Reply To: Rebuilt Engine Longevity

[Gregory Long]

1929 Pierce Arrow engines WERE equipped with an replaceable element oil filter. It was bolted to the front left side of the engine, using the first few bolts of the water jacket.

This filter was of the ‘bypass’ type: It had a small oil line that ‘bled’ off a bit of the oil from the main oil gallery, it passed this oil through the filter element, and returned it to the crankcase/oil pan. It ‘bled-off’ a bit of the available oil supply to the engine. The system had a small orifice in one of the fittings or pipes that limited the amount of oil pressure and supply being ‘bled’ from the main oil gallery.

Here is a photo of a non-original bypass-type oil filter on a ’29 engine.

The original oil filters were designed with a pot-metal fitting that had both the inlet and return lines attached. The entire canister was discarded when replaced.

Greg Long