1957 Air Cleaner Wingnut

[John P.]

Hello, can anyone supply me a picture of the correct air cleaner wingnuts for a 1957 283/270 hp dual quad setup? Thank you in advance for any and all help. Wishing all you and your families a safe and happy July 4th. Thanks, John

[Gary C.]

Re: 1957 Air Cleaner Wingnut

1956-7 6th Edition Judging Manual has a good photo.

Gary
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[John P.]

Re: 1957 Air Cleaner Wingnut

Hello Gary, thank you so much for your response. Would you happen to know if it is the same photo shown in the 1956-7 5th Edition Judging Manual? I restored my 57 with the identical wingnut shown in the 5th edition. I was recently at a local show and a fellow corvette enthusiast argued with me stating that my wingnuts are not the correct ones. If anyone has the 5th and 6th editions, could you check and see if the same wingnut is show. Again, thanks for all the help, John

[Gary C.]

Re: 1957 Air Cleaner Wingnut

John,

Yes, it's the same wing nut in the 1956-7 5th & 6th Judging Manual.

Tell the "fellow corvette enthusiast" he's mistaken and that is the correct and very rare wing nut, if its like the photo in the JM.

All the '57 NCRS Bowtie cars have the pictured air cleaner wing nut.

Gary
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[David B.]

Re: 1957 Air Cleaner Wingnut

A little further explanation might clarify. Per the '57 AIM RPO 469 sheet 1 the correct wing nut is P.N. 3736162 -- stud 3728798. Chev. engineered this Type B wing nut 3-13-56, it's description was nut - special wing 1/4 -20 it was designed primarily to eliminate usage of the small washer used on earlier '56 Type A wing nuts. Since this part number does not show up in the '57 P & A I suspect it was strictly a production part (rare?). In later years Type B wing nut #219281, a Standard Engineering part was used extensively. The difference between 3736162 and 219281 (both type B) is very minor, primarily the height of the wings .38 vs .531/594 for #219281, the pinch thickness of the wings .20 vs .297 for 219281, inside flat area .63 vs .422/.453 for 219281. Maybe the "observer" had a sharp eye and caught these variations. , the stud 3728798 used is 4.31 OL .88 top .50 bottom threads. The winter 2022 Corvette Restorer article on wing nuts (page 21) missed the target on '57 usage.

[Gary C.]

Re: 1957 Air Cleaner Wingnut

3736162 blue print

3736162 - Stamped Wing Nut.jpg

[John P.]

Re: 1957 Air Cleaner Wingnut

Thank you all for easing my mind. This is the exact wingnut(s) that I have on the car. It's amazing how many "Experts" show up at shows and are more than willing to critique your car. I have an early built 57 with the Eaton vented gas gap. I actually removed the cap to show this man and verify it as being an original cap. I should have just ignored the idiot, but you know how it goes. Again, thank you all for your time and pictures. Have a great holiday, John

[Bob B.]

Re: 1957 Air Cleaner Wingnut

John,

Those air cleaner wingnuts are used from 1955-57 on all V-8s. Here is a link to the Online Driveline for them with some good pics: https://www.ncrs.org/classified/index.php?a=2&b=5917. They resemble the C2-C3 wingnuts in a way, but are smaller.

Happy Independence Day!

Bob

[David B.]

Re: 1957 Air Cleaner Wingnut

John,

Those air cleaner wingnuts are used from 1955-57 on all V-8s. Here is a link to the Online Driveline for them with some good pics: https://www.ncrs.org/classified/index.php?a=2&b=5917. They resemble the C2-C3 wingnuts in a way, but are smaller.

Happy Independence Day!

Bob

Check the date of blueprint.

[Bob B.]

Re: 1957 Air Cleaner Wingnut

Gary,

David Bartush makes a good point since the date of the blueprint is 3-16-56. Could that have been a later blueprint of the same wingnut? I also checked with the 1953-55 guys and they indicate that this wingnut is correct for 1955 V-8s also.

Thanks,

Bob

3736162 blue print

[ATTACH=CONFIG]117575[/ATTACH]

[Gary C.]

Re: 1957 Air Cleaner Wingnut

Bob,

Dave Bartush makes a good point about the date of the drawing. Unfortunately, there's no revision table on the blueprint copy.

All of the Bowtie 1956's I've judged, all had this wingnut, but they were June through August produced Corvettes.

Dave Bartush might have the part number for the '53-55 Corvettes wingnuts.

Gary
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[David B.]

Re: 1957 Air Cleaner Wingnut

Not interested in getting into argument with 53-55 guys however would suggest they research a little further on this item. If a chrome type B wing nut was used in all probability it would have been 219281. As noted earlier 3736162 was not designed yet.
The 56-57 JM is a little misleading with regards to wing nuts. Page 95 seems to infer all 56-57s used a type B. Early '56 corv. used the type A wing nut with a small washer #120392. Assuming this wing nut was chrome it was probably #117204.