[twj347]

The stock filter on my car is rather small looking, so I picked up some oversized filters. I went with a Baldwin filter (B161-S) since they're the only filter manufacturer that matches Subaru's 23psi bypass valve setting. It has about 50% more volume than the stock filter. The advantage of an oversized filter is that it has more filter media so it will last longer, and it won't go into bypass as easily when the oil is cold, resulting in more filtering.

I guess my only concern is that if the bypass valve doesn't function well, it will take longer for the oil filter to fill up on engine start, leading to more startup wear.

I'm planning on insulating the oil filter with insulating tape to keep more heat in the oil between starts, as sort of a poor-man's Prius insulating coolant thermos. My car has an oil-to-coolant heat exchanger, so it should benefit coolant temps as well, and I'm not concerned about higher oil temperatures. I'm not expecting it to make a stellar difference, but it should at least help.

Has anybody done this sort of thing before?