Hi folks,
the work is done. Tool shop finish according to inner and outer specifications and final glass blead blasting of each unit!
Please find the pictures for the finished 3rd production (last) series.
You see on the top of the picture the sandcast molds (2 units) before final finish - in the middle area the finished replica molds (5 units) - and on the bottom the original sandcast oil filter unit!
The work is perfect. All outer dimensions are correct and 100% according to the original - no shrink discrepancy after the sandcast molding on the replicas compared to the original unit I have in my hands!
I would say thiese are the ultimative quality sandcast oil filter housings replicas! You wont get better and closer to the original.

Thanks to all of you who already ordered 11/20 units. I hope you enjoy the parts and that your bikes will look perfectly with these replicas. Let's keep the sandcast spirit alive...
cheers
Joe

Dear all,
after restoring 3 sandcast bikes I want to focus on another challange...police bikes.
I'm looking for CB750 (K0-K2) and / or CB650 (1979) police bike and / or appropriate police parts.
I'm also looking for people who have done this already to exchange informtion and to share the experiences.

cheers
Joe

Hi Keith
out of the 22 produced oil filter housings I have only 6remaining.
Please send me an email (joehellmann@aol.com) with your full information (unfortunately your mail adress is hidden!) and I will reply to you.

cheers
Joe

Hi everybody,
thank you for your great interest in this topic and the many mails.

So far I can inform all of you that I decided to start a 2nd production for another 20 filter housings (maximum number for one production). This is mainly becuase of the limitation to do the sandcast molds which have to be done everytime using the original oil filter housing for every replica by replica and the size of an Aluminium melt.
Of course it would be possible to add another production depending on the further interets in these replicas in the future.

As soon as I have the next replicas in the production I will post more pictures and keep you informed.
cheers
Joe

Hi everybody,

doing sandcast restoration for now over 4 years I want to inform all sandcast owners about my recent progress in the reproduction of the original round sandcast oil filter housing.
As you all well know the oil filter housing topic is most important when it comes to sandcast restoration...

Of course I was also very disappointed about the general situation when it came to this topic.
Most of the original filter housing were slaughtered by HONDA during the first inspection due to the recall.
But also many original filter housing were just destroyed by the owners/technicians when changing the filter element and giving to much torque when placing it back again.

So definitely we need to use/work on replicas to have a 100% 'original' restored sandcast becasue the finned housing is truely no option!!!
The replicas available on the market are round but not really a good solution when you own an original one and/or do know how the original should look like.
Also the simple solution to take a finned oil filter housing and to cut off the finns is not really a workable solution - even it is the most easiest one.

Just by accident and becasue of another project I learned about a method how to make perfect sandcast replicas.
So, I just want to let you know that I succeeded to rebuild a nearly 100% perfect replica of the original round shaped sandcast oil
I was lucky enough to own one original oil filter housing and I started to work on a perfect replica based on that original part.
So far what I did:
1)       Using the original oil filter housing I prepard a sandcast mold for reproduction – done!
2)       I performed a sandcast process with the sandcast mold using 223-Al alloy – done
3)       I went to a toolshop to lathe face the replica sandcast oil filter housing to exactly the original oil filter housing dimensions - done.

I started to produce a first series of about 4 replica oil filter housing with very good result!
The replica is nearly 100% exact to the original.
The weight of the replica and the model is comparable.
The aluminium used is very durable and the part can be used  without any issues.

The only difference is that during the sandcast process the replica shrinks about 1-2% in dimension so the replica is slightly smaller compared to the original but this does not interfere with the requested functionality!!

Never the less the oil filter fits perfectly into the housing and also all others measures are perfectly matching!
Again it is 100% functional as it should be!

IMPORTANT
I’m right now considering a new 2nd production of replicas and I just thought it might be a good idea to ask you and the only sandcast forum whether or not other fellow sandcast restorer would be interested in the replica oil filter housing?! In this case I would be ready to increase the number of replicas to produce according to the number of interest?!

I can tell you that the cost of one replica would be around 200-220US$ plus shipping – so I believe for 250US$ I could offer such perfect replicas. The final price will depend on the manufacturing cost of the different steps...

Anybody who is interested please inform me in return untill end of March!

What you see in the attached pictures are different replicas.
IMG_3219: 3 of my replicas which I offered one time in ebay!
IMG_3266: comparisson of Yamiya replica and that what I did.
IMG_3267: comparisson of Yamiya replica and that what I did.