So last weekend I had a slight mishap while getting my car tuned on the dyno. My ******* oil filter pedestal broke into two pieces and a geyser of oil shot out all over my engine bay. I lost about 2.5 quarts of oil in about two seconds. It literally shot up through my hood scoop (while the hood was open) and out the front about a foot. Thank god nobody was hurt....If this would have happened while I was on the highway, I don't know what would have happened. The oil caught fire on my downpipe but it took a few seconds which gave us time to get a fire extinguisher. I have a gotham racing turbo blanket, my downpipe wrapped about 3 feet back, and ALL of my vacuum lines around the turbo are stainless and covered with fireproof sleeves. Without this stuff it would have caught fire instantly. There really wasn't any damage, just a big ******* mess to clean up and I had to rewrap my downpipe.

Here is the pedestal...I thought they were CNC machined all from one piece of metal. I didn't know the center piece threaded into the base. The part that goes into the base is made with really thin metal and the threads are really shitty. I tried to get the best picture possible, but you can clearly see the quality of these things. I am pretty sure I got this one from speedmachine when they were still in business but I'm not 100% sure. Take it how you want, but I am not going to be using these things on either of my FC's unless they are all one piece.

 

oh damn.

Wondering how many psi is flowing through that thing when it flew off.

Looking at it, theres about two explanation that I can come up with.
The threads sucks ***** because of shitty alloy, or you are tightening oil filters too hard.

 

i tighten the filters hand tight...i have between 30 and 40 psi of oil pressure at idle...i wasn't in the car watching the gauge when it happened but it was probably at about 6000rpm. you can see how thin the threads are that go into the base. the metal is also VERY THIN.

 

Glad you and your car survived in one piece.

This also happened to someone else: https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...edestal&page=7
Looks like the same pedestal, and it broke in the same way.

 

The thread on the base seems fine, which just means the thread on the fitting sucks since you said its very thin metal on it. Im surprise they even made it like that. From the pics the metal looks like only 2 mm thick, the thread it self is 1 mm from what it seems. Whoever made it shouldve spent more money developing it. I mean, there are fittings out there that are the same size and handles more then 100+ psi, but with oil, theres heat. And from what I know, heat expands metals.

 

Damn, you're making me wonder about mine now. I have a pedestal similar to that one, and it came from one of the guys that was later part of speedmachine. I do see some differences though, so hopefully mine's one piece. I guess I'll have to take a closer look at it during the next oil change. It's been used for about 6 years so far, without any oil explosions .

 

i have another one that is on my convertible...its not speed machine but it is also two pieces...i havent taken it apart yet to see how thin the bottom is.

 

I think I had the RB one which was standwiched between the block and the factory pedestel with longer studs. never had any problem with it.

 

that makes me wonder, i have one on my FD from RE speed and it looks almost identical to that, i didnt notice weather or not it is a two piece or not

 

I've had this one in my car for over 2 years:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OIL-F...Q5fAccessories

The center piece is a large fitting with sufficiently thicker walls that screws onto the factory pedestal mount through the billet pedestal.

 

FD or FC?

 

+1

Crispy

 

Just curious....is that blood on the pedistal? There is what looks like blood where the broken piece screws in.

 

Wow... I'm glad you + your car are okay.

 

jesus christ that had to be a nasty clean-up lol

 

its not blood...loc-tite maybe?

 

For those of you who are unsure of yours now, I would definitely take a look next oil change, and possibly even get it TIG'd by a buddy or something to be sure, $20 and a six pack isn't worth the mess, nevermind any fire damage.