1970 Beetle Oil Bath Air Cleaner service

*Note: My repair manual tells me that 1973 and later models have a replaceable paper air filter located inside a housing in the engine compartment. You gotta be dumb as a box of door nails to not be able to figure out how to replace a paper (modern) air filter, so I'm not going to explain it.

Here's one that alot of new antique beetle owners dont know about. In the older model vehicles, they used to use an air filter that uses oil to clean the air, called an Oil Bath Air Cleaner. What happens is that at the bottom of the topmost part of your engine, there is oil in the bottom of the pan. As air is pulled in, it makes a 90 degree turn downwards, then sideways, then up, and around into the air intake, briefly like this: _<-air flow. When the air makes the downward trip, it hits the oil and the heavy particles hit the oil and get trapped, then the air makes the trip into the intake manifold. Its that simple. Service is about that simple too.
1. Depending on your car, you may have to take the deck lid off (the "hood" over the engine in the rear) to remove the oil bath air filter; with my beetle its not that necessary. To get the oil bath off you may need to loosen a bolt strap or something that keeps it tight on the air intake manifold.
2. Once you get the oil bath air filter and/or the decklid off, flip the pop lever things that keep the cap on. Take the lid off of the air filter and look at the level of oil inside the bottom of the bottom piece.
3. There should be a line or a making of some sort telling the level of oil. Fill the oil bath air cleaner with the same oil you use to fill the engine oil sump with. Now place the oil bath cover back on, careful not to damage anything. Snap the snap things on again, making the cap secure to the bottom piece. Place the hole in the bottom of the filter onto the neck of the air intake. You may have to twist it gently back and forth to get it back on, then tighten the bolt strap. There should be a braided oil hose about a half-inch thick that runs from somewhere on the oil bath. Run that tube down to the oil filler neck and place it back onto the same sized opening on the oil filler neck. This allows for oil that is over-filled in the oil bath air filter to be forced back into the oil filler neck (or to a pipe that runs under the car to the road, like mine does).
*4. If you had to take the decklid off, now you may reattach the decklid. If you like, the next time you remove the decklid, you can order things called "decklid risers" that make a slight gap between the decklid and the chassis of the car, allowing for extra working space in the engine, or just for showing off!
Once again, good luck, and dont do anything illegal, such as dumping the old oil into the street or something stupid like that!