Oiled the Air Filter

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At leat kwikas has tried both and made up his own mind. I have used genuine UniFilter oil, Sikoline Foam Filter oil and blended vegatable oil and I will never waste time or money on "proper" oil again. I would recomend that if mum (or your wife) has a suitable oil in the cupboard you shoud give it a try next time you clean the filter.
 
after i wash out my filter in turps (unifilter) scweez the exess out dry it wit a air gun, then put some light air tool oil and and not put too much on then get some heavy oil and do the same, scweez d exess out and put bak on bike
always helped my bike never misses after runs really weel (untill my next ride then its dirty again!!!
 
kwikaz said:
sorry cactus i disagree mate, vegi oil does not emulisify with petroleum, so if the good olvegi oil gets in the the carbie she stops as it blocks your pilot jet reall easy... but the proper stuff melts way..
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Sorry kwikas ........ Giving you the benefit of the doubt , I just added equal amounts of vege oil to petrol in a clear glass and it dissolved instantly with a quick swish around and has stayed 100 % dissolved for over an hour now - viewed when holding the glass up to raw sun light . Anyone on this forum can check to see for themselves ... :cool:

Aside from that , if oil can drip out of your filter ....... then you have well and truly over oiled it ......... it most certainly wouldn't run from the foam and into the carb mouth .......
 
Hi guys some good reading here so far.
Just to add to the air filter oil list we have found another cheap product that works a wonder CRC TAC2.It is actually a clear chain lubricant but has all the properties to be perfect for an air filter.CRC TAC2 sprays on like cooking oil but within 30sec or so it thickens to a honey like consistany that is perfect for catching the nasty particles of sand/dirt exactly where thay land rather than allowing them to travel further into and possibly through the air filter...Then on into your pitty motor....Exactly what a thin or low viscosity oil used on an air filter will do !..Plus Oil drop out is a problem too !

One of the reasons All quality dirt bike Air filter oils are thick and have a Honey like viscosity is to trap the dirt where it lands...Thats why we do use or not reccomend light weight oil [Engine or Cooking oil]for Pitbike airfilters...

Ps ...The added bonus using CRC TAC2 is our slacker Pitbike customers only have to purchase one product for both their chain and Airfilter..

My 2 cents worth !

Cheers Brian
 
Cactus Jack said:
Sorry kwikas ........ Giving you the benefit of the doubt , I just added equal amounts of vege oil to petrol in a clear glass and it dissolved instantly with a quick swish around and has stayed 100 % dissolved for over an hour now - viewed when holding the glass up to raw sun light . Anyone on this forum can check to see for themselves ... :cool:

Aside from that , if oil can drip out of your filter ....... then you have well and truly over oiled it ......... it most certainly wouldn't run from the foam and into the carb mouth .......
Click to expand...

LOL I did the exaxct same thing (cactus beat me to posting it) but didnt go 50/50 just a small amount of oil (I tipped the mixture into my tank).

I have another theory on why the "proper" oil is so tacky. It may be to prevent the oil traveling to the bottom of the filter over time but to stay evenly distributed thru the foam for months or even years. This could be a problem if you never clean the filter but on any dirt bike the filter should be cleand all the time due to the dusty conditions to maintain peak performance.
 
hhhmmm

hhhmmm thats funny i really did not add too much cooking oil but it made my bike play up like a 2 bob watch, but after i took the carbie apart cleaned all the jets with an air gun and blew out the aircleaner too, put back together and it ran perfect again?? so could have only been the oil cause the carbie was clean and after i blew out the air filter she came back to life there was no exess oil either but the carbie must be very touchy on the air flow it sux... wierd thanks for all your input guys..
 
I found this link on foam air filter cleaning but they're most likely talking about the STOCK OEM foam air filters ..... it's quite obvious that cleaning in petrol and oiling with engine oil isn't the way to go ........ LOL ....

NH ATV Club Trail Tips

While we're on the subject of air filters ....... most filters sold for pit bikes are way too small ........ a 140 should really be running a 6 inch long Uni pod Filter or a bigger diameter filter since surface area is important to unrestricted airflow and peak performance . If you're going to run the small stock filters you need to keep them clean all the time or dirt and crap will get SUCKED thru by the force of the higher velocity .

Check out the size of the foam filter Powroll used on their worked 116 cc XR 75 Honda's ..

http://www.vintagefactory.com/Powroll 4.jpg

Incidentally , I still own the same modified XR75 engine that I used to race at a minicycle club back in the '70's .......... LOL ....... It still cranks hard and has NO signs of dirt or grit having gotten past the vege oiled UNI Filters ........
 
cass38a said:
LOL I did the exaxct same thing (cactus beat me to posting it) but didnt go 50/50 just a small amount of oil (I tipped the mixture into my tank).

I have another theory on why the "proper" oil is so tacky. It may be to prevent the oil traveling to the bottom of the filter over time but to stay evenly distributed thru the foam for months or even years. This could be a problem if you never clean the filter but on any dirt bike the filter should be cleand all the time due to the dusty conditions to maintain peak performance.
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LOL .... That was : Phase I of the testing Cass ....... I'm now into Phase II which involves over oiling a foam pod filter using vege oil ....... then standing it on the carb flange end on clean paper towel to see if the oil runs down and out of the flange and onto it ....... so far the paper is still bone dry after 3 hours ........and the top of the filter still coats my finger with oil ......

I'll let somebody else carry out Phase III which involves oiling a pod filter with vege oil and attaching it to the end of a new vacuum cleaner that has had the bag removed but has a clean white final filter . Wearing a full body condom , rubber gloves , goggles and a gas mask , hold the filter up in front of you while your wife and kids throw buckets of dust and dirt at you ....... then check the final filter for evidence that dirt has made it thru the vege oil ..... :p
 
Cactus Jack said:
LOL .... That was : Phase I of the testing Cass ....... I'm now into Phase II which involves over oiling a foam pod filter using vege oil ....... then standing it on the carb flange end on clean paper towel to see if the oil runs down and out of the flange and onto it ....... so far the paper is still bone dry after 3 hours ........and the top of the filter still coats my finger with oil ......

I'll let somebody else carry out Phase III which involves oiling a pod filter with vege oil and attaching it to the end of a new vacuum cleaner that has had the bag removed but has a clean white final filter . Wearing a full body condom , rubber gloves , goggles and a gas mask , hold the filter up in front of you while your wife and kids throw buckets of dust and dirt at you ....... then check the final filter for evidence that dirt has made it thru the vege oil ..... :p
Click to expand...

Very thorough cactus!!:D
 
Maylands Performance said:
Just to add to the air filter oil list we have found another cheap product that works a wonder CRC TAC2 . It is actually a clear chain lubricant but has all the properties to be perfect for an air filter . CRC TAC2 sprays on like cooking oil but within 30sec or so it thickens to a honey like consistency .

Cheers Brian
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This sounds like a pretty good idea ...... they talk about a spray product in the air filter cleaning link but they still say it has to be worked thru by hand .... I wouldn't be surprised if the spray on filter oil is a thick vege or synthetic oil thinned out by liquid hydro carbons which quickly evaporates to make it go thicker ......

What does a can of CRC TAC2 cost ??????

I just found these links :

..:: TESA Limited ::..

Tac 2 Adhesive Lubricant from CRC
 
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catus

hey cactus im having trouble finding a proper air filter like the one you mentioned it makes alot of sense, the size of the air filter bieng to small.. where can i get one of these long paper uni or k&n,s ??? thanks cactus and every one else too.

p.s just for the record i figured out this little problem i had on my own lol :D
 
I'd only use a paper type filter on dry tarmac ....... foam for everything else.

UniFlow Australia Pty Ltd 373 Manns Road, West Gosford NSW 2250 ~ Tel: (02) 43 222 007 Email: [email protected] .... should be able to help you out .

Unifilter Australia Foam Air Filters for Economy and Performance

They make foam pods and pod kits up to 44 mm flange diameter (Genuine Mikuni size ?)

I've been trying to find something decent to fit OKO's (49.5 mm flange) .

What I've done in the past when all I could find was too big a filter is build up small carb flanges by stretching a piece of radiator hose over the flange and heating too small a filter flange in hot water to stretch it on ... LOL ..... works in a lot of cases .
 
Cactus Jack said:
.... I wouldn't be surprised if the spray on filter oil is a thick vege or synthetic oil thinned out by liquid hydro carbons which quickly evaporates to make it go thicker ......
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Hey CJ, Could we take this air filter economy+protection+ease concept one step further and put a gentle solvent (non-polar) like turps into medium/thick vegie oil, and therefore obtain the thin runny oil application onto a clean filter, and after evaporation (of the turps) be left with a filter which has more tackiness than one treated with light vegie oil?

I have been using expensive twin-air "bio" filter oil for a while now on my big dirt bikes. It starts runny then an obnoxious solvent evaps away leaving a moderately tacky filter. I must sweeze firm and quickly since the bulk of the solvent evaps quite quickly making oil spreading more difficult. I have to leave the filter(s) for at least a day before using it but I have a few filters in the "pipeline" so no prob in the past. Now I recently bought two pit bikes (70cc for kids and a 140 for me) and the filter work is getting a bit out of hand now. Thus I read this thread with great interest.

btw: The Twinair stuff is washes off using hot water and a little of their "magic" soap powder. To save $$ I then further wash using cheap clothes washing detergent.
 
I have about 5 air filters and keep them in plastic bags with a little bit of home brand vegatable oil. I give one a quick massage thru the plastic bag and pop it on before each ride. After 5 rides I wash the whole lot in soapy water and re oil them. Doing it in bulk makes it very easy and you always have a perfectly clean filter. Personally I dont see the need to make it any more complex. If you have a few bikes and they all have the same size filters it would be money well spent to buy a stack of spares. A large bottle of oil will last for ages and only costs $3.
 
Hey numroe .... Cass has got it ^^^^ .......... all I can add is to try out your idea using turps (or metho) to see how it goes ......then let us know your findings ...... we're keen for new ideas mate ....... but the idea is to use cheap , already available household stuff and avoid breathing noxious vapours or having them absorb thru your skin .......Cheers .......:)
 
mate. i suggest you go and buy a K&N air pod re oiling kit. 28 dollars from super cheap auto. they say it will last a life time if you re-oil your car air filter every 20000km's. my bro bought it and when i bought my bike the air filter was heaps dirty and the pack has a bottle that takes of the old dirt and oil on the filter. then you have to wait till its completely dry. and then it has the oil to put on the filter. i did it to my bike and the filter was a totally different colour. bike ran a bit better to. buy this and it will save you a lot of head aches.
 
Cactus Jack said:
Hey numroe .... Cass has got it ^^^^ .......... all I can add is to try out your idea using turps (or metho) to see how it goes ......then let us know your findings ...... we're keen for new ideas mate ....... but the idea is to use cheap , already available household stuff and avoid breathing noxious vapours or having them absorb thru your skin .......Cheers .......:)
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Yup I can and shall try it. To rephrase my question to you though ... with your 30+ years using vegie oil and pulling down engines and measuring little to no wear, would you think the filtration would be any better if (and that's the big if) you could thinly and evening spread a slightly thinker vegie oil over the foam cells? If for some reason based on your experience (which is what I am calling upon) you reckon the dirt particles will be trapped no better or worse than with a quickly applied light vegie oil, then I am inclined to go for light oil.

I am going to give vegie oil a go on my new pitbike. But as per usual I will rotate filters often.

Hey M@rkay, I appreciate your thoughts and suggestion. I used to use the 3-bath turps cleaning method which worked well. Then I went to TwinAir bio oil+soap because I found it quicker and easier and less smelly and poisonous. If frequent filter change over is to be done economically, then I don't think there is a super short cut here other than this vegie oil and water+detergent washing concept. I must tell you that if you clean and re-oil you filter properly, then:
1) You should see truck loads of dust/sand particles in the solvent/water you just cleaned it out with. Or at least during the first and second baths. On my full size MXer I can clean the large filter when it looks and is relatively clean, and still get four good teaspoons of sand out of it. And that filter lives inside and air box which 99% prevents direct dirt contact.
2) It should always change colour back to a 100% new foam look and then back to a newly oiled filter look. This colour change should not be a surprise, it has to be normal for even single clean.
Well actually if you run a cheapo engine, it's might be more fun to not worry about filters so much and replace the engine's top end more often.

I read somewhere that some guys use non-oiled filters in some situations. I cannot imagine doing that with a good engine. That was enough to convince me to never user by a used pit bike engine - not that there is a need to. ;)
 
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Well it's great to see that someone sensible has seen the merit in the message that we were trying to get across .........

I washed with warm to hot water and detergent for the same reason that you do ...... to THOROUGHLY agite , flush and clean ALL oil , dirt , sand and grit out of the filters before re-oiling ........ they look and feel like new and are almost sterile before I oil them ....... LOL .......

I even reverse flush filters with high water pressure while squeezing and agitating them to force any clear sand grit that you can't see out ........

Incidentally , the engines I was talking about were highly modified XR75's that were fitted with expensive , hard to find (rare in OZ) hi compression racing pistons , stainless steel valves , cams , transmission etc ...... IE .. DG , PK , Venolia , Powroll , Yoshimura , Ward , S&W ..... they were'nt something you could easily and cheaply replace OR get someone else to do the work on .....


Stock head next to a ported XR75 head .... both heads are 34 years old .... my port job worked so good at all rpm that there was no need to use the brand new stock head casting .......

shocheads008.jpg


shocheads018.jpg


shocheads012.jpg


shocheads013.jpg
 
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kwikaz said:
hey cactus im having trouble finding a proper air filter like the one you mentioned it makes alot of sense, the size of the air filter bieng to small.. where can i get one of these long paper uni or k&n,s ??? thanks cactus and every one else too.

p.s just for the record i figured out this little problem i had on my own lol :D
Click to expand...

That last bit with the LOL has got me thinking !!! Notice he's talking about PAPER air filters ????? Maybe kwikaz oiled a friggin' PAPER type air filter ..... :eek: :p Doing that would stuff the airflow right up ........
 
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