How to change the oil bath air cleaner to a regular one

I have a 1960 Chevy Biscayne that has a 235 6 cylinder. Everything is original, so I'm trying to upgrade some things without changing it's overall appearance. I want to keep the oil bath air cleaner housing, but somehow convert it so I can just put a regular air filter such as a K&N. Has anyone done this?

Also, I tried disassembling the air cleaner assembly, but couldn't get the top off from the rest of it so I could at least see how clogged the filter material is. Any tricks to that one? I've already dented it up a little trying to pry it apart.

Thanks!

been a long time... i guess you want it to look stock ?

IMO, the oil bath filter is more effective and less restrictive. Apply some penetrating oil at the seams and be patient. It didn't fuse together overnight, so it may take some time to get it apart.

The "filter material" is just a sintered metal screen, so other than insects and leaves, they really don't clog much.

I'm looking for ease of maintainance, and I don't care to rip it apart everytime I want to clean it out. The air cleaner is already in tough shape, and I just want to do away with the old school stuff and switch to probably a K&N after I fix up the air cleaner.

There is probably a retro one available that looks like the oil bath type but uses an element. Or you can go with a '62 or '63 type that does use the element and it will look stock, although not year-correct.

Bob