The International Cessna^® 170 Association

I have 1950 C170A with a C-145.
Thinking of having an oil filter adapter installed at annual to replace the oil screen.
Any pros / cons / recommendations on brand?
Thank you in advance
Lee

I have the F M Enterprises adaptor and like it very much but that company may be having reorganization issues since it's owner died. I have a phone call in to them awaiting responst.
Otherwise you may be forced to use the Continental adaptor from Airwolf.

If anyone is interested in the gasket set for the FM adaptor, I just received one from Aircraft Spruce, so they have them again.

daedaluscan wrote:If anyone is interested in the gasket set for the FM adaptor, I just received one from Aircraft Spruce, so they have them again.

It would be helpful to either provide a "link" and/or Spruce Part Nos .

I stand corrected, wish I'd bought two:)

I received it about ten days ago.

That's a shame as the filter is a good and useful part.
The gaskets are pretty simple tho. The one is copper and the other is a fiber gasket thats easily made.
But, I am glad that I bought a few extras when I ordered my last.

I wouldn't be a bit surprized if the F&M oil filter gaskets weren't available from another source, Very few manucacturers make their own gask=ets since gasket manufacturers make so many standard sizes, especially copper covered crush washer types.

Mine was originally mounted with two copper gaskets and it was fine until I moved it while taking the filter off. After that it weeped oil.

gahorn wrote:Otherwise you may be forced to use the Continental adaptor from Airwolf.

So does this mean the Continental adapter is not a recommended add on or just not as recommended as the F & M adapter?

Justin

juredd1 wrote:

gahorn wrote:Otherwise you may be forced to use the Continental adaptor from Airwolf.

So does this mean the Continental adapter is not a recommended add on or just not as recommended as the F & M adapter?

Justin

One of the beauties of the C145/O300 engine by design was it's lack of external oil lines. This was a deliberate design in order to avoid the problems of other engine mfr's engine failures when their external lines failed. Lycoming's external aluminum lines were notorious and flexible hoses had life limits which were often exceeded. External oil lines and fittings can fail and that is the major drawback of designs such as the Air Wolf.
But I'd rather have filtered oil than not and increase scrutiny during inspections.

I had a Cessna oil filter adapter that worked well for years. It screwed into the accessory case as does the F&M filter, but was a single piece and was held in place by a large jam nut. As such it only required one large copper crush gasket. It was not as prone to loosening when changing the element as is the F&M. I changed to the F&M in 2006 when I overhauled my engine, but for the life of me now I cannot remember why.

I had a Continental filter adapter on my 210. It was a troublesome POS that wouldn't stay torqued, and ended up costing me $800 to replace when a bunch of the threads were found to be broken. There's a recurring AD to check the torque but it didn't help.

The TCM adaptor stressed the fine threads of the accy case and an AD note applied to it for re-torquing and another AD note regarding the By-pass valve and which filter should actually be utilized. (That second wasn't a big deal as long as you used the correct filter...but the early documentation wasn't clear and some mechanics got it wrong.)

I'd choose the Air Wolf over the TCM.

Aryana wrote:I had one of those too Miles, brand new in box. I sold it on eBay for $500 because it didn't include the 170 in the approved model list. I should have kept it and got a field approval which would have probably been pretty easy.

I installed mine as part of my overhaul in 1990. I'd have to go back and check the books to see for sure what the approval process was. My recollection that is was just a logbook entry as a "kit" from Cessna. I still have it...

I am presently in a "phone tag" relay with the FM Enterprises guy and hopefully we'll connect and have good news to share shortly on that product.