Evaluation of 512TR Oil Filter UFI 2331002 (Ferrari Part Number 148404)

The 512TR UFI Oil Filter is a very high-quality construction, full-flow filter for non-inverted applications that don’t require an anti-drainback valve nor standpipe. The first thing that struck me was the overall shortness of the 512TR oil filter – in fact, it is the shortest oil filter that I’ve looked at so far. Here are the outer dimensions:

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The internal structure of the 512TR oil filter is somewhat different than a conventional spin-on oil filter in that it has two half-filter elements (with different filtering characteristics) instead of one filter element:
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UFI holds US Patent 4,950,400 (expired long ago) where they disclose a spin-on oil filter design using three different internal filter elements: a fine one (4-15 um), an intermediate one (10-30 um), and a coarse pre-filter (40-80 um) wrapped around the inlet of the fine filter. Hence, their claim of “Triple Filtration”:
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The 512TR UFI 2331002 oil filter does not have the coarse pre-filter so, even though it is labeled “Triple Filtration” on the outer case, it would be more accurate to call it “Double Filtration”. Their goal was to provide a design with the benefits of a conventional bypass oiling system but contained in a single spin-on filter (however, I think this is a bit hopeful, and the design has some downsides which I’ll discuss in the conclusions). Here’s the assembly sequence:

Step 1 – Front Plate
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Step 2 – Rubber Seal for Fine Filter
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Step 3 – Fine Filter
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Step 4 – Rubber Seal for Intermediate Filter
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Step 5 – Intermediate Filter
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Step 6 – Coil Spring
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Step 7 – Outer Case
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Here are the numbers comparing the 599 Purflux 218429 to the TR UFI 2319202 and the 512TR UFI 2331002:
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My Comments/Observations/Conclusions (use at your own risk! ):

1. The 512TR UFI is a perfectly fine oil filter, BUT it does not justify the present very high retail price.

2. In a conventional bypass oiling system, the fine bypass filter and intermediate full-flow filter are completely separate filters. Therefore, the fine debris captured by the fine oil filter can never re-enter the system. However, in the 512TR UFI oil filter since the fine filter and the intermediate filter share the same oil inlet chamber this is not true (if any of the fine debris becomes dislodged from the fine filter inlet side surface). Additionally, the media area of the intermediate filter (thru which most of the oil flows) is greatly reduced; consequently, the velocity of the oil flow thru the intermediate filter is increased (compared to a conventional filter of about the same size). This higher flow velocity can reduce the effectiveness of the filter media as particles get “pushed thru”. And finally, since this UFI patent expired long ago, and the oil filter industry has not adopted this idea (nor has Ferrari continued to use it), I think that that’s a strong sign that any benefits are not significant or not worth the cost.

3. Due to the shortness of the 512TR UFI filter, we really don’t have any alternative that we can say will work for sure. The 599 Purflux 218429 is only 7mm longer so that has a good chance of being OK, but the much longer Baldwin B255 is probably out for sure. What we need are some pictures like this for a 512TR that were posted by a fellow FChatter for a TR to show just how much margin there is for using a longer oil filter on a 512TR:
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My thanks to Scott (qwazipsycho) for providing and sending this UFI 2331002 sample to me for analysis.

 

Certainly, especially if the pic(s) can show that the slightly longer Purflux 218429 does not extended so low that it is in danger of being struck and/or how much longer an oil filter could be and not be in danger of being struck.

 

Don't you have more important things to worry about?

I do think that engine manufacturers have worried less about debris clogging an oil filter, and have put a higher priority on overall engine compactness as most modern 5L and 6L engine oil filters are physically smaller than the 5L engine TR and 512TR oil filters. The cross-sectional area of the resettable spring-loaded bypass valves, in the F oil filters that have them, do seem kind of smallish IMO so more like "prevents total oil starvation" rather than "always provides full flow by itself". The design of the filter media structure could be involved, too, like intentionally being designed to tear open, or deform in a way that opens an unfiltered flow path, if the pressure difference across filter media exceeds something like 20 psi. My guess would be that 99% of all oil filter element collapses are related to poor design, or poor manufacturing, rather than too much debris accumulation -- like this Fram example (the "cardboard" end caps of the filter element are poor design, IMO):

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