K & N Oil Filter Will Not Fit

After having read the very useful oil filter thread on this forum, I ordered some of the K&N 153 oil filters directly from K & N. With free shipping, they came to the same price as the NAPA filters with shipping. One of my motorbike cronies says the K&N filters do a very good job according to published reports he had read someplace so I felt they would be worth the bother & I liked the 17mm fitting that would ease installation & removal.

The problem came when trying to install them. The Crossland that came with the oil filter kit (added to my 1972 Commando) was a tight fit around the base, the K&N was marginally bigger and did not have as large a outward dish on the threaded portion. There was just no way it was going to fit. Happily I had purchased some PERF-FORM HD-3 filters (probably from British Marketing) years ago and they were sitting on the shelf awaiting rediscovery. These filters were just a bit smaller on the base & one was installed with with no issues at all.

Vintage Paul

My 1st Combat that became Ms Peel, had KN single oval filter installed on dual Amals but the KN but was crumbled crushed deformed to fit against the mid frame gusset and tubes. I don't know if just me or all em like that to some degree. I gave up on KN and don't think they filter as good as plain paper or other brands that are really meant to filter and not just for more racer air flow in no very gritty dusty conditions.

MIght search < KN filter truck fleet tests > to learn more on advertising propaganda.

I just put one on my '74 MK2a that I'm almost done restoring. Fit perfectly.

JD

he's talkin oil, not air
JD

hobot said:

My 1st Combat that became Ms Peel, had KN single oval filter installed on dual Amals but the KN but was crumbled crushed deformed to fit against the mid frame gusset and tubes. I don't know if just me or all em like that to some degree. I gave up on KN and don't think they filter as good as plain paper or other brands that are really meant to filter and not just for more racer air flow in no very gritty dusty conditions.

MIght search < KN filter truck fleet tests > to learn more on advertising propaganda.

Click to expand...

Yes, oil, not air filters. My Commando came without a filter and I bought a kit from somebody in the mid nineties to add this feature. Were the kits the same as the setup fitted by the factory? I had thought they were. In any case, nice as the K&Ns are, I can't use them.

BTW, K&N service is terrific. I ordered the filters online one afternoon and the arrived by post the very next day. I will continue to use them for other applications.

Vintage Paul

Hey Paul, I was just going to buy a couple K&N's so if you can't use them I will stop by and buy them. I'de like to see how your bike is coming along. Glenn.

Ugh, I read initial post as K/N " Oiled" filter, ugh.
Here's DynoDave review of them
http://atlanticgreen.com/oilfilter.htm

gtsun said:

Hey Paul, I was just going to buy a couple K&N's so if you can't use them I will stop by and buy them. I'de like to see how your bike is coming along. Glenn.

Click to expand...

You got it, you can even try them first to see if they fit. I'm on cell.

Vintage Paul

hobot said:

Here's DynoDave review of them
http://atlanticgreen.com/oilfilter.htm

Click to expand...

That is a useful link. I did not see the PERF-FORM HD-3 filters listed, I wonder if they might be made by one of the other makers? They are labeled Made in USA.

Vintage Paul

I can't advise on oil filters beyond knowing that the cheap plentiful kind sold for 70-80's vintage Toyota and lots of other cars fit just fine for me w/o oil filter adapter. I only replace filter every few oil changes, like every other year as they last a long time on our small bikes - can online search this if don't believe me on waste of money to change more often.

Crap, man, that really sucks. I love these oil filters and really believe in their functionality. Differant oilfilter mounts for differant folks, I guess.

My little Guzzi V 50 Monza had a replaceable Guzzi made filter that could only be bought from a Guzzi shop & cost me $12.00 (US). Considering that I road the piss out of that bike it got expensive changing the oil every 3,000 miles. I asked the guy I bought parts from if I could just clean & reuse them so he said "clean one, dry it & look at it under a microscope" he assured me that I would see all kinds of micro sized particles that "are what really does most of the damage" according to him. I don't know if this is true but I try to replace the filter every time. The last time I checked my oil after about a 200 mile ride I panicked. It was so clear I couldn't see it at first & thought I was out of oil!!

My little Guzzi V 50 Monza had a replaceable Guzzi made filter that could only be bought from a Guzzi shop & cost me $12.00 (US). Considering that I road the piss out of that bike it got expensive changing the oil every 3,000 miles. I asked the guy I bought parts from if I could just clean & reuse them so he said "clean one, dry it & look at it under a microscope" he assured me that I would see all kinds of micro sized particles that "are what really does most of the damage" according to him. I don't know if this is true but I try to replace the filter every time. The last time I checked my oil after about a 200 mile ride I panicked. It was so clear I couldn't see it at first & thought I was out of oil!!

In the mid 90's I got a few RGM repop norton style filter bases. I found they were not the same dimension from the mounting plane to the filter center. The "fix" was to weld a 1/8" spacer to allow mounting the spin on....Swore I'd never buy RGM filter housing again.

Now jump forward another 10+ years, I bought a few more filter housings from norvil....they supplied (drum roll please) RGM filter housings. This time they were not machined square to the screw stub. The filter gasket would have a gap on one side no matter how tight you would turn it. Since it costs so much to return, I made a tool and turn them on a lathe to square them. They are useable but I was not that happy to have to fix a half dozen housings. Norvil apologized and refunded a bit to cover the remachining.
Believe it or not, In the late 80's I had seen on a freind's "wall of shame" a genuine norton housing with the same problem (not square).

dynodave said:

In the mid 90's I got a few RGM repop norton style filter bases. I found they were not the same dimension from the mounting plane to the filter center. The "fix" was to weld a 1/8" spacer to allow mounting the spin on....Swore I'd never buy RGM filter housing again.

Click to expand...

I wonder if perhaps my oil filter kit might be one of these. It certainly seems odd that such tiny differences in filter dimensions could make the difference between a filter fitting or not fitting. There is money to be made with our old Nortons, but some seem to take a short term view that the customer does not matter or will not remember. A bad attitude when we can share our experience as we do here.

Vintage Paul