While taking the old filter off today during oil change, the filter head moved two or three degrees. The head is made by F&M and was on quite tight...the filter was on tight as well. Now I am wondering whether I have set the stage for an oil leak from the filter head? I have heard that the compression sealing washers are a bit tempermental, but I would like to know if the head can be tightened up by turning the big square head mounting bolt one flat....or does the head need to come off and have new sealing washers installed I may have already had a leak from the head area. I have been tracking the little leaks and fixing them as time permits. I washed the engine down with mineral spirits today so that any other leaks will soon reveal themselves. Any thoughts or ideas on the filter head would be appreciated
The FM oil filter adaptor should be torqued down 60-65 ft-lbs when properly installed. It is unlikely that it was properly torqued if it moved that easily. I'd suggest you contact FM and obtain new gaskets and remove/reinstall it. The original copper/asbestos crush-gaskets were superceded with one copper and one composition gasket, and the adaptor was given a chamfered edge to alleviate oil leak problems. If you ship your adaptor back to them, they will perform the mod for you free. (When you torque that square nut, you'll likely have to find a mechanic with a 1" square socket in order to use a torque wrench. Any mechanic that works on Pratt and Whitney radials and/or PT-6 turbines will probably have that socket, but you might ask FM if they'll loan you one along with their free "thread chaser" tool to clean your accessory case threads before re-installing.) http::www.fm-enterprises.com
My filter adapter was loose,as you describe,but the male-threaded stem that goes thru the whole works & threads into the accesory case was tight. Turns out that there was a place on the inside of the accesory case at the bottom of the oil screen hole that was slightly interfering with the threads on the stem. I borrowed the thread chaser from El Reno,they were super about loaning it to me,even paid the shipping costs to get it to me. I just carefully ran the chaser into the hole & gently cut some very shallow threads in the interfering area inside the hole,and made sure there was no debris from the thread-cutting operation left in there. Then when I tightened down on the 1" square stem,the filter adapter didn't move around anymore.
The only bummer is that I had to remove the alternator to make room for the oil filter adapter to come off. Somewhat time-consuming & frustrating job,considering there are only 3 nuts involved (plus wiring).
Thanks for the tips! Since I just put the new oil in the engine, and will be putting on 25 hrs in a couple of months, I am just going to wait and see what happens. If a gush of oil does not come out then I am going to press on to the next oil change and then ship the head off to FM for the mod and chase the threads. I'll know about the leak when my new backordered Concorde VRSLA battery arrives...apparently these units have become quite popular
I may have already had a leak from the head area. I have been tracking the little leaks and fixing them as time permits. I washed the engine down with mineral spirits today so that any other leaks will soon reveal themselves. Any thoughts or ideas on the filter head would be appreciated 
