Some dude was trying to determine if his car was a late '82 model or an early '83. He mentioned something about Fram earl filters, and you responded with a comment along the lines of "they're the orange kiss of death, don't use 'em."

Curious about why you (and so many other BB'ers) have come to this conclusion. I've been running Fram filters on my '84 245DL for years. The engine has never been overhauled at 287K (not even so much as a valve job!), and runs just fine. No valvetrain noise, no oil light at all when started first thing in the morning. In fact, oil press gauge comes right up to normal reading in under 5 seconds. I've never heard Fram filters (mfg'd by Allied Signal, you'd think they'd know *something*) badmouthed by anyone else except some of the members of this board. In fact, if you look at the Swedishbricks FAQ under "Oils, filters" you'll see:

"Consumer Reports declared Fram as the best because of it's ability to filter the "right-sized" particles. Their belief was that it was important to filter only the big particles in the oil which would not fit between the bearing surfaces, thus causing damage. Their opinion was that it made no sense to try and filter particles which were smaller and which would pass right through the bearing surfaces or other tolerences in the engine. Filter attempted to trap all the smaller particles were the ones that would clog early, triggering the by-pass and allowing unfiltered oil to circulate in the engine. Because of the Fram media design/philsophy, they resisted clogging the longest which CR thought was important. They tested the filters by contaminating oil with some type of particles of varying sizes, running it through the filters and then analyzing the oil to see what size

particles remained. They also specifically tested for clogging rate and downrated filter brands which clogged too quickly. Again, the ones that tended to clog were those which were set up to filter very fine particles."

This is at http://www.swedishbricks.net/faq/oilsfilters.html#filter

I also know a diesel mechanic who swears by Fram products. He's got an old F-250 with over 300K on the clock that he still drives everyday. He wouldn't even think of using any other brand of filter on it.

So what gives?? I'm not trying to start a fight (okay, maybe that's a little naive); I'm genuinely curious.