VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 1949 Oil Bath air cleaner

I have located a 1949 oil bath air cleaner that I have been looking for. It is the one that passes over the valve cover. It would seem that there should be some support at the oil sump end of the cleaner but there is no indication on the cleaner that anything was ever fastened there. Am I missing some additional hardware needed to use this air cleaner? I sure would appreciate some advice on this.

Lykemall,,Is that a 49 car or truck,,You didn;t say if it was a 235 or a 216,,,Could you send a pic if possible??,,53 bel-air :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

It's a passenger car, 216 engine. This air cleaner is unique in that it passes over the top of the valve cover and hangs down on the other side. No other year had that form of oil bath air cleaner. I would suspect that all this weight hanging on one side of the carburetor would be too much for it. I think some one in the past suggested that the side that hangs over the valve cover was supported somehow but I forgot what the support was. I had one of these air cleaners 50 years ago but I don't have the slightest recollection of how it was supported.

I don't know how to post pictures on the web. I do have a digital camera though.

How lucky to find a '49 oil bath air cleaner.I thought they looked great on a old Chevrolet engine.

Searched all my 1949 info. and the only help I found was in the 1949 Engineering Features book.It lists the following......

"It (the air cleaner body) extends from the carburetor across the top of the engine , and the air cleaner is attached to the outter end (by air cleaner they mean the air intake and oil resevoir).All are supported by a bracket ,which is attached to the cylinder head. at the coil mounting boss".

From this description I would assume that the coil mounting screws retain the bracket.

I remember seeing these on a few cars years ago but oil bath air cleaners were never to common in this area.

That does help. I am now sure that I need to make some kind of bracket to support the air cleaner. I'm not sure how it should be connected to the air cleaner as there is no indication anything was ever there before. I'll probably use epoxy or maybe solder the bracket to the air cleaner. Incidentally, there were 3 of them on Ebay at the same time. I bought 2 of them.

Is there a stud sticking out of the bottom of the oil resevoir to attach a bracket to??

My 1929-50 parts book lists no bracket for a 1949 with oil bath air cleaner.

No, there isn't. I still haven't received one of these air cleaners yet, perhaps it will have some more hardware than the one I have now. I'm quite sure that something was attached to the coil mount or at least that general area.

I have the air cleaner and bracket you are speaking of on my '49. The bracket has two holes that attaches the bracket to the block using the two bolts that hold the coil on the block. The bracket them immediately bends at about a 45 degree angle outward and also slightly backwards for a length of about 5 inches, where it bends again at about the same angle to where it is parallel to level. There is a slot cut into the bracket at that point where the stud sticking out of the bottom part of the oil reservoir fits in. There is about a 1/2" clearance between the bottom of the reservoir and a round metal disk flattened on two sides that goes under the bracket. The whole assembly is then tightened down by tightening the wingnut on top of the filter that is attached to a rod (threaded on the end long enough (5-6")to reach into a threaded hole in the reservoir part. This bracket supports most of the weight of the unit, and the clearance over the valve cover (at least on mine) is less than an inch. I suppose you could possibly find one in a junkyard, or maybe from some of the salvage vendors that advertise in Hemmings.

Hey, thanks for the information. That's what I needed to know. I am sure that I can fabricate something like you describe if I can't find one somewhere else. Most of the wrecking yards in Hemmings want an arm and leg for the smallest thing so I'll probably end up making one.