Oil Bath Air Cleaner

[ACT59FC]

Hi gents, I have just purchased an oil bath air cleaner for the FC. The old girl came with an EH filter. The thing is the new filter has been sand blasted and I'm not sure what colour it should be. Are the oil bath filters painted grey like the engine or black like the EH Filter? Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Rod

[mcl1959]

Gloss black.
Here is a photo




Regards.    Ken

[zulu]

Just a couple of things to note Rod

Late FC came with a dry air cleaner but the clamp was tightened by a slot bolt on the carb horn not a hand tightened rod bolt like later models

I always rub these back by hand but If your oil bath air cleaner was sandblasted be sure to wash any grit out of the enclosed wire wool to avoid it being ingested by the engine, even though it would probably end up in the oil bath best to be safe

I think you can get the air cleaner decals from Rares

[ACT59FC]

Just a couple of things to note Rod

Late FC came with a dry air cleaner but the clamp was tightened by a slot bolt on the carb horn not a hand tightened rod bolt like later models

Ok so my FC is an October 1959 and it has the dry air cleaner which is tightened by a slot bolt on the carb. Could it be that I have the correct air cleaner for the vehicle?? If this is the case I wont put the oil bath on. I want it to be original and as it should be.

I really need to know things like this. Do the late models have anything more like the orange rear blinker lenses and the dry air cleaner? I need advice from someone who knows what my late model should and shouldn't have. If anyone out there can give me a steer on these subtle differences I would be very happy.

Regards Rod

[Dr_Terry]

Hi Guys.

As Zulu has said, late FCs came with the dry paper type air cleaner, so yours is probably correct.

On Grey motors (up to EJ) the air cleaner was attached with the slotted screw. For Red motors (EH onwards) the air filter sat lower & needed the t-bar type clamp to attach it.

Dr Terry

[mcl1959]

The date of the change is September 1959. So if your car is October build then it should have the paper element air cleaner. The top of the air cleaner should have raised letters which read
"AC DRY ELEMENT AIR CLEANER" and "MADE IN AUSTRALIA BY GENERAL MOTORS HOLDENS LTD"
There should be a notch at the back that locates in a groove in the base.
The decal is a rectangular shape in orange printing which is on the snout of the air cleaner.
The FC and FB air cleaners have the same decal whilst the EK has a different decal and (I think, but not sure) that the raised lettering was removed because the decal was curved around the middle of the air cleaner body. EJ had a different decal again which was longer but still curved around the middle of the air cleaner body.

I have decal kits for the late FC as well as FB, EK, EJ, EH, HD and HR
These are the remnants from when the club used to supply Rare Spares with these decals. These are being sold off at a discount rate until they are gone.


Ken

[detective]

...Hi Ken,  Terry and All  ..  did the big FE/FC oil bath air cleaner have a strut brace like the FJ..??

...It was dimensionally bigger than the FJ style,  but I've never seen an FE/FC one with any kind of strut to the rocker cover nut

[mcl1959]

Certainly did



I've never seen one in real life though.

Ken

[detective]

...I'll be buggered....

[ACT59FC]

So what your saying Ken is the good FC's have paper filters and the crappy ones oil bath? Have I got that right? 

[mcl1959]

All FC's are good FC's"......

Pics of the article and an original





Ken

[ACT59FC]

Ken I notice in the picture of the oil bath filter that your compliance plate is painted black, Is that the way they came?

Rod.

[mcl1959]

What you can see is the load rating plate (the pic is of my panel van). The ID plate on Melbourne and Adelaide cars is painted firewall colour, whilst Sydney cars had unpainted plates.
Ken

[ACT59FC]

And Brisbane cars like mine? Chassis Black I guess?

[mcl1959]

Bodies were only made in 3 plants. Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. The ID plate was put on when the body was made. In your case the completed body up to the firewall was then trucked to Brisbane where the subframe, running gear and front sheet metal were added and the car was totally finished.
The subframe number was then added.
Now, this ID plate colour question has come up before and there are, as always, exceptions.
I have examples of Melbourne bodies with unpainted plates and also Sydney bodies with painted plates so it is not a hard and fast rule. Factory reworks mean that sometimes a firewall is repainted or especially around the time that the firewall colour changed from body colour to black, ID plates could have been painted over with black in the factory
I expect your car's ID plate body number ends with an "S" and the chassis number ends with a "B".
Whatever the case, IMHO it doesn't make a great deal of difference what the finish is like on the ID plate as long as it looks good. I like clean unpainted ID plates but if the plate has been sandblasted or needs a little repair from some damage, then it's probably going to look better painted.
Ken