New 1 Micron 100% Sythetic Microglass Fuel Filter

Hi,

This kit is an evolution of what I've learned in making fuel filter kits for the Duramax since 2002. It has been in development for the TDI for almost a year. I have been using the one micron element in the Duramax for 2 years, and the CAT 1R-0749 going back to 2002 totalling almost 9000 units to date.

It was designed for flexibility in mind as well as easy of use. I went with the best of everything in this kit all the way down to the double-walled crush washers and extended boss on top for extra fuel line clearance. I'd like to thank the late George Morrison for all of his help on the design of this filter element and making its production a reality. I'd also like to thank oldpoopie for his feedback which helped make this kit functional and easy to install/service.

This is a complete kit consisting of the filter head, mounting bracket, 1-micron filter, banjo fittings, clamps, nuts, washers, bolts, o-ring, filter wrench, and directions. The installation is straight-forward and can be accomplished by the average person with basic mechanic skills. The bracket is CNC cut from one piece steel and the filter head is machined from billet aluminum and anodized in a black, red, or blue finish. The kit is designed to use the 1-micron filter but will also work with the CAT 1R-0750 2-micron element if a more reasonably priced filter is desired.

For an additional charge the kit is available with 3 of the standard 8mm barb fittings to give you an extra port for a pressure gauge. It is also available with anodized -6AN fittings instead of the standard 8mm barb fittings for those customers running larger fuel lines.


Key Benefits

• Multiple Filter Options - Will work with both the 1-micron 100% synthetic filter as well as the CAT 1R-0750 filter
• Anodized Billet Aluminum Filter Head Available in 3 Colors
• Raised Boss Surface on Filter Head to Provide Additional Clearance for Fuel Lines
• One-Piece CNC Cut Steel Filter Bracket
• Filter Securely Attached with Stainless Steel Clamps
• Eliminates the Problematic Thermostatic Tee Fitting on the OEM Filter
• Includes Fittings to OEM lines for Hassle-Free Installation
• Stainless Steel Hose Clamps Won't Rust
• Stainless Steel Mounting Bolts & Hardware
• Folded Crush Washers for a Better Seal on Banjo Fittings vs. Regular Flat Copper Washers
• High-Flow Filter Head Can be Used with Optional -6AN Fittings for Those Running Larger Fuel Lines
• Optional 3rd Banjo Fitting for Fuel Pressure/Vacuum Gauge Connection
• Helps Prolong Injector Pump, Injector, and Fuel System Life
• Bio-Diesel B100 & Veggie Oil Compatible
• 1-Micron Filter Has no Internal Paper Material to Swell in Cold Temperature for Those Using Biodiesel and Veggie Oil
• Includes Filter Wrench to Facilitate Easy Removal of Banjo Fittings and Filter Element
• Easy to Revert Back to Stock (no cutting of OEM parts required)
• Proven Track Record of Success - Air Leaks/No Starts are not a problem!
• 100% MADE IN THE U.S.A.!!
• Limited 1-Year Warranty

The Heart of the Uber Fuel Filter Kit - The One-Micron 100% Synthetic Microglass Filter Element



All fuel filters currently available are cellulose medium. Even the highest quality cellulose filters provide only marginal filtration when compared with a full microglass element. Additionally, cellulose filter elements are adversely affected by sub-freezing ambient temperatures. This is not the case with a full microglass element. It is not affected in any way by cold temperatures. Couple that with the fact that the best cellulose-blend filters are 2-micron and this 1-micron filter is a huge step in the evolution of filtering diesel fuel.

Enter the 1 Micron Nicktane Extreme-Duty 100% microglass element!

The filter element was developed using technology developed for the aerospace industry. One of the problems associated with a pure microglass element is that the glass medium can be delicate. When microglass is exposed to varying flow rates, the microglass can rupture at the points where the microglass is required to make sharp bends within the stainless steel support structure. When you have flown on an airliner and heard the landing gear “clunk up” in place, the hydraulic system was just exposed to a tremendous stress. This sort of stress would destroy the normal microglass filter element. Not the Nicktane Extreme-Duty. It can take this sort of stress in stride, again and again.

The Nicktane Extreme-Duty filter is manufactured using a proprietary technique which essentially “bends glass”, without creating a weak area in the filter medium. This gives the Nicktane Extreme-Duty filter a combination of robustness, and filtration efficiency unequalled in the aerospace and automotive industry. Additionally, the filter utilizes a proprietary microglass layering technique which enables the filter to provide significantly better filtering efficiency and dirt holding capacity than any filter currently available in the market.

Thus we have a filter technology that will provide diesel fuel filtration and flow world’s better than any currently available cellulose or cellulose/blend fuel filter.


Pictures below illustrate installation location. Click on any image for a larger version.
The Complete Kit


Filter Head with Banjos Installed



Filter Head with Banjos Installed


Filter Head with Banjos Installed


Variations Available for Different Applications



Underside of Filter Head with Viton O-Ring



Filter Kit Installed



Bracket Attached to Vehicle


Filter Wrench in Action


Hose Barb Union and Folded Crush Washer



Kits can be ordered HERE:

I'll take one.

Beetle Pictures showing mounting and that there is enough clearance all around.


New Beetle Installed


New Beetle Headlight Clearance


New Beetle Bracket


New Beetle Intercooler Pipe Clearance

What is the lifespan on the filters and would that filter work with an older CAT filter set up? Finally, what are the actual ratings on the filter, what percent of 1um particles are captured?

And plans for one with a heated return to the filter for those of us in colder climates?

-J

compu_85 said:

And plans for one with a heated return to the filter for those of us in colder climates?

-J

Click to expand...

Yes. What about the fuel tee fitting?

compu_85 said:

And plans for one with a heated return to the filter for those of us in colder climates?

-J

Click to expand...

I'll chime in too, looks sharp but I don't want to lose the thermostatic tee since I'm up in the great white north.

as long as fuel is treated properly for gelling is thermo needed? When I installed it in june I tapped and plugged to the hole on my cat filter. Am I in for some sort of surprise in january?

Fits 1999-2005 Volkswagen Jetta/Golf A4 TDI

Click to expand...

Very nice. Will it fit the Beetle as well?

VW started using the thermo T in 1988 for a reason

-J

would you care to elaborate on said reason?

Sorry for the multiple replies, I guess this site doesn't have multi-quote turned on or i just had a brain-fart and can't find it




To answer your question, as with any filter it depends on what you pour into it. i run the same element on the Duramax (its almost twice as long) and i can run 20k miles on my dually, most of that towing 28k pounds getting 9.5mpg. unloaded i get 14.

big filter is 8.5" tall. small filter is 5.25" tall. small filter is 62% size of the big one. most likely the small one has a little more that 62% of the element of the big one given the end cap and the bottom are the same on each.

so if the truck goes 20,000 miles at 12mpg that 1666.66 gallons of fuel. if the TDI gets 40 mpg that's 66,666 miles. multiply that by 62% and you get 41,332 miles.

i'm guessing in reality it will go further. i've had them on both my TDI's for almost a year but i don't drive it enough to rack up 50k miles real quick

the 100% microglass element doesn't have any paper in it (unlike the CAT or OEM) which is used as support material and just takes up space that would be used by contaminants. this allows it to hold more contaminants than a paper filter.

As for whether it would work with an old CAT filter setup i don't know. I never had one of those filter heads in my hand to see how its put together. Basically my head has a threaded nipple it in which can be swapped out for one with different threads to allow a variety of filters to be used. If the threads in the older head were than same as the nipple i use and they were deep enough then it would probably work. the sealing surfaces on the CAT vs my filter are not exactly the same but not far off. I've got more than enough meat on my filter head to accommodate both so the older one might too. Best bet would be to measure it.

as far as ratings, everyone seems to rate them differently so they can get the best appearing result. using diesel fuel (any filter's "filterability" is directly related to the medium's viscosity) its a 1-micron beta 200 filter using standard ASTM test methods. In reality it performs closer to a .5 micron absolute but it is labeled simply as a 1-micron filter. It is rated for 30gpm max flow rate. I've used one on a biodiesel filling tank right at the transfer pump and it really can pump that fast.

adamant628 said:

What is the lifespan on the filters and would that filter work with an older CAT filter set up? Finally, what are the actual ratings on the filter, what percent of 1um particles are captured?

Click to expand...

there is no reason to do that. That was one of the reasons i used the 1-micron element- it has no paper so it won't be susceptible to cold temperatures like a paper or paper-blend (CAT) filter will. obviously if the fuel in your lines turns solid so will the fuel in the filter, but the filter will no longer be the first component to freeze (and thus the one that needs to be heated). the injection pump & injectors still heat the return fuel to the tank. So you really aren't losing any heating function, but rather its just heating the fuel going back to the tank instead of looping it right back into the filter.

compu_85 said:

And plans for one with a heated return to the filter for those of us in colder climates?

-J

Click to expand...

The Tee is no longer needed. I included a straight barb fitting machined to the same length as the stock Tee so your fuel line lengths don't get messed up.

owr084 said:

Yes. What about the fuel tee fitting?

Click to expand...

everything is the same except the bracket. At our last GTG i took a trace of a beetle bracket and am in the process of making a new bracket. basically i'm just moving the mounting point from the top of the bracket at an angle to the middle completely perpendicular. I should have them done soon. Also i'll be making them for the newer TDI's as well. I started with MKIV because that's what i own

UFO said:

Very nice. Will it fit the Beetle as well?

Click to expand...

Yes they did and that reason is because the current filter technology made them susceptible to gelling. If i were still using a stock filter on my cars in cold climate i'd use the Tee too. but with a 100% synthetic filter it isn't needed.

compu_85 said:

VW started using the thermo T in 1988 for a reason

-J

Click to expand...

In case anyone in curious about the insides:

Take a look at these 2 pics. They are large so you can zoom in. The first is the one micron. you'll see there is no paper, rather a fine stainless wire support structure. In the second pic you'll see the paper support structure in the CAT filter.

http://www.nicktane.com/images/1micron.jpg

http://www.nicktane.com/images/2micron.jpg

Do you have Beta ratio and Absolute rating documentation?

I don't have anything that is in a printable format. I just have the emails from George Morrison back when the development was done. You are more than welcome to test one. He had all the testing done himself and I never requested copies from the lab. Given that he has passed on I wouldn't know how to get them.

FWIW CAT has never released their test data to anyone. Back in 2002 when i started doing filter kits no matter what we tried we couldn't get them to budge on it.

otm646 said:

Do you have Beta ratio and Absolute rating documentation?

Click to expand...

This ain't right. I just bought my cat setup and not this comes along.

I've had a CAT unit and now run this. Nick bounced ideas and fitament issues off me as he developed the unit and I must say its better than the cat unit. It comes with a bracket, the filter head has a wrench so it is easy to swap, the area that the barbs bolt to is on a raised boss so the hoses and clamps dont drag on the filter head. I always had issues with the cat unit and the hoses. Also, since I installed the UBER filter, I've had ZERO bubbles in my lines. The CAT unit always had a bubble. I'd even had drainback issues with it where the thermo-T sealed poorly....... Always the achilies heel of the CAT head.

If you ever need a beetle test platform, I'll gladly volunteer mine. I can't wait till you have a NB application.

PM Sent

Sets_Chaos said:

If you ever need a beetle test platform, I'll gladly volunteer mine. I can't wait till you have a NB application.

Click to expand...

Interesting. I've only, before this time, heard that kevlar has a negative thermal expansion coefficient. According to you, now cellulose does. You're the first one to claim this property. Is there any citing you have? I'd like to read more on it.

Powder Hound said:

Interesting. I've only, before this time, heard that kevlar has a negative thermal expansion coefficient. According to you, now cellulose does. You're the first one to claim this property. Is there any citing you have? I'd like to read more on it.

Click to expand...

further to that....has there been any actual low temperature R&D behind this prodcut? I'm very interested, but like others have mentioned, I'm leery about losing the thermostatic tee....

ndamico said:

there is no reason to do that. That was one of the reasons i used the 1-micron element- it has no paper so it won't be susceptible to cold temperatures like a paper or paper-blend (CAT) filter will. obviously if the fuel in your lines turns solid so will the fuel in the filter, but the filter will no longer be the first component to freeze (and thus the one that needs to be heated). the injection pump & injectors still heat the return fuel to the tank. So you really aren't losing any heating function, but rather its just heating the fuel going back to the tank instead of looping it right back into the filter.

Click to expand...

Perhaps if the gardleRebulator were heated before the brogendab it might bind to the refabulator and slowly release the farburgane into the defabulator thus eliminating the need for it to be cold outside at all.

Seriously, why would the small amount of paper in the CAT filter that is not present in your filter make any difference in cold weather performance?

Interested, but I want to know if this filter is capable of truly filtering down to 1 micron absolute.

Asked and answered

ndamico said:

as far as ratings, everyone seems to rate them differently so they can get the best appearing result. using diesel fuel (any filter's "filterability" is directly related to the medium's viscosity) its a 1-micron beta 200 filter using standard ASTM test methods. In reality it performs closer to a .5 micron absolute but it is labeled simply as a 1-micron filter.

Click to expand...

everything i've read is internal documentation. I even have a copy of CAT's internal filter study from years ago but they are very strict about releasing it unless one is willing to fork out a ridiculous amount of money. that being said i've been searching on the internet for public info and haven't found a ton. I've looked up several custom filter manufactures with public info and did find this here:

http://www.oilfiltrationsystems.com/products/display/replacement_filter_elements-1



DESCRIPTION

Oil Filtration Systems Inc.’s microglass filter elements provide the highest degree of filtration efficiency for industrial, mobile, and process applications. Our filter elements are composed of microglass media, the most recent innovation in high performance filtration technology. Microglass media is inert, inorganic, and far exceeds any paper or cellulose filter element performance. Water or chemicals, which cause softening, swelling, and degradation in conventional cellulose or pleated paper filters, do not affect microglass media.

Now please don't misunderstand what i said earlier. any filter can freeze up if the fuel gets thick enough. However a conventional paper or paper/cellulose blend filter will freeze sooner because the fuel thickens as it crystallizes coupled with the media itself swelling which is what leads ultimately to the filter blocking the flow of fuel.

fuel will gel no matter what you put it in if it gets cold enough and isn't treated properly. that's a given. However with a microglass element you only have the fuel to worry about, not the element. hopefully that explains it a little better. now a CAT filter is far better than OEM because its a blend, but not as good as microglass. the downside to microglass is cost.

regarding the testing methods- i've pieced together from emails how they are tested and it appears to be the exact same method as the website above- ISO16889 Beta(c)=1000.

Powder Hound said:

Interesting. I've only, before this time, heard that kevlar has a negative thermal expansion coefficient. According to you, now cellulose does. You're the first one to claim this property. Is there any citing you have? I'd like to read more on it.

Click to expand...

The cold weather tested I've done has been on the roughly 80% taller element i use in the Duramax. since I've had it out for 2 years in that market I've had people test them in Canada, the northeast US, and even one fellow in Alaska. We purposely ran untreated to fuel to see what would happen. What we found is that the 1 micron filter (which is mounted under the bed roughly in the fender well essentially exposed to the elements) never froze up on us. Now we were able to get the OEM filter to freeze on several occasions. The oem filter has a heater and is located about 15' of fuel line after the 1 micron filter. we tried it with the heater connected as well as disconnected. with it disconnected the OEM filter froze up even sooner than with the heater. As the OEM filter has a priming pump it was easy to verify it froze- the truck would not start and the priming pump was impossible to depress. Next we would change only the OEM filter and the truck would be off and running.

Another one of my internet searches on the difference between cellulose and microglass can be read here:

https://www.hyprofiltration.com/clientuploads/directory/Knowledge/PDFs/Glass Upgrade.pdf

streeker02 said:

further to that....has there been any actual low temperature R&D behind this prodcut? I'm very interested, but like others have mentioned, I'm leery about losing the thermostatic tee....

Click to expand...