External Oil Filter/Magnefine Setups

[sfcpiet]

Lee,

A friend and I once fitted a filter around '95 to his '74 SFC that had cooler exits fitted. Plumbing was pretty simple, we made a fairly unobtrusive base plate to take a Harley filter that lay in line with the generator. The filter was only part of an extensive revision of the entire lube system, cams were drilled length-wise and directly fed through a quill at one end. The oil pump was enlargened to the point that the head flooded at high rpm and we needed to take measures to get rid of that oil quicker! The whole set-up was not only pretty neat, it worked extremely well. Main goal was to raise overall oil volume while cooling it as much as possible without hanging a god-almighty cooler on the front. Unfortunately, I don't have many pics of the bike, below is the best I have of the filter/lube system. The engine on a whole was extensively re-worked, while still at 750cc, it pushed a very healthy 85 ponies onto the dyno, along with an equally astounding 80Nm, which is pretty damn good for a carbed 2-valver. The engine was pure joy to ride, the bike not so...

The bike certainly was no trailer queen, it was used for rides throughout Europe as well as the odd track day under a later custodian.

Sadly, I lost track of the bike after Dirk passed away.

piet

 

[Max]

If you don’t have the oil cooler drillings in the crankcase, bear in mind that you also have to plug the oil gallery behind the pump midway between your new outlet (close behind pump) and inlet (near to cam chain tunnel). I think I tapped it M8 and put in a grub screw. Easy to revert back if it ended in disaster. On the twin, I made the outlet on the angled face just behind the pump area as it seems to have plenty of material there. I also used Harley filters due to engine similarity. I think it is important to check the filter has both an over pressure bypass valve and an anti-drain back valve. Common enough.
I did my Jota first, then a friend asked me to do his Corsa, and then I did my SF3 which required the drilling. In all cases I used cheap aftermarket filter plates with a few mods, fitted above the engine. Years ago, would love to find photos but I don’t think we were clicking away on smartphones back then!

 

[3crider]

My simple system has been in place since 1993, clearly with new filters and oil pipes occasionally. It is still working well today.

 

[Laverdalothar]

How do you get it out for oil-changes, please, without pooring oil over the whole top of the engine?

 

[3crider]

How do you get it out for oil-changes, please, without pooring oil over the whole top of the engine?

Easy, I have a cut up plastic household squirty bottle as a drain. I place this under the filter cartridge and unscrew the filter. The oil then drips out via the plastic drain into a tray below.
I half fill the replacement filter with oil and spin it on with the plastic drain still in place, then wipe with a rag. Simples!

 

[3crider]

...and this is the result of running on full synthetic oil with a full flow oil filter. Those cams have done 164,000 miles (262,000kms). Vey clean! You can see the remote filter head in the background.

 

[Vince]

You have sold me, what model remote filter head did you fit and whats it bolted to. The pics are ok but the mounting isn't really clear to see. I had a 30micfo mesh filter in a similar spot for a few years but it was horribly tight to get at. It was the size of 1 1/2 cigarette packs and you spit it in half taking out 4 bolts to get at the cleanable mesh, tough to do. That spin on looks way easier.

 

[3crider]

I'm use this model, I made a stainless steel bracket that bolts to the filter head and then to the frame where the oil cooler bracket is also bolted. The fittings are commercially available and I am sure you could make it neater than the ones I found over 30 years ago.

Mocal Remote Filter Head With Top Ports

Remote filter heads are designed to relocate the engine oil filter due to lack of space in the original position. This makes them useful for engine conversions or other modifications which limit space.This Mocal remote filter head allows an 80mm or 98 mm diameter oil filter with a 3/4 UNF thread...

www.demon-tweeks.com

Mocal Top Entry Remote Oil Filter Housing

Upgrade to the Genuine Mocal remote oil filter housing with vertical ports. Features 1/2 NPT fittings and 3/4 UNF compatibility. Ideal for efficient oil cooling. Order now!

www.rallynuts.com

 

[Vince]

That was a can of worms, spent the day looking to see if these are available in Sydney. Save on the shipping, out of England to Sydney. Apparently, they are originally an Earls part out of the USA, Earls is owned by Holley and yes I found one plus they sell the hose adaptors as well.

 

[Vince]

3crider, any chance of a pic of the right side hose arrangements for the filter, and maybe a length of the hose spigots to clear the frame?

 

[Sir Sidney Ruffdiamond]

How is yours mounted to the frame Nick - mine was mounted to the choke mount and the choke moved however the small bracket had cracked so it is now suspended by a cable tie up against the frame tubes - has been like that for two years with no impact

 

[Vince]

Be great to get some more pics of mounting and plumbing these to find the best way esthetically and with ease of replacing the filter. It's a tight space.

 

[Sir Sidney Ruffdiamond]

Be great to get some more pics of mounting and plumbing these to find the best way esthetically and with ease of replacing the filter. It's a tight space.

Mine is very easy to remove - the flexible pipes allow you to manoeuvre the manifold away from the frame and stand the filter the right way up when you loosen it - away from the bike at the mo

 

[Vince]

I am serious about doing this so BUMP for some install pics hopefully.

 

[3crider]

Please see attached. Enjoy. Just realised how tatty my bike is starting to look. That installation has been in place for 30 years!

 

[Vince]

Mine is tatier, just noticed an oil seep from the rocker checking out the possible filter position. Probably needs a nip up. Thanks for those pics, will help scale some spigots.

 

[Vince]

I picked up everything I needed except a small-sized oil filter, looking at the ones used on Harleys. It all cost approx $220oz including a mitre of new rubber hose, 6 hose clamps, the filter holder that was also included but on their own approx $80, 2 hose connection adaptors and 2/ 90-degree hose connections.

 

[piranha-bro2]

Next time I have the SFQ cases apart (not in my lifetime I do hope!) I'd consider adding the outlets from the oil pump, running hoses to the rear via the motor underside and fitting a filter into the space above the pivot area of my swingarm! Already got a 12mm oil pump doing its thing.

 

[Haggis]

I'd have to clean my bike for a least 2 hours to get it looking that tatty, 3crider

 

[3crider]

Vince. A few tips:
Dry fit the filter head and filter cannister together with your hose fittings first and offer it up to where you want it to sit.
My coils (Sasche) and HT leads and mounting plate are rotated rearwards to give extra clearance. This will have absolutely no detriment to the coils or the HT leads performance and in fact I would say its a more natural position for the HT leads to sit.
You want to get the canister to sit parallel with the top of the exhaust cam cover so the bracket will need a bend in it relative to the frame mount.
Cut your prototype mounting bracket from a piece of thin tin plate and be prepared to make a few until you get the right fit. Then make the bracket proper from that template. The frame mount on mine is just the one bolt shared with the oil cooler top mount. So two 6mm? to the filter head and one 8mm? to the frame, so the bracket will look a bit like a round edged triangle with a bend in it.
I moved my oil cooler forward about 10mm at the bottom due to the pipe fittings being a bit large. I am sure you can do better than I did 30 years ago with all the different fittings available today.
Make sure you plumb the pipes in the right way around. The filter head clearly shows IN and OUT. From memory, out is down the centre of the filter but please check.
My engine oil outlet (LH sitting on the bike) is also turned from the normal 12 o'clock position to about 9.30 to let the oil out hose go straight to the inlet of the filter head. I'm sure you will work it out.
Don't pour full synthetic into an engine that has been running unfiltered oil for some time, it might pick up all that shite that's accumulated in your engine in one go!
Run initially on mineral oil and see how you are getting on, then maybe switch to semi synthetic. I would say that clean oil is more important that whether you use mineral or synthetic. Clearly, synthetic allows for longer change intervals and holds its viscosity better.

Send some pictures when you get it done. Enjoy!