Well the facts are in, my "trusted" auto mechanic's hands are dirty. As mentioned he priced a complex exaust part for a 1990 Mits Galant at $270, wow! He of course charges an hourly rate for his work: $65, less than the dealer charges, but still a "living" wage and sufficient to pay overhead costs at the same time. I always supposed he also marked up the cost of parts, maybe 10 to 20 percent, and much of that was due to the fact that he can purchase at a discount compared to what I pay. Well as mention above I found the needed parts and they came with delivery at a price of $130. So, today while at the one of the auto parts houses he priced parts at I asked after the price of the parts, $170, even to me, and that's $100 less than the mechanic wants to charge me. I'd be willing to bet he gets the parts for closer to the $130 line. In any case I get this picture: Time 1 Hour: cost $65, Parts mark-up $100, true cost per hour: $165, plus tax. I'll work on this one myself and may look for another mechanic, but my hopes of finding a more honest one are not high.

Ah there are two kinda-sorta-similar filters. I had first followed the Fantom part links and saw the XFM405 which seemed close to mine, but the picture didn't look a real good match. http://www.totalvac.com/XFM405.html Now I just saw the filter in the above link I posted and when I followed that link, it is not the XMF405. It is the XSH033 for the Euro-Pro Shark http://www.totalvac.com/XSH033.html It looks closer to my filter (except for the yellow color). Now that you tell me the history, I am thinking that could be the filter I need. And the "tap clean" tag line matches what was on my receipt for the last time I bought them in 2004. What do you think? Have I found my filter?

We bought our first home in 1976 and our second home in 1979. I know I had the Cuisinart at the first house so it's gotta' be something like 32 or 33 YO. Mine is the CFP-5A--'off & on' is controlled by the lid assembly. Still ticking along but I did pick up another vintage Cuisinart at an estate sale a year or so ago as back-up insurance. One of the disks started to break--the plastic stem part--so I JB Welded it back together--probably 10-15 years ago! The fix isn't pretty but...

Never mind, apparently parts sources for these faucets are few and far between. Going to replace both of them.