An oil filter was an option in 51 and possibly dealer installed. If you have a photo or tell what color it is that will help. Have you removed the old filter? The dimensions will also help.
This is the filter that I use in my 50 with an inner line filter. If you’d like I can take a picture of the actual filter housing tomorrow. Hope this helps. Mike
The after market filter on my 41 did not state what it was. After draining the oil I took it to NAPA and they matched it to the NAPA Gold 1010 / Wix 51010 in the post above. It was fairly cheep and in stock. Was told it was actually used for allot of different things.
All of the NAPA filters were made by WIX except during the pandemic they had a few made by a German company to keep up with demand. Did not find this out till I opened a box and found a note stating that such.
I have found that having an old car is a constant project that is never done. I think that is a good thing. Keeps me learning new things. Having two from different eras is just a form of higher education.
I think most of the filters for the early Chevys were either AC or Fram . The filter ELEMENTS are very similar EXCEPT for the inner seal diameter one being .500 and the other .531, height and width being the same. It's important to have the correct one for best filtering however being a bypass type filter many consider it's use of low value.
At the lage dealership I worked at we nstalled nothing but Innerline oil filtersi 1n 1950 and 1951, in 1952 the new side motor mounts made it next to impossible to install them.
A Wix 51010 seems to be the correct filter, but the gasket that came with it is too small for the cover. I changed the oil & used the 51010 filter, but had to re-use the old gasket. Fortunately it didn't leak. I need to find a part number for the correct gasket.
A Wix 51010 seems to be the correct filter, but the gasket that came with it is too small for the cover. I changed the oil & used the 51010 filter, but had to re-use the old gasket. Fortunately it didn't leak. I need to find a part number for the correct gasket.
A Wix 51010 seems to be the correct filter, but the gasket that came with it is too small for the cover. I changed the oil & used the 51010 filter, but had to re-use the old gasket. Fortunately it didn't leak. I need to find a part number for the correct gasket.
Your Wix 51010 is about 3-3/4" wide by 4-3/8" tall with a .553" inner diameter. Do you have some extra room in the oil canister?
If so... the filter I buy for my "46 (which has an AC CS-653 canister filter on it) is the Wix 51006. It measures about 4" wide by about 5" tall and still has the .553" inner diameter. The ones I'm getting here are coming with 2 gaskets, one being about 4-3/4" outer, and the other about 5-1/8" outer diameter.
I just picked up a Wix 51006, and it did come with two gaskets like you said. I haven't had a chance to pull the Inner Line cover yet, but visually they look like one of them will work.
I'll keep y'all posted with results.
Thank you and everyone who have piped in on this thread!