pilotgore
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
12/30/21 update:
We’re at the stage in the development where the design won’t be changing anymore, and Im happy to report we have over 150 sets of funnels and oil filter guides in the wild for the Gt350 and Gt500. The Mach 1 and GT guys have a twist to lock funnel, but we don’t have a design ironed out for the oil filter… but it’ll happen eventually.
Pricing is as follows (unfortunately I had to bump the pricing up slightly to account for higher costs):
Oil funnel + dust caps: $55 shipped
Oil funnel, oil filter guide, and dust caps: $95 shipped.
I wanted to give a shout out to everyone who has been along for this journey. Thanks for the support!
Original post:
Just like everyone else, I struggled to find a good solution to replacing the oil filter in the 350 during an oil change. I used form-a-funnel for my first 6 oil changes, but after a few cocktails, and a chat with @meterman , I decided I should design and 3D print a custom made funnel to handle the task. After 12 different iterations, this is what I came up with. You can see where casting on the block (facing down) necessitated cutouts in the funnel (pictures attached are looking from the bottom through the oil filter trap door.).
I tested it tonight for the first time, and I counted 16 drops of oil coming down through the oil filter trap door (which I had off) during the oil filter replacement. Since the mating surface where the oil filter housing is isn't perfectly sealed, theres still a small spot for oil to creep through. Overall, I'd consider this the same or better compared to what I've previously experienced with the form-a-funnel.
I'm happy to post a video if anyones interested. Anyone else interested in trying it out?
Edit: Instruction video added
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit 2: They're finally for sale. Info below:
Thanks to everyone whose shown interest in both the oil drain guide, and the oil funnel! The sheer number of PM's I've received has been crazy and its hard to keep up. I appreciate everyones patience in helping me bring something useful to the GT350 community.
My current bottleneck is printing capacity (13.5 hrs for the oil drain guide, and 9 hrs for the regular funnel.) After thinking about how I want to sell these pieces, I've decided I'm going to start by selling them as a pair for $65 plus shipping (usually $7). With selling only pairs at first it'll make promised delivery times predictable as I'll be able to knock out one set per day. Once I'm able to fulfill all the orders for the combo, then I'll start selling the pieces individually (I'll be sure to update this and the other thread, so match sure you're watching the thread and setup to receive notifications.). At this time, I don't have plans to sell the STL files, sorry!
If you're interested in purchasing the combo, please send me a PM with your shipping info. I'll be selling them on a first come first served basis.
I have 2 full sets printed and ready to ship today, then after that It'll be one set per day. Some pieces will be black, some orange, and some clear (which comes out as almost an opaque white, but I think it looks cool.) If you have a specific preference of color, let me know, I'll do my best to accommodate color requests, but I can tell you orange will probably be limited to 4 sets.
Mods, if I need to become a sponsor in order to be able to advertise these for sale, I'm happy to become one. I looked on the forum for how to become a sponsor, but I couldn't find any info.
Thanks again to everyone for your interest and patience!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
8/19/21 Update:
A few updates to share:
1. I have finally worked through the backlog of members buying combo packs, and am now selling the pieces individually on a first come first served basis. So, if you'd like just the filter guide, send me a PM and I'll add you to the list. To date I've sent 25 sets into the wild, and the feedback has been great thus far! Pricing is as follows:
-$45 + Shipping for the oil filter guide
-$30 + Shipping for the twist to lock oil funnel
-$70 + Shipping for the filter guide and twist to lock funnel.
2. @Gearz was kind enough to lend his design skill to design a funnel that twists on and seals exactly like an oil cap (aka, the Screw and Lube). Click on the video below to see both funnels in action. They take oil as fast as you can get it out of the bottle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
8/22/21 - Update
I tried the spin-on oil guide prototype today on a 2016 GT350, and unfortunately I'm going to have to completely rethink how to make any kind of guide work with that setup. I wasn't anticipating how horrible the spin on filter situation really was until I put my hands on it. The angle of the oil filter is significantly different from canister setup.
For now, the plan is for another member and I to swap cars for a few weeks sometime this winter in order for me to be able to work through some prototyping. I went through 12 prototypes for the cartridge filter setup, and having the car in my garage with the front driver wheel off made the development process a lot easier.
Sorry to everyone who has a spin-on. . . I haven't given up, its just going to take a lot longer than expected to get back to it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
9/14/21 update:
The queue has been cleared, so if you’d like one, it’s ready to ship today!
Also, the oil filter guide fits the gt500 perfectly, and the twist on funnel for the 500 should be ready in the next week.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
10/3/21 Update
To everyone who has purchased one of the funnel guides, Thank You from the bottom of my heart. It's been fun getting these out into the wild and hearing many many success stories! After listening to feedback and continuing to test, I want to make a few recommendations/observations.
1: Make sure the filter guide is fully seated against the block to gaurentee the best seal possible/lowest oil loss. The best way to verify the guide is fully seated is to look through the trap door in the bottom of the belly pan, but for those who dont want to do that, just make sure its pushed up as far as it'll go.
- When its properly seated, the filter guide will sit up above the metal frame a few MM. The small tab on the left (when installed viewed from the wheel well) should be just in front of the metal plate. It usually doesn't make contact, but it might. The big tab on the right should be in between the 2/3 or 3/4 steering arm boot pleat.
2: We have discovered that by adding a small piece of duct tape (or anything else that will stick) to the inside of the funnel guide, covering half of the smallest cutout, you'll be minimizing drips. After performing 6 oil changes and watching where the oil was exiting, this is where we saw a fair amount exiting. (See pictures since I suck at explaining.). This design change has been implemented in the next version of the funnel guide.
Finally, @Gearz and I are in the process of redesigning the oil filter guide to incorporate some small design changes (including decreasing the size of the smallest cutout to minimize oil loss, and adding a recessed area on the bottom of the oil filter guide to let oil bypass when the filter housing is in the way. I have 7 oil filter guides that I pre-printed in anticipation of the GT500 rollout with the original design. For those of you who haven't purchased one yet, I'm willing to sell these for $28.50 including shipping. To those of you who have purchased at full price and would like an updated design, I'll sell you that piece for $28.50. In all honestly, once you've added the tape as discussed above, the new design isn't a significant upgrade over the original, but many of you have expressed interest in purchasing V2, should one ever come out.
If you'd like a leftover V1, send me a PM. If you've already purchased and would like to be put on the list for a V2, send me a PM so I can add you to the 4-5 week queue.
Thanks again to everyone who has been patient and stuck with me on this journey. This community Rocks!!
-Jon
We’re at the stage in the development where the design won’t be changing anymore, and Im happy to report we have over 150 sets of funnels and oil filter guides in the wild for the Gt350 and Gt500. The Mach 1 and GT guys have a twist to lock funnel, but we don’t have a design ironed out for the oil filter… but it’ll happen eventually.
Pricing is as follows (unfortunately I had to bump the pricing up slightly to account for higher costs):
Oil funnel + dust caps: $55 shipped
Oil funnel, oil filter guide, and dust caps: $95 shipped.
I wanted to give a shout out to everyone who has been along for this journey. Thanks for the support!
Original post:
Just like everyone else, I struggled to find a good solution to replacing the oil filter in the 350 during an oil change. I used form-a-funnel for my first 6 oil changes, but after a few cocktails, and a chat with @meterman , I decided I should design and 3D print a custom made funnel to handle the task. After 12 different iterations, this is what I came up with. You can see where casting on the block (facing down) necessitated cutouts in the funnel (pictures attached are looking from the bottom through the oil filter trap door.).
I tested it tonight for the first time, and I counted 16 drops of oil coming down through the oil filter trap door (which I had off) during the oil filter replacement. Since the mating surface where the oil filter housing is isn't perfectly sealed, theres still a small spot for oil to creep through. Overall, I'd consider this the same or better compared to what I've previously experienced with the form-a-funnel.
I'm happy to post a video if anyones interested. Anyone else interested in trying it out?
Edit: Instruction video added
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit 2: They're finally for sale. Info below:
Thanks to everyone whose shown interest in both the oil drain guide, and the oil funnel! The sheer number of PM's I've received has been crazy and its hard to keep up. I appreciate everyones patience in helping me bring something useful to the GT350 community.
My current bottleneck is printing capacity (13.5 hrs for the oil drain guide, and 9 hrs for the regular funnel.) After thinking about how I want to sell these pieces, I've decided I'm going to start by selling them as a pair for $65 plus shipping (usually $7). With selling only pairs at first it'll make promised delivery times predictable as I'll be able to knock out one set per day. Once I'm able to fulfill all the orders for the combo, then I'll start selling the pieces individually (I'll be sure to update this and the other thread, so match sure you're watching the thread and setup to receive notifications.). At this time, I don't have plans to sell the STL files, sorry!
If you're interested in purchasing the combo, please send me a PM with your shipping info. I'll be selling them on a first come first served basis.
I have 2 full sets printed and ready to ship today, then after that It'll be one set per day. Some pieces will be black, some orange, and some clear (which comes out as almost an opaque white, but I think it looks cool.) If you have a specific preference of color, let me know, I'll do my best to accommodate color requests, but I can tell you orange will probably be limited to 4 sets.
Mods, if I need to become a sponsor in order to be able to advertise these for sale, I'm happy to become one. I looked on the forum for how to become a sponsor, but I couldn't find any info.
Thanks again to everyone for your interest and patience!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
8/19/21 Update:
A few updates to share:
1. I have finally worked through the backlog of members buying combo packs, and am now selling the pieces individually on a first come first served basis. So, if you'd like just the filter guide, send me a PM and I'll add you to the list. To date I've sent 25 sets into the wild, and the feedback has been great thus far! Pricing is as follows:
-$45 + Shipping for the oil filter guide
-$30 + Shipping for the twist to lock oil funnel
-$70 + Shipping for the filter guide and twist to lock funnel.
2. @Gearz was kind enough to lend his design skill to design a funnel that twists on and seals exactly like an oil cap (aka, the Screw and Lube). Click on the video below to see both funnels in action. They take oil as fast as you can get it out of the bottle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
8/22/21 - Update
I tried the spin-on oil guide prototype today on a 2016 GT350, and unfortunately I'm going to have to completely rethink how to make any kind of guide work with that setup. I wasn't anticipating how horrible the spin on filter situation really was until I put my hands on it. The angle of the oil filter is significantly different from canister setup.
For now, the plan is for another member and I to swap cars for a few weeks sometime this winter in order for me to be able to work through some prototyping. I went through 12 prototypes for the cartridge filter setup, and having the car in my garage with the front driver wheel off made the development process a lot easier.
Sorry to everyone who has a spin-on. . . I haven't given up, its just going to take a lot longer than expected to get back to it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
9/14/21 update:
The queue has been cleared, so if you’d like one, it’s ready to ship today!
Also, the oil filter guide fits the gt500 perfectly, and the twist on funnel for the 500 should be ready in the next week.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
10/3/21 Update
To everyone who has purchased one of the funnel guides, Thank You from the bottom of my heart. It's been fun getting these out into the wild and hearing many many success stories! After listening to feedback and continuing to test, I want to make a few recommendations/observations.
1: Make sure the filter guide is fully seated against the block to gaurentee the best seal possible/lowest oil loss. The best way to verify the guide is fully seated is to look through the trap door in the bottom of the belly pan, but for those who dont want to do that, just make sure its pushed up as far as it'll go.
- When its properly seated, the filter guide will sit up above the metal frame a few MM. The small tab on the left (when installed viewed from the wheel well) should be just in front of the metal plate. It usually doesn't make contact, but it might. The big tab on the right should be in between the 2/3 or 3/4 steering arm boot pleat.
2: We have discovered that by adding a small piece of duct tape (or anything else that will stick) to the inside of the funnel guide, covering half of the smallest cutout, you'll be minimizing drips. After performing 6 oil changes and watching where the oil was exiting, this is where we saw a fair amount exiting. (See pictures since I suck at explaining.). This design change has been implemented in the next version of the funnel guide.
Finally, @Gearz and I are in the process of redesigning the oil filter guide to incorporate some small design changes (including decreasing the size of the smallest cutout to minimize oil loss, and adding a recessed area on the bottom of the oil filter guide to let oil bypass when the filter housing is in the way. I have 7 oil filter guides that I pre-printed in anticipation of the GT500 rollout with the original design. For those of you who haven't purchased one yet, I'm willing to sell these for $28.50 including shipping. To those of you who have purchased at full price and would like an updated design, I'll sell you that piece for $28.50. In all honestly, once you've added the tape as discussed above, the new design isn't a significant upgrade over the original, but many of you have expressed interest in purchasing V2, should one ever come out.
If you'd like a leftover V1, send me a PM. If you've already purchased and would like to be put on the list for a V2, send me a PM so I can add you to the 4-5 week queue.
Thanks again to everyone who has been patient and stuck with me on this journey. This community Rocks!!
-Jon
Sponsored
Last edited:
