I read before about how someone took the insides out of a stock air filter housing and was able to use a paper filter instead of using the oil bath. Can someone expound, please?
Some years ago I bought a '49 air cleaner that the seller had converted to use a paper filter. It worked as far as filtering went, but it was modified in such a way that when taking it apart to change the paper element all the parts became detached from one another. This made it complicated if not difficult to deal with. After a year or so it annoyed me to the point that I went back to the original oil bath air cleaner.
It works fine; just have to be careful when changing oil to not spill any on the work bench.