What's the big deal?

[fishunterx]

Why are the crate motors so much more expensive? I have a 2.3 in my truck, is a 2.3 Crate better?

http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/pts/916557898.html

 

[97BlackBetty]

Because you take it off of the crate and drop it in you truck, plumb the fuel lines and the few other lines needed, and start it up. Crate engines are fully assembled, ready to install, ready to run engines. All of that prep work costs money.

 

[pocket-rocket]

I don't know if I would buy that one though, it has a Fram on it. Frams are pure junk unless you like wear and tear on your engine. At least it's got under 5k, so not much damage has been done.

 

[fishunterx]

I have a 2.3, if anything I would buy a 2.9 minimum and re wire it. Just wondering why that 2.0 was so expensive. Come across it every now and then when I'm looking for parts on CL.

 

[pocket-rocket]

Mines a 2.3 as well. I'm not sure if I want to turbo it or try to come up with a way to do a 3.8 S/C. But, since I have the 2.3 already, I will probably go that route. These engines are built pretty good and are reliable and from what I have found over the net and in person, the 3.8 doesn't offer as much reliability as the 2.3. Turbo would probably be much easier to manage too over rewireing in 3.8 S/C.

 

[Shran]

That is expensive because it comes with both motor and tranny. Actually that is a pretty good deal considering if you bought a block, had machine work done, new parts, plus a rebuilt transmission would cost a lot more than $1200.

What is wrong with Fram?

I know we've had this discussion on here before, but really... it's a frickin oil filter, you replace it 4-5 times a year on average anyway... it really doesn't have a whole lot of effect on anything.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

cut open a fram, a motorcraft, an ac delco and a wix and tell me what you see. the difference in the quality of the internal parts and the filter element are huge. i would filter my oil through a roll of toilet paper before i used a fram.

 

[Joe400]

I'm 1400 miles away from breaking 200K on my 4.0 and all i've run for the past 100K is fram oil filters... Still runs like the day i got it and doesn't burn a drop of oil.

 

[Shran]

I know, I've seen it done. I guess I'm just speaking from experience that I've never had any problems. In the past 8 years I have had 11 different vehicles, and used Fram filters on all of them with no problems.

Right now I bought Motorcraft filters for my two Rangers, because they're actually cheaper than anything other than super tech. If it's good enough for Ford, it's good enough for me.

 

[pocket-rocket]

http://people.msoe.edu/~yoderw/oilfilterstudy/oilfilterstudy.html

Besides, I've seen first hand how restrictive Frams are. When cruising with a cold engine, my car runs at almost 80 psi (remember, it's got 24 bucket style lifters to feed so GM didn't skimp on the pump). When I used to use Fram and Penzoil (because that is what I saw my grandfather use) my oil pressure gauge went insane! It was constantly pegged all the time and hardly came down under 80. I got together with one of the guys on the 60v6 board to let him do a chip for my car. Later we went to do cam carrier gaskets because mine had started leaking, and since I had bought a head gasket set to get all of them in there, we decided to pull the heads and port and polish them. When we put it back together he informed me on how restrictive Frams were, so I tried his suggestion of a Purolator and Mobil oil. Well what do you know, after I swapped out the Fram, my gauge worked just fine (and here I thought it was the sensor going bonkers the whole time). Reason being, the sensor is in between the oil pump and the filter. Since Frams are so restrictive, it was building tons of pressure in between the filter and pump and my gauge was recording this.

 

[pocket-rocket]

Right now I bought Motorcraft filters for my two Rangers, because they're actually cheaper than anything other than super tech. If it's good enough for Ford, it's good enough for me.

I noticed this too, so I went with Motorcraft for mine as well. I'm not here to try to stir the pot about Frams, I am just trying to share my experience with them. I used to think they were all right too, and the grippy stuff on them rocks, but after what I found out first hand, I will never run another Fram on anything I own again. If you guys feel comfortable with them, that's fine. I don't want to piss anyone off here. Like I said, just sharing my experience with them. That's the whole concept behind forums, sharing information.

 

[Shran]

the grippy stuff on them rocks

Yes! Very true. I want to buy a bucket of that rubber tool handle coating, mix some sand in, and coat all my filters in that.

 

[Mac]

Kind of sounds like that big thing going around on the net awhile ago written by some guy with no mechanical or chemical experience who was really bashing the Fram filters, did no testing at all to see how they filtered or anything like that. All he did was express his "feelings" and it seemed to be come the "Word". He saw plastic in there and right away thought, "Got to be Junk". I've used Fram for over 40 years with not one problem. Just too much "Crap" out there on the net. Okay, tear one apart, what are you going to see? You have any idea of what you are even looking at? Size in this case really doen't matter, it's the filtering capacity. What is the micron rating of it? Normal Fram is around 15-20 microns.
Dave

 

[pocket-rocket]

Yes! Very true. I want to buy a bucket of that rubber tool handle coating, mix some sand in, and coat all my filters in that.

I've thought about doing the same, but then Advance (I go there because I have a commercial lvl 4 account there ) started having some made for them by Purolator with the grippy stuff all the way around the can too. Sadly, the last few times I have been in the store, I haven't seen them

 

[MAKG]

http://people.msoe.edu/~yoderw/oilfilterstudy/oilfilterstudy.html

Besides, I've seen first hand how restrictive Frams are. When cruising with a cold engine, my car runs at almost 80 psi (remember, it's got 24 bucket style lifters to feed so GM didn't skimp on the pump). When I used to use Fram and Penzoil (because that is what I saw my grandfather use) my oil pressure gauge went insane! It was constantly pegged all the time and hardly came down under 80. I got together with one of the guys on the 60v6 board to let him do a chip for my car. Later we went to do cam carrier gaskets because mine had started leaking, and since I had bought a head gasket set to get all of them in there, we decided to pull the heads and port and polish them. When we put it back together he informed me on how restrictive Frams were, so I tried his suggestion of a Purolator and Mobil oil. Well what do you know, after I swapped out the Fram, my gauge worked just fine (and here I thought it was the sensor going bonkers the whole time). Reason being, the sensor is in between the oil pump and the filter. Since Frams are so restrictive, it was building tons of pressure in between the filter and pump and my gauge was recording this.

Umm, if your filter is that restrictive, what the F*** did you do to the bypass?

ALL non-F'ed-up oiling systems have bypasses.

It amazes me that people can tell how strong or restrictive something is by looking at it. Ranks right up there with the butt dyno. You're fooling yourself.

And your filter wouldn't be so restrictive if you changed it once in a while and used the correct oil.

For a street-driven vehicle, it really doesn't matter very much at all.