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...0EF97A6CBF.png

Isn't the point of the oil filter to 'filter' bits of metal (and any other foreign object of a certain size)?
Or are you trying to attract pieces of metal that are smaller than (x)micron that the filter won't contain, as someone mentioned above.

Just confused as to why this is needed inside the filter, as opposed to a better filter that would contain these sized particles in the first place.

Pore diameter in the filter media is restricted by the need for fluid flow. In other words, there are many ferrous metal particles that are small enough to fit through the pores of the filter media and if those pores are made smaller, the oil will not flow freely enough and/or the filter will become clogged by debris prematurely and cause either complete filter bypass or oil starvation.

Magnets in oil filtration systems are actually pretty common, just not on passenger cars.

I think this is a great idea guys, can't wait to try it, just have to be careful not to park over a manhole or drain cover.

Filters are a compromise between catching small enough particles vs keeping a good oil flow rate especially when the oil is cold.

When I dissected the filter I would expect some of that magnetic type sludge to be caught in the filter element itself but the filter element seemed clear of those size particles so I can only assume they are passing through the filter element.

I'd rather catch this stuff with the magnets and not let it circulate through the bearings and stuck on the cylinder walls. Its like having 600 grit sand paper passing through the engine....no thanks, lets get rid of that stuff and have longer bearing life and higher compression for a longer time.

If you could pay $30 one time to make your engine last another 20,000 miles or perhaps much more, what would that be worth to you?
It will not even effect your warranty and with the magnets being external if it fails for some reason there is no chance of damaging anything.

That's the point! $30, DIY in 15min, no downside, only benefits. You can't loose on this one.

OMG,:eek: the horror!

LOL

I've seen them in transmissions, as you're expecting more particles there, but if you've got that much metal in your engine oil, you've got other problems.

Also, while it seems these are crazy strong magnets, I'd still be concerned that oil flow + a large pothole would release a clump of the sludge all at once, which would be more likely to cause a stroke. As opposed to Coumadin (frequent oil changes).

I recall from my Miata days some Blackstone comparisons in oil samples from magnetized filters, but I can't find it. (no pictures, so it didn't happen!)

All internal combustion engines generate a fine ferrous grit as a normal offshoot of parts wear and tear. A major problem is that most of this material is very fine, so fine that it can pass right through an OEM oil filter, and continue to accumulate over time.

Magnets on the outside of the filter housings see all the oil before it passes into the filter media (oil flow is from the outside to the inside in these filters), trapping this material. And if some compressed grit did pop loose, which I serious doubt happens, its first stop would be in the filter.

Serious racers have used filter magnets for years, both to limit the circulation of the grit, but also as a diagnostic tool for checking on the engine's general health.

One of the best DYI mods I have seen in quite a while. Elegant and purposeful. I haven't tinkered with the box in a while, this would be a great one to do as well as on other rigs.

Ordered my magnets today

Dwight, where did you get the heat shrink?

I don't believe the oil filter housing will get anywhere near that temp
The oil in the engine, sure, but not the outside of the filter housing

FYI: The Samarium Cobalt magnets are better for high temp locations.

Since Oil temps can reach about 240C the Neodium Magnets may be ok
on the outside of the filter as they tolerate up to 175 C, anything inside will need the SmCo which can stand 250 C temps without losing magnetism.

I used the SmCo magnets on the outside of the filter and they are proven to work, and I'll never have to replace them. I think the set of 7 were about $30, but I can't find the source where I got them from at the moment.

The maximum operating temperature for the neodymium magnets which Dwight linked is claimed to be 302°F. ;)

Time will tell...

You can grab the oil filter housing with your hand, even when the engine is hot, so it does not get anywhere near the oil temp

I doubt very much the oil reaches 240 deg C - I wouldn't want my oil more that 120 max....

JayG - you must have asbestos palms !!

I think he meant Fahrenheit :D

Mine will be inside the canister, so hopefully it will maintain strength at oil operating temp.

That was the most difficult to find, lots of folks have 4 inch heat shrink.....but they want you to buy a roll at several hundred dollars..............but ;

https://www.wirecare.com/product.asp?pn=WC53706020

Looks good. I have 2 done so far with the hose clamp. Heatshrink tubing looks like a great idea.
To initially apply the magnets, I used JB KwikWeld. I did them one after the other doing opposing sides of the housing. Even so, they started to slump towards each other a little until I put on zip-tie and the tape. The JB Weld alone may hold, but I am going to do the heatshrink.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1529/...ea2ed9eb_c.jpg

Ooops, correction those engine oil temps are 240 F not C, however the magnet temps are in deg C so 175 C = 347 F so the Neodium Magnets are also well within their range and will do just fine.

Thanks for catching that guys.

Good news
 

SO now once these super magnets magnetize or polarize the minute metal particles we have to figure out a way to turn them into Nanites and program them to constantly sacrifice themselves to constantly rebuild the IMS and other bearing surfaces and then our Boxsters will last forever....of course if we had that tecnology we could sell it and buy Porsche LLC :cheers:

Here's mine. 3/4" high temp disc, stuck on top of the existing disc which is a bit weak. I wanted to go 1" to fill the whole cup on the bottom of the filter element, but couldn't find 1" in high temp.
This thing is crazy strong...interested to see what it pulls out.

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...56B55D86A6.jpg

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...EB8E79010E.jpg

super fast shipping from KJM. Ordered Thursday and they just arrived !
Had a quick look at their website today and the magnets are on sale for 20% off today

If you want to save some $ on shipping, select USPS regular mail ($5.00 shipping) instead of their default fedex.