1940 Chrysler New Yorker oil filter plumbing and mysterious 5th shock absorber

The company that did a restoration of the engine in my 1940, "forgot" to reinstall the oil filter and the car is now without any. Luckily I do have a spare with oil lines, but wonder which of the at least three different plugs visible in the picture is where the oil return line is to pass? The inlet I assume is siamese with the oil pressure line outlet. Anyone able to help out?

Also, the car has a mysterious 5th shock absorber at the rear. Any one knowing the story about these, was this a common Mopar installment?

maybe the company that forgot the filter should take care of this. however, they should have taken some pictures for the re-assembly that can help you out.they should return your original parts that they forgot and give you some money back. sounds to me that they threw away your original oil filter and now they take no responsibility. if that is the case we need to know who to avoid.my flathead is a 1954, no help. this is easy info to get as someone who has your year engine can answer this. capt den

Oil filters were optional on many cars in those days. The factory repair manual will have installation instructions. It is important to get everything connected correctly or you could lose your oil pressure.

The oil pressure outlet has nothing to do with it. When your oil pump reaches a certain pressure, there is a valve that opens to drain off excess oil. It is this excess oil that goes through the filter, thus is does not reduce oil pressure or flow to the bearings.

About the shock absorber I can only guess. It may have been to absorb sideways vibrations that were not absorbed by the regular shock absorbers. The extra shock was a nicety seen on some expensive cars, the last car I saw one on was a Cadillac Eldorado of the mid seventies but I am sure there were others that had them.

Capt Den,

the car's previous owner had the engine overhauled and the car was also supposed to be generally restored according to auction companies jingles (auctioned 2-3 times) - and the renowned classic car dealer I bought it from. I have no idea who performed the work (no receipts included), however extended use of short cuts can be observed although nothing really major...

Rusty,

I have also owned another 40 New Yorker, here is a picture of that car partly showing the affected area:

The Red circles display that this other car had one oil filter pipe in common with the oil pressure line, while the Green circle sort of indicate where the other line ends?

40 Chry NY oil filter piping.pdf

many old cars never even had a filter. just keep the oil changed frequently until you can get clear instructions as to how to plumb the one you have. perhaps rusty or another forum member has a better picture or detailed instructions.my 54 Chrysler the filter canister mounts directly into the block so I have no oil lines to show you. capt den

also, that must be a rare car to find in Norway, so good luck with it. capt den

I don't have a manual for the 1940 eight cylinder engine, but I do have one for the late 40s six cylinder.

It shows the oil filter connected to the oil gallery as you say, but the return is connected to the oil pressure relief valve. This means oil can only flow through the filter when the relief valve is open. My mistake was in thinking the oil feed was from the relief valve when it is the opposite.