lotus oil filters

[s2mikey]

Ive had great luck with K&N HP-1002 oil filters. They are small enough so they are easier to get on and off. They do have an anti-drain valve but as others have pointed out - I dont think it matters in this application. They also have a 1" nut on the back which further helps getting them on and off. They are about $16 bucks and I got them from summitracing.com.

Ill be using these from now on and my previous owner has used them for years on the car with no issues.

Just my two cents.

[rogerch]

I'm about to do an oil change, well under 5000 miles, oil and filter, here's my take. I use Castrol Edge Sport 10/60 because the factory recommend it for an engine with similar mileage on it. I have no test facilities to even think about questioning that advice.

It's worth mentioning that when I first got the car it was running on an inferior Shell semi synthetic product that looked like it has seen few too many miles. But it did have a Lotus filter. It also had wildly varying compressions, 105 to 135. Also worth mentioning that at the next oil change (after the Castrol) the compressions were all 135/140.

Filters have a job, to filter. Personally, if the oil is no longer translucent, I change it, irrespective of time or mileage, I always change the filter every oil change, what's the point in passing new oil through an old filter.

Filters ? original ? I don't know of a vehicle manufacturer who manufactures oil filters, a few years ago, OK about a decade, we got some oil filters from varying manufacturers, Fram, Wix, Toyota, Fiam, Ryco, and the one which shall remain nameless we were comparing against, we cut them all up to inspect the manufacturing.

Toyota Australia buy filters from Ryco, as do Holden and Ford, so they were identical good quality filtering plenty of it, no short cuts. Fiam also stood out, I can't remember all of them in detail. Others were much of a muchness, the one I haven't named was the lowest quality, there was only about 60% filtering material compared to the others, but you have to ask yourself, if I change my oil every 5000 or when it is no longer translucent, does that matter, I have a suspicion I would be unable to notice the difference.

Another important feature is a pressure relief system, if the filter gets clogged, the oil must be able to by-pass to maintain oil pressure, but if I change my filter also every 5000, again is this an important feature for me. In all my years motoring I have had a filter even close blocking. I don't know what sort of filters today's modern race engines run, but way back it was a single piece of gauss, and fresh oil every time.

As to whether or not an "Anti Drain Back Valve" is vital or otherwise is a pretty academic argument in Australia, because I can't buy one that fits the Esprit that doesn't have an "Anti Drain Back Valve".

And why when the RR for the oil is about $70 for 5 litres and the filter $14 would I be scrapping around trying to save a few bucks on a filter ?