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Hey guys,

I just wanted to share something. My old lawnboy filter was deteriorating, I found someone selling them on ebay years ago. WAIT FOR IT... you probably already know.

Well, I got a pack of about 20 of them for 20 dollars. Junk!

After a season, I went to check/clean it and it had shrunk, crumbled, really hated that I had ever discarded my OEM OMC element.
The 19 other ones were junk in the ziplock I was storing them in.

I am an aircraft mechanic. Cessna, Piper, Mooney and others, there is an approved aftermarket induction air filter called Bracket air filter. It is a foam type, oiled, in an aluminum frame, and it catches everything.
Every aircraft (the ones that are certified to fly) has to replace this foam at least every year if not every 100 hours of flight time for a commercial airplane like a flight school. They throw these things away about 5 a week at the place I used to work.

I am using a piece of this and couldn't be happier. I'd bet a dollar to a doughnut that if you went to any airport mechanic shop or flight school, and asked the mechanics for a few of those elements, they would gladly give them to you. Ask for a BA4108 or a BA6108 for the Cessna 150, 152, 170, 172, 182, etc. This is already 3/4 inch thick about 6" x 6" Cut it, wash it with a little gasoline and a shot of K&N filter oil and your back in business. A little 10w-30 diluted with gasoline will work in place of special filter oil too. Just let the gas evaporate out after you oil it.

Or just cut it and use it as you get it, You will be able to see what side to put towards the engine.

If it is clean and you can not tell, there is the part number printed on the engine side. Also, the engine side may show 1/4" screen pattern from being in the aluminum frame all year.

:welcome:

Good tip and thanks for sharing.
However as a lisenced aircraft mechanic it is mystifing why you would even think of fitting unbranded uncertified parts from the web .
I would assume that Aircraft parts in the USA are the same as parts down here and are numbered individually so they can be traced back to the factory which was brought in because of the failure of inferiour parts or even worse the reuse of parts that were past their certified hours.

Bert,
I think he was talking about buying the junk mower filters online not the A/C filters. The F.A.A. is VERY strict on what you can and can not put on aircraft here.
Tom

bertsmobile1 said:

:welcome:

Good tip and thanks for sharing.
However as a lisenced aircraft mechanic it is mystifing why you would even think of fitting unbranded uncertified parts from the web .
I would assume that Aircraft parts in the USA are the same as parts down here and are numbered individually so they can be traced back to the factory which was brought in because of the failure of inferiour parts or even worse the reuse of parts that were past their certified hours.

Click to expand...

You got me there Bert,
Worse is I am also and OMC mechanic....l

My experience was from 10 years ago prior to my apprenticeship to become FAA certified.
I learned how to fix cars, boats, small engines as a adolescent young adult, because I really could not afford to pay anyone to do the work. Now that I am older and a little more financially responsible and secure, I can afford to pay someone. What I find is that because I know better, I am usually disappointed with the work others do and I realize that I could chunk that up just as good as that other guy.

Becoming an FAA certified aircraft mechanic really polished my abilities. I remember after a few years working at the airport, we were going to go on vacation with a motorhome (think you'd call it a caravan) I have had for years. When I went under the (hood) to check the fluids, I found several things that were not airworthy nor up to my current standard. My perception of what was acceptable and dependable has changed from then to now.

Yeah,
I occasionaly go riding with an ex Hawker-Dehaviland engineering clerk who was in the parts scheduling - use-reuse circus.
He can not get it out of his system so every time I give him a bolt the instant question is "Where did it come from" :laughing:
He wont so much as fit an air filter to his bike if the filter itself does not have a makers name / trademark stamped into it.

bertsmobile1 said:

Yeah,
I occasionaly go riding with an ex Hawker-Dehaviland engineering clerk who was in the parts scheduling - use-reuse circus.
He can not get it out of his system so every time I give him a bolt the instant question is "Where did it come from" :laughing:
He wont so much as fit an air filter to his bike if the filter itself does not have a makers name / trademark stamped into it.

Click to expand...

Now, here I am going to contradict myself, because I have always been a Yamaha parts for my Yamaha guy. I do not do aftermarket anything when it comes to my motorcycle. That piece of equipment was engineered to get me there and back if I respect the equipment. That and take the approach that everything out there is out to get me and I am wholly responsible to look out for all the hazards. My cycle is like my parachute and no one but me packs my chute.

fabricgator

When I work on my Harley's I try to use the best available part to replace or repair the broken/missing part. I have come to see that most major manufacturers will use the cheapest parts available to build a product and that there are after market parts available that is in fact better then the OEM ones. In some cases the OEM parts are the only ones I will run but try finding NOS parts for a 1977 Harley much less some of my friends 1940-1950 ones. Heck I have made a few parts before because I needed something that was not available for both my bikes and my mowers.

I also ride like I am invisible and everyone out there is trying to kill me. 40+ years and so far no one has gotten me. Knock on wood.
Tom

Tom,
I've been flying rice for years, since I was a kid even.

I find Yamaha my favorite with Honda 2nd. Harley was loud, obnoxious, and not as quick on the throttle as I was used to. Maybe just the models I have ridden. Suzuki was cold natured and never rode Suzuki, Dakati, BMW on or off road.

I just high revving precision and that is probably from being an Evinrude and LawnBoy guy from pert near day one...

I have tried many over the counter (other than OEM) equipment and very rarely do I find anything that is a reliable improvement over stock. Maybe I am just a purist.

Ride safe Tom and keep the shiny side up!

fabricgator,
I have ridden rice before, first street bike was a 77 Kawi KZ650 and I got more speeding tickets on it then I have had all total. Traded that in on my 1977 Harley which I still have. I really don't have a "need for speed" and I just like my Harleys but I respect all rider except those asshats who insist on stunting on the streets.

Ride safe and get out in the wind when you can.
Tom

Tom,

A co worker years ago, he told a story about how he and 5 friends set out to ride across the country on their Harley Davidson's from Indiana. I guess they headed out west first. He said after a day, that he went and traded his ride in on a new Goldwing and finished out the trip with them on it.

I my grandmother was in Ormond Beach, just north of Daytona. I remember bike week from many years as I was growing up. I have always been impressed by the shiny chrome, loud pipes, and bikini clad girl ornaments on the back... And every so often hanging onto the handlebars and rolling the throttle.

Mow safe!

fabricgator,

Funny that he sold his H-D for a Goldwing. I have several friends that ride 'wings and are vary happy with them. In Nov 1979 I rode my 1977 Harley from Jacksonville, N.C. to El Paso Texas and did it in 5 days. Now that was a boring ride. 55 mph all the way. I have ridden from the Houston Texas are to Maine before, several trips to FLA and New Orleans on my bikes. Have been up to Wyoming and across Texas many times. The newer bikes ride much smoother then my '77.
My 1977
my 1998
My 2012
Tom

fabricgator said:

Hey guys,

...air filter. It is a foam type, oiled,...

Click to expand...

And it's free!!

I know this is an old post but the other day this post came to mind. I wandered behind a Hobby Lobby store and next to bundled cardboard boxes were boxes of 4ftx4ft of foam sheets being recycled.

I say this because ive been using similar packing foam for computer hardware for my filters and they don't break down (4 years knock on wood).

I cant say this won't break down in a few months after touching gas being i just found it and haven't tested it but if anyone is interested, here u go.

(fabricgator- from an A&P dropout - switched to sw developer...)

Only bad thing about using stuff that wasn't designed to be an air filter in the first place is that you don't have any idea of what size particles it will pass. It may look like an air filter but might only filter really big chunks of dirt.

I would use it if nothing else was available, but if the regular filter IS available, I'll stick with that.

cpurvis said:

Only bad thing about using stuff that wasn't designed to be an air filter

Click to expand...

Maybe, Maybe not.

It is not swiss cheese, it filters fine.
It is not documented to be the exact same foam but i'll bet you if i cut 1 piece of each material this and 1 from the briggs foam filter on my tiller bet you couldn't tell which is which.

I know I couldn't. The human eye can't see anything below 40 microns in size and real air filters are after particles half that size.

Thanks, but I'll pass on the free filter material. I can't afford it.

cpurvis said:

I know I couldn't. The human eye can't see anything below 40 microns in size and real air filters are after particles half that size.

Thanks, but I'll pass on the free filter material. I can't afford it.

Click to expand...

Yes. then I and alot of other Stihl chainsaw owners on other forums with hard felt material as their filter will take the cheap route...

No problem. You can have my share.

cpurvis said:

No problem. You can have my share.

Click to expand...

Ditto, K&N on my old Harley, & factory air filters for my Z.

Your saw sucks somewhere between 300 & 600 litres of air every minute.
Or to put it in a way you can visualize it sucks between a big one door fridge and a side by side 2 door fridge of air.
If the filter is too fine it generates carbon which builds up on the exhaust port then drops off into the cylinder scoring the barrels and turning the saw into scrap metal.
If the filter is too course it sucks dust into the engine to abrade all of the machined surfaces and allow the fixed jet models to run too lean, overheat and again destroy the saw.
All this to save $ 10 , it is a no brainer.
Now if you are using a single use garbage China made saw , well fine cause you have factored in the fact that it will only last one season.
If it is a $ 99 China made Stihl, then fine again but why would you jepodise a $ 300 + saw to save $ 10 on a filter ?