New Kidney for Pappy - Installing a Fram Style Oil Filter onto a CJ3B Hurricane Motor

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Whenever I'm looking to buy an old Jeep, I always try hard to find one that is as stock as possible. The more modified it is, the more likely it'll have mistakes that the previous owner(s) made and will need to be fixed. Of course, even if you do find something that looks as unaltered and completely stock as the 1954 Willys CJ3B that we found and bought, you can still find plenty of "WTF was he thinking" under the hood. While Pappy runs amazingly well for a Jeep that's over 60 years old, I always knew there were things that I needed to address and suspected there were plenty of others that I didn't even realize. And, one of those things just happened to be, the oil filtration system.

When I first looked under Pappy's hood, something didn't look quite right to me but at the time, I just couldn't put my finger on it. After giving him a test drive and being wowed by how well he ran, I just wrote off what I was feeling and handed over the cash. What I would later come to realize was the something under the hood that appeared to be missing was in fact, an oil filter! Now, I know there are guys out there who've changed the type of filter they use or have relocated the factory setup but to completely remove it from the motor? I just can't imagine what could possibly posses someone to that! Oil is the life blood of a vehicle and a filter is essentially its kidney and as you can imagine, reinstalling some kind of filtration system became a priority for me.

As luck would have it, Omix-Ada makes a TON of parts for just about EVERY Willys that was ever made and so it didn't take much for me to find and order up a new Fram style oil filter canister, filter and oil lines. The only things they didn't have was a new oil canister bracket that mounts to the block and the brass fittings you need to connect the lines. Fortunately, I was able to find most of what I needed over at Walck's 4 Wheel Drive and at my local Napa Auto Parts. Below are a few photos of what things looked like before as well as what I did to give Pappy a new kidney.

Here's a shot under Pappy's hood right after bringing him home. As is the case with all Willys CJ3B Jeeps, he has a standard Hurricane F4-134 or "F-head" 134 cu.in. (2.2 liter) 4-Cylinder Engine. Can you see what's missing?
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Parts List
17436.03 - Omix-Ada Oil Canister Assembly - Fram Style w/Filter
17470.09 - Omix-Ada Oil Line Inlet 30.5"
17470.10 - Omix-Ada Oil Line Outlet 12"
GM-137405 - Top of Filter Oil Line Fitting
GM-137420 - 90 Degree Block Fitting for Oil line to F-Head
802087 - F-Head Oil Filter Engine Bracket

Here's a shot of what the F-Head oil filter engine bracket looks like. While Omix-Ada does make one for the Willys L134 Go Devil engine, they don't make one for the Hurricane. Fortunately, Walck's had one for sale.
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Here's a shot of what the Omix-Ada Fram style oil canister and oil lines you need to make it work look like.
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Shot of where the oil canister will get installed and after I've removed the 2 nuts on top of the block where it will be attached.
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Installing the new canister bracket onto the engine.
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Here you can see why you need to get oil line fittings. On the left, you have a 1/8" NPT thread which is found on one end of the outlet oil line and on the right, you have a 3/8" - 24 flared connection that is found on opposite end of it and on both ends of the inlet oil line.
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The brass fittings convert the NPT ports located on top of the filter canister and on the side of the crank case to flared connections.
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Installing the oil filter canister onto the engine bracket.
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Connecting the inlet oil line to the oil filter canister.
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I'm not gonna lie, I had a really hard time finding where to connect the inlet oil line. None of the engine drawings or diagrams showed where this is and all the photos I could find simply showed the oil line going to the fuel pump. Of course, this made no sense to me but then I did find a brief mention of where it might be on the CJ3B.info website and it helped me find it. If you can't tell, the port is located on the side of the crank case just BEHIND the fuel pump.
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Installing the outlet oil line onto the bottom of the oil filter canister.
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The outlet oil line gets connected to a port on top of the timing cover.
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Inserting a new element into the oil filter canister.
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Sealing up the oil filter canister.
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And just like that, Pappy has a new kidney! Here's a shot of what a CJ3B should look like under the hood.
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notnalc68

That dude from Mississippi
Looks great. I don't know what they looked like from the factory, but that sure looks like it belongs there.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
If I could guess, the original oil lines rotted out on one of the previous owners and so they just pulled the lines and capped off the motor. I just drained the oil pan and it was black as ink. The drain hole on the pan is HUGE so I put my finger in side to get a feel of how thick the sludge was and suffice it to say, I am now pulling the pan. :crazyeyes:
 

WJCO

Meme King
If I could guess, the original oil lines rotted out on one of the previous owners and so they just pulled the lines and capped off the motor. I just drained the oil pan and it was black as ink. The drain hole on the pan is HUGE so I put my finger in side to get a feel of how thick the sludge was and suffice it to say, I am now pulling the pan. :crazyeyes:

That sucks, but at least you're doing it right. Good luck.
 

SoCalDozer

New member
I cant wait to get another old jeep, me and my brother had a 1946 cj2a and a 45 cj2a that we were trying to fix up a long time ago when we were both teenagers. We managed to get one running but thats as far as we ever got.
One day I will get another old jeep to play with!

Looks like yours is in fantastic shape Eddie!
 

benatc1

Hooked
Oh wow that is crazy, I definitely had to read this thread to see what the heck you were talking about after i saw the title. New one looks great in there and thats a bad ass old Willys. Good thing you didnt wait much longer based on the sludge!
 

FLKEYSJK

Member
I can't believe the previous owner removed the oil filtration system! At least you caught it fast so you didn't have any problems.
 

JeepJeep75

New member
Nice work Eddie. It's interesting how the oil pump isn't ported straight to the oil filter like modern engines. It almost seems like the oil filter was an option rather than an integrated element of the oiling system. Good find on the plumbing ports! [emoji106]
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Nice upgrade ! It's crazy my local Napa stocks the wix version of this filter.

LOL!! It was more like a repair than an upgrade but thanks :crazyeyes: :D
It's so cool that Napa stores stock parts like this. I just picked up a new oil pan gasket from my store. I couldn't believe they would stock something like that for a Hurricane. :crazyeyes:
 
Isn't it crazy what some people do to their vehicles. I rebuilt an old motor and same deal. The entire filtration system was deleted with an inch of sludge in the pan.
Not like it robs power like smog or AC stuff. Why on earth people remove critical things is beyond me.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Isn't it crazy what some people do to their vehicles. I rebuilt an old motor and same deal. The entire filtration system was deleted with an inch of sludge in the pan.
Not like it robs power like smog or AC stuff. Why on earth people remove critical things is beyond me.

So, it's interesting. When I first got this Willys, I checked the dip stick and surprisingly, the oil looked somewhat clean. I just pulled the oil pan and like you, I had what felt like an inch of sludge. Inside the sludge, I could feel what felt like hard rocks and upon closer examination, the rocks were like chunks of dirt and carbon that I could break apart. In a weird way, I think the thick sludge was acting like a peat bog - catching crap that fell down into it and held it in place. Kind of like... a filter of sorts? :thinking:

Anyway, I just scraped all that crap out and now I'm cleaning up the pan. :icon_crazy:
 

WJCO

Meme King
So, it's interesting. When I first got this Willys, I checked the dip stick and surprisingly, the oil looked somewhat clean. I just pulled the oil pan and like you, I had what felt like an inch of sludge. Inside the sludge, I could feel what felt like hard rocks and upon closer examination, the rocks were like chunks of dirt and carbon that I could break apart. In a weird way, I think the thick sludge was acting like a peat bog - catching crap that fell down into it and held it in place. Kind of like... a filter of sorts? :thinking:

Anyway, I just scraped all that crap out and now I'm cleaning up the pan. :icon_crazy:

You take any pictures of the sludge/debris?
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
You take any pictures of the sludge/debris?

Unfortunately, not while it was in the pan. My hands were filthy and I didn't want to handle my photo. I do have it in a catch pan and I'll see if I can scoop some up and take a pic of it.
 

WJCO

Meme King
Unfortunately, not while it was in the pan. My hands were filthy and I didn't want to handle my photo. I do have it in a catch pan and I'll see if I can scoop some up and take a pic of it.

I see it near daily in my job and I used to take a lot of pictures for friends and family to see why it's so important to keep your oil changed. Just thought that might be of benefit here on the forum too. Either way, don't blame you for not wanting to handle the camera, lol. That stuff is nasty.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I see it near daily in my job and I used to take a lot of pictures for friends and family to see why it's so important to keep your oil changed. Just thought that might be of benefit here on the forum too. Either way, don't blame you for not wanting to handle the camera, lol. That stuff is nasty.

LOL!! Oh yeah - it's because of what I knew I'd find that I made it such a priority to restore that which was removed. Changing your oil and filter is an important part of maintenance and one that'll help keep your engine running and for a longer period of time.
 
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