Bad Unipart GFE 422 Oil Filters

Unipart GFE 422 oil filters may fail

The Good & The Bad of MGB Oil Filters

Last fall my doctor called the shop on an urgent matter, he had just serviced his MGB and when he started the car it dumped four quarts of oil on his garage floor.  The NAPA oil filter had stripped the threads in the filter head.  Around the same time we began to notice difficulty starting the Unipart GFE 422 oil filters we regularly use.  Similar reports came in to us about CARQUEST MGB oil filters.

Monday I sold a GFE 422 to a local customer who showed back up an hour later with the threads damaged on his filter head, which fortunately I was able to repair.  There is an emerging pattern:  We strongly suspect that all of these filters have a common Asian source. I could not start another GFE 422 on the repaired filter head, but an N.O.S. GFE 121, the same pre-supersession oil filter worked just fine.

Butch & John install a Jaguar engine

Last Friday Butch & John Wrestled the engine back in the Mk2

We would like to suggest that for the time being you use the Mann W 917 or FRAM PH 43 oil filters pictured here.

Work continues apace on several fronts.  Butch has been fitting the glass in the Mini Panel Van this week, while John is still up to his elbows in the recently refinished Jaguar Mk2 Sedan.  Steve once again has been swing-man, grinding thru the 2nd MG “Y” tourer, a TR6 and a couple of MGB’s. Tomorrow he is prepping my MGC for “Brits by The Sea” to be guest driven by our friend and customer Bob Mitchell of British Motorcars of New Hampshire, and I spent the long weekend hoeing out the shop.  I had planned to do this anyway, but for reasons we’ll get to in a moment, probably not to this degree.

Unusual Equipment under the bonnet of the MG YT

Can you identify the component in front of the coil ?

British Trivia Time again.  Here’s an underhood picture of an unusual component installed just in front of the Lucas Sports Coil on the LHD MG “Y” tourer which was here last week (and not to be confused with the RHD “Y” tourer Steve serviced this week).  It has a copper line which runs to the black reservoir can on the battery box.   The first three correct responses will be rewarded with the british car oil filter of your choice if we stock it.  (Sorry MGB Unipart oil filters aren’t on offer this week).

Sports Car Services is often times the low hanging fruit for Hemmings Sports & Exotics just over the mountain in Bennington when they need a story on deadline, or something interesting, not necessarily for attribution.  We read every word they print, but last week they approached us with a slightly different request.  Hemmings is about to start streaming video, and on Wednesday we spent nearly four hours working with their Tampa-based videographer.  Stay tuned, as the saying goes, for the result.

Hemmings video crew attaches cameras to an Austin Healey

HMN video crew preps a Healey for rolliing video work as Steve, Butch & John look on

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