Side Air Intake Removal

I am attempting to remove the side air intake from my rusty '74 Superior 54" parts car without destroying it. I have had a couple of people tell me that this is an easy job. They have, obviously, never done it before. After stripping off everything from the left rear inner wheel well, I got socket and extensions(2) on each of the 4 nuts which, I assume, hold the plastic scoop on to the quarter panel. Each of these 4 studs just spin.

The outer shell on the scoop appears to be a separate piece. Does the outer shell on these somehow pop off? I assume that someone has been successful in getting one of these off without destroying it. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I took one off years ago, and found that I had to get the nuts off from the inside compartment. This one was a die cast unit, and it was a bear to get the nuts loose. If it is rusted, than it is going to be a lot of work. Sometimes if the nuts are badly rusted, you have to switch to a metric socket to get them loose. I believe that they were 1/4 x 20 studs and took a 5/16" or 3/8" socket on the nut.

Paul,
This one is the plastic intake that Superior used in the '70s. The nuts are not rusted that badly and I can get on them using 2 extensions, but the studs spin. Does anyone know if the outer shell on the plastic intake comes off of the base to expose a screw head? It appears that the intake is 2 pieces.

Air intake

As Paul said ITS NO EASY TASK....and CAN be very frustrating.

We tried to remove the one from the 70 Rescuer......access was not to bad,but actually removing it was the chore...lots of WD-40 let it sit overnight...then try .....a bit of heat also seemed to help.....it finaly gave in and was removed...

James,
Unfortunately, all of the penetrant in the world won't help anything if the stud is spinning. Was your '70 the plastic scoop, or the pot metal scoop? I was thinking that Superior went to plastic in 1971?

Kurt,
Ohh yes,they ol stud spinning thing...havent tried to remove the plastic yet (if ever)...
Its funny the 70 54" is Pot metal...and the 70 51" is plastic...

come come now people not a hard job at all just a pain in the a$$.

the problem is they are put on with stamped steel self cutting pal nuts. some over achiever has over tighten them to were they has striped out the stud the nut cuts the threads into. so now how to get it back off and with out braking anything. this trick is one you learn first in old body school. were all the cars had fender extensions made of die cast.
you have to create enough pressure against the nut so that it grabs a new thread and you can back it off.
what you need to do is wedge something between the body and what your taking off. start with the putty knife in this case between the base and the body and gently pry up while turning the nut off.

very seldom does it take a lot, all you need is enough for the nut to grab the ridge and start cutting new threads. if you can't reach around to get a hand on both things (you never can) them tap in under with the hammer till it holds itself. get the first one off and you got it made but to keep turning and hoping just cuts the stud down more. the plastic just takes a little more fineness. but works the same way

but in the case of the superior what you have is a stud cast into the plastic
if the nut is rusted to the stud or the plastic is cracked were it is cast then can become a problem. the presser will work if the nuts are free on the stud. but if the nuts are frozen in then you may have to sharpen up the putty knife and chisel threw them. here is what the scoop off a 66 superior looked like. what they are is a boat vent.

Thanks Ed. Keeping in mind that this is a parts car, I am thinking that a reciprocating saw is going to make this a whole lot easier for me. I would assume that,back in the day, 99% of these plastic vents came off with a hammer and a new vent was put back on in its place. I would also assume that this is why everyone (that owns one with this style plastic vent) seems to be looking for one that "someone else"(key words) has taken off. I have several of the older pot metal style that I have removed from '63-'70 Series 75 limousines which are the same as what Superior used during those years. The reciprocating saw is definitely going to be the way to go. The shredder won't care if that hole is there or not!

Putting it back on...

I simply glued mine back on when it came back from the paint shop. The screws were all shot.

Kurt Arends said:

The reciprocating saw is definitely going to be the way to go. The shredder won't care if that hole is there or not!

Click to expand...

cut a lot out if they are spinning leave you self a lot around it so you can pin it in a vise.you will still have to pry if the studs are spinning.

but if you don't intend to make if function again. they were all a water leak problem then cut the center out of a spray paint cap and it will glue in the air hole sealing it up.