[F ROCK]

I didnt want to add to the confusion on the other thread.
I'm not trying to sell any one anything; But if you are curious about bypass filters, read on.

I over extended myself a bit; I'd bought and built a simple 464.
There was some confusion on the builders end- I told him 'Hylift Johnson"- He heard "Johnson"... I really dont know what lifters he'd put in there, but one of them failed at break-in.
I'd seen Brad's posts about bypass filters and thought it was cool; but I didnt care that much really, at the time.
But now, with a blown lobe/lifter, and no money to do another overhaul, I thought I'd give it a try.
With engine in car, I poured kerosene down the front of the pan at the timing cover. I bought gallons of cheap oil and ran the oil pump with a drill/priming tool. I turned the crank while pumping, I put a magnet on the oil pan etc. I flushed as best i could.
I installed the new spc-8 cam and rhoads lifters. Break in went smoothly this time.
Brad hooked me up with the Franz filter guy but in the end I found a great deal on an Amsoil unit. Says "2 Micron".
The unit is a spin on, about the same size as the oil filter.
TUCKS AWAY EASILY IN THE FENDER.
Mine is behind the battery. Not real visible; but very easy to access. The Frantz unit would look cool in there.
Plumbing is hidden just as easily in the fender, but i didnt bother to hide my hoses.
Return line could be hidden as well; but I chose to return my clean oil to the valve cover. The units come with a clever self tapping fitting that installs easily.
Engine has 2700 miles now, with 3.73 gears.
Oil is super clean with 2700 miles.
The bypass filter does make a difference, It's not a gimmick.
For me it is a very useful tool.
Lots of horror stories just like mine are being told about soft lobes or lifters; For those folks who've just slightly eaten a lobe, these may offer some hope for a second chance.

[Jay S]

That looks slick. You did a nice job hiding it.

[78w72]

nobody here has ever said bypass filters are a gimmick.... that does look good hidden, im not too crazy about the 3ft x 2 of rubber lines though.

just for comparison heres my cam failure story- i had a summit cam/lifter fail back in the early 90's, was partially my fault for being a young kid with his first cam break in, the engine didnt start right away but wasnt too bad, maybe 3 attempts at starting until it fired, had worn out stock springs & was small lift, used cam lube & break in additive but still failed within 1000 miles. had a slight tick that i was able to adjust but came back. pulled the cam & found 2 lobes going bad. replaced the cam with a comp magnum with comp lifters new matched springs & roller tip rockers.

fired it up with new oil & spin on filter & break in went great... no bypass or dumping kerosene & gallons of oil in it. that 455 went on to run for 50-60k hard miles, street raced & abused almost daily over 6-7 years. pulled the motor after crashing the car & all internals looked fine with no major bearing wear or worn cylinder walls etc from the debris of the failed cam. engine never consumed or burned any oil, so not sure what damage the failed cam caused with all that debris that the normal filter wasnt catching.

some will say if a cam fails its ruined the engine & you absolutely must do a rebuild, that wasnt the case in my experience or other cam failure stories ive heard over the years. thats great Frocks motor was able to keep running with the new cam... but its very possible it wasnt the bypass filter that saved it, it was like mine & many others that the spin on filter caught the majority of the cam debris, &/or the failure wasnt that bad so didnt damage the bearings or other areas of the engine.

again, nobody has claimed bypass filters are a gimmick, just that they arent very practical for classic cars & most of all they simply are not needed on a classic car or modern daily driver that gets 200-400k miles on normal filters & regular oil/changes.

all this fuss over possible debris of unknown nature causing catastrophic damage from filling a filter or not using a bypass filter is very exaggerated, nobody is introducing shards of metal or sand or dirt into their engines. heck i have friends that dont do oil changes or maybe every 10-20k miles on their $1000 crappy, leaking beater cars & they get 60-80k+ miles before the car falls apart or requires a major non engine related repair. they just kept it topped off with new oil when needed then disposed of the car when it was done.

i will continue to do what has worked for me for 30+ years with my pontiacs & daily drivers using normal filters & oil, & so will the 100 million+ cars on the road today with factory designed filters that get 200-400k miles out of the engines.

[TCSGTO]

I knew a few people that had new Chevys in the 80’s and had cams go flat under warranty. It was pretty common on the small blocks back then before rollers became standard. The fix was a new cam/lifters and the engines lasted for many years and miles after.