I have never had or heard of a problem with stock Mann filters. I will stay with those until I have an issue. I change my filter every time I change the oil, so if it is plugged, I have bigger issues to worry about.

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1991 F250 super-cab 7.3 IDI. (rebuilt by me) Banks Sidewinder turbo, hydroboost brakes, new IP and injectors.
2003 S430 - 107K
1983 300SD - Tanoshii - mostly restored ~400K+.
1983 300SD - Good interior. Engine finally tamed ~250K.
Monark Nozzle Install Video - http://tinyurl.com/ptd2tge

Just three comments:

1) I'm concerned about the efficiency of the packed elements...because the flow is transverse to the pack, you may be pumping oil between the elements, rather than through them. The only way to know is to measure, and that's not an easy do-it-at-home experiment.

2) Parker makes an hydraulic filter cartridge, PN 926566 that's 3 microns. The dimensions are 4 5/8" x 3", the ID is 1". I think this may be a good choice in place of your cotton stack, although it's a bit pricey at around $20. The other problem is that the more efficient the media, the faster it clogs.
http://www.adiesel.com/baldwinfilters/PT8468.html

3) How do you seal it? I see there are two o-rings...do these seal the tube and the central shaft?

Nice work...

Well it off hand looks like they are squeezed together under a lot of pressure due to the Threads and the nuts. At the same time while the pressure is the same as the Full Flow area of the Filter the Flow is slow due to the single hole in the original Tube that goes through the original Tube that is attached to the Oil Filter Cap.
So you have a slow flow over and through a larger surface area.

I suppose some sort of Adhesive could be used between the Element Layers and that would seal them but at the same time the Adhesive soaking into the Element makes that part of the Element unusable for filtration.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

If you really want to go nuts, add a second power steering pump that picks up engine oil and drives a centrifuge. Some big rig trucks have a similar setup.

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1991 F250 super-cab 7.3 IDI. (rebuilt by me) Banks Sidewinder turbo, hydroboost brakes, new IP and injectors.
2003 S430 - 107K
1983 300SD - Tanoshii - mostly restored ~400K+.
1983 300SD - Good interior. Engine finally tamed ~250K.
Monark Nozzle Install Video - http://tinyurl.com/ptd2tge

Some People do that except that you don't need the extra Pump as the Centrifugal Filter runs off of the Oil Pressure.
About 4 years ago a Centrifugal Oil Filter was agout $250 each.
There should be some Threads or posts about them.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Every centrifugal filter I've ever seen require both a minimum pressure and a minimum flow, I'd be very surprised if a centrifugal filter could operate off the flow and pressure that could be mustered from the standard engine driven sump style oil pump in say an OM617 engine.

I've seen the smallest centrifugal filter run off a electric Shur-Flow type diaphragm, it pushed 90 PSI at 1.5 gal per minute

Hi Everyone!
I really had not considered making a disposable cartridge, but I'll give it some thought.

Diesel 911 is correct. The pads are squeezed together under quite high force by the nut and packing plate. It is not evident in the pics, but that is a fine thread screw, so the mechanical advantage is rather high!

Regarding the 3 micron filter element, the 4 5/8 diameter is too large to fit in the stock filter housing. The diameter of my contraption is 3 1/2 inches and there is not much room to spare. Cool idea though!

So far I've got about 630 miles on the oil since installing this filter, and I'm amazed at how clean the oil is staying. I know this is a highly subjective and only qualitative statement. I'm trying to be as objective as I can. Normally, after an oil change though, the oil is an opaque black within a hundred miles or so. On the dipstick the oil is still like a translucent grey, so I'm pretty sure the filter is catching a fair amount of the soot that normally makes the oil black.
When I finish the little road trip I'm on I should have about 850 miles on this oil. I'll try to post some good photos of it so that you guys can see if you agree.

Anyway, if any of you wanted one of these filters, I would gladly make one for you. I really don't know what a fair price would be. The prototype was made with non-optomized procedures so it took a lot of time to make, but I could streamline things if there was interest.

I Love the centrifuge idea, but I have to agree that the stock oil pump probably can't move enough volume to run one. I reserve the right to be wrong on that!

Thanks for all your time and ideas!
Cheers, Chris

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1983 Turbocharged 240D
1982 Mazda RX-7
1974 Mazda Rotary Pickup Converted to an EV

I almost forgot! Mxfrank is correct! The o-rings do seal the inner threaded tube to the Mercedes tube attachéd to the oil filter housing lid. The o-ring groove is bored into the end of the threaded inner tube. The bore is slightly less than the thickness of the o-ring so that when the brass nut is tightened down it compresses the o-ring against the Mercedes tube.

Cheers!
Chris

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1983 Turbocharged 240D
1982 Mazda RX-7
1974 Mazda Rotary Pickup Converted to an EV

Again, it's a hand waving argument without measurements, but there's considerable pressure transverse to the individual elements. The Parker filter is 3" in diameter and 4 5/8" high, sorry I didn't make that clear. It should drop right into your can. Using this element would eliminate the potential transverse flow problem, and would expose more surface area to flow. What? Yes. If your media is packed tightly enough to resist transverse flow, then the working surface area is the area of the OD. The Parker filter has a pleated element, which exposes much more surface directly to flow. It's surface area, not media density, that will determine how long you can go without clogging.

MxFrank: Ahhh Yes, but its Media Density that determines how small of a particle the filter can filter out. This is a "polishing filter". Low flow filtering down to very small particle sizes. By the way, there are a lot more holes in the central tube than shown in the pics. 5 rows of 6 holes each indexed at 60deg. When I took the photos I had not finished drilling the holes because it was late and the center drill I had was shot.

Cheers,
Chris

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1983 Turbocharged 240D
1982 Mazda RX-7
1974 Mazda Rotary Pickup Converted to an EV

The actual pressure measuerment on My Engine was 97 pis when the gauge is pegged at 3 bar. Most US Gasoline Car Engines at lest up until some time in the 1970 the Oil Pressure tops out at about 35-45 psi.

The Flow from the Oil Pump is also larger then you would imagine. I believe the Factory Serverice Manual mentions the Flow but for sure the Tech Manual has that Flow. I never did know what the Flow is so I have no chance to recall it. I just remember seeing the Flow and being suprised.

I have no recolection of what the Oil Pressure is on the Big Cummins or Detroit Diesel Engines used in Trucks.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Note that the 1978 300SD Turbo Diesel book indicates that the Oil Pump can flow 67 liters/min (17.7 gal/min) at 4500 rpms.
I am not so good at math but I think that works out to a flow of 11.8 gallons per minute at 3000 rpm.

The Oil Pressure Relief Valve inside of the Oil Pump opens at 7 bar (101.5 psi) and as I said My own Engine max hot Oil pressure was 97 psi.

I don't know if the above specs are enough to run a Centrifugal Oil Filter or not.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel