TR2/3/3A TR3 Oil Filter Canister Removal - YUK

[jfarris]

I hated the TR6 oil filter canister and the gymnastics you had to go through to get it off.
Now I know how they made it so easy to get off. They improved the TR3 design.
I've got a 56 TR3 with the Purolator filter head. The central bolt is screwed out to the point that it is hitting the breather pipe and the actual canister is loose. I took the bolt out of the breather pipe bracket - no movement there.
What's the secret?
Thanks, in advance!!!
Spin on adapter sitting in the parts box, just waiting .

 

[TR3driver]

Was the breather bracket at right angles to the side of the engine? Might be that your breather tube has been rotated forward (and is now stuck in the hole).

Anyway, there shouldn't be any "trick" needed.

 

[jfarris]

Thanks Randall, the bracket was perpendicular to the engine. Pulling the oil pan was my next job, I may try attacking that bolt from the bottom.
I don't know what we would do without this forum!

 

[2long]

Hi Jim: I also had that problem, and I ended up taking the oil filter housing off the block. I can't believe the design is so hard!

Dan

 

[charleyf]

I am getting parts together to do a engine build on an early TR3 engine. I have a few TR4 engine parts here as well. This question reminded me that when I got out a downdraft tube for this build I found that I had two tubes. One was the traditional straight downward and the other one is curved backward. I will need to take a look at which is the better to use. So maybe a later version (likely of the TR4 saw this as a problem and made the pipe curved instead of straight. I do not remember any particular problem with my TR3B. One other curious thing on found on the early engine. Somebody welded a small drain plug to the side of the filter canister. Apparently they got tired of getting the oil dripping out the top of the canister as they unscrewed the canister off of the filter head.
Charley

 

[Geo Hahn]

...the bracket was perpendicular to the engine. Pulling the oil pan was my next job, I may try attacking that bolt from the bottom.
I don't know what we would do without this forum!

As I recall, the road draft tube is pretty easy to remove. Just one of either of the two bolts holding the connecting piece (one bolt is a slightly longer oil pan bolt). Once that is free you rotate and pull the tube out of the block (friction fit).

You wouldn't want to do this every time you changed the oil but since you plan to add a spin-on adaptor it would be a one-time thing.

 

[jfarris]

Thanks Geo. Once I got under the car and had both of those bolts loose (oil pan is also coming off), the breather swung out of the way and the canister came right off.
On to the next part of the job, measuring bores and pistons and making a BIG decision.
Thanks for all the help!