Corvair Oil Filters

GREAT OIL FILTER TIP - BEWARE!
The good oil filters that we are used to get at our local auto parts stores may be lost and gone forever. Whenever I go in the store I always check to see if they have Corvair oil filters available and if they do, which is quite often, I snatch up a few for my supply shelf. Purolator has been the brand that I have been buying and using successfully for years. I recently discovered that they have changed their design and, as usual, the new one does not work very well, if at all. The outer seal design has been changed from an inserted rubber seal to a donut-looking seal that slips around the outer edge of the filter housing. “No harm, no foul”, you say? Well, According to JR Read, a fellow Virtual Vair member, the new outer seal is so thick that it does not allow the inner seal to fully seat into the oil filter housing, thereby allowing oil to bypass the filter altogether. JR went to the trouble of cross-sectioning one of the castings and mounting a new filter on it to prove his point. The old ones came in a white box and the new design comes in a blue box. The WIX 51038 and the NAPA 1038 filters are at least two filters that have the original-style seals.

Beware of this filter	The Good Old Original-style Fiter
Note:Around 2010 or so, Purolator repented of their sin and converted back to the original style. So when you buy, just make sure you don't get one of the questionable ones. There are probably a few left on shelves here and there.
Here's an example of the NAPA/Wix filter that are currently available.
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The good oil filters that we are used to get at our local auto parts stores may be lost and gone forever. Whenever I go in the store I always check to see if they have Corvair oil filters available and if they do, which is quite often, I snatch up a few for my supply shelf. Purolator has been the brand that I have been buying and using successfully for years. I recently discovered that they have changed their design and, as usual, the new one does not work very well, if at all.
The outer seal design has been changed from an inserted rubber seal to a donut-looking seal that slips around the outer edge of the filter housing. “No harm, no foul”, you say? Well, According to JR Read, a fellow Virtual Vair member, the new outer seal is so thick that it does not allow the inner seal to fully seat into the oil filter housing, thereby allowing oil to bypass the filter altogether. JR went to the trouble of cross-sectioning one of the castings and mounting a new filter on it to prove his point. The old ones came in a white box and the new design comes in a blue box. The WIX 51038 and the NAPA 1038 filters are at least two filters that have the original-style seals.