Well nuts for air cleaner housing

[wws944]

The bottom half of the air cleaner housing is fixed by two bolts that go down through the fender, and two nuts down by the fender well. For the top two bolts, the housing has a pair of holes with rubber Well Nuts in them. The rubber in both of mine has cracked, and in one the metal threads are actually loose.

The printing molded on them says " WELLNUT ACM6X1". They appear to be 1/2" wide and 5/8" deep. Screw thread is M6x1.0.

Has anyone looked into exact replacements for these? The Illustrations pdf is silent about them. Googling around a bit, it seems like Lowes carries a selection. So I need to get over there One Of These Days.

Edited September 11, 2013 by wws944
Fix part number (see edit history)

[DAVES89]

IMHO easier to go to a salvage yard and get one out of a Riv. Could also be in a number of other Buicks of that vintage.

[wws944]

IMHO easier to go to a salvage yard and get one out of a Riv. Could also be in a number of other Buicks of that vintage.

Funny thing is that when I went Pick-N-Pulling today, and bought the HDM from the '91 Firebird, there was also a 'new' '90 Riviera in the yard. Wish I'd known I needed the well nuts, or I would have looked at them.

But I drive past a Lowes on the way to the Pick-N-Pull. So if I can get new ones, I'd do it.

Shop Standard (SAE) Well Nuts at Lowes.com

(P.s., Nothing on the '90 Riv I wanted.)

[wws944]

The PNP '90 Riv produced two nuts that were in comparable condition to the ones I already had. That is, on one the rubber was cracked but hanging together. The other was completely broken in half. So at least I now have two marginal ones.

I've struck out at all sorts of places. Buick dealer is a no. Home Depot (no), Orchard Supply (SAE spec only), Ace (SAE spec only). Two local industrial fastener places, one whom even specializes in metric parts, also only had SAE spec ones. OE manufacturer wants a 25000 part minimum order.

It would be nice if we could find some other cars where GM used the same nuts. I can't help but think there should be some part number for them. But in the Reatta/Riv parts listing, they are shown integrated into the air cleaner housing, and not as a separately available part.

So I guess if I want new parts, I am going to have to use the commonly available SAE spec ones with different bolts.

Edited September 11, 2013 by wws944 (see edit history)

[DAVES89]

Nice thing about the midwest is that while we have rust, we also have the correct climate to keep the rubber nice. Having said that I can get them and they will be good as I take them out of the air box not off the fender wall.

PM if you want some.

[wws944]

Nice thing about the midwest is that while we have rust, we also have the correct climate to keep the rubber nice. Having said that I can get them and they will be good as I take them out of the air box not off the fender wall.

PM if you want some.

Are you saying these same nuts are used elsewhere around the air cleaner housing? The only two I know are in the piece of sheet metal that attaches the housing to the top of the fender (i.e., in the rain gutter). I'd imagine GM used these expansion nuts in that location because it is really hard to get a wrench under there, unless one removes the relay center first.

[DAVES89]

I just checked my inventory and I have only two "average" ones. I am not sure about the welnuts being used elsewhere [i did/do think they are] but I know the bolts are. There is a really nice '88 that just came in. I will check it out and report back with what I find...

[wws944]

Here is a photo showing the two. Normally they are pressed into the sheet metal piece, and hidden under the rain gutter:

[DAVES89]

Those are exactly what I was thinking you wanted. Good pic. It even shows that I was wrong regarding the air box using welnuts. You can plainly see they are threaded with a brass insert.

I will start grabbing those as well.

And here I was focusing on '90 switches and front ABS leads...

[wws944]

Hey! Check out: https://www.belmetric.com/tnsw6-well-nut-p-3130.html?zenid=iv940t3e3ngs4vkvnujb6tnfr2&cPath=3_569_573

GM part numbers 14002811 and 20130258 - used in roof racks and for blower motors.

Also Dorman 45523.

Will order a few and report back.

Edited September 12, 2013 by wws944
Add Dorman part # (see edit history)

[wws944]

Will order a few and report back.

So I ordered some of these and they arrived today: http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-LUGGAGE-ROOF-RACK-RUBBER-WELL-NUTS-GM-20130258-/280626164327

They are not exactly the same as the original, but fit and work fine. The only visible difference is the head. They are a little narrower, at 16mm, than the original, at 20mm. They also don't have the little 'lock' to hold them into the sheet metal bracket. Neither of these is a big deal as, once installed, the nuts are hidden under the rain gutter at the top of the fender.

Note that they are 'no-name' replacements. The box is marked "7626". The only marking on the individual nuts are little numbers that are different on each of the 10 in the box. I am guessing the numbers refer to which position in a mold the individual parts came out of.

[wws944]

Thanks to some temporary ebay<->paypal communications problems, and some impatience on my part, it seems I will now have way more of these well nuts than I will ever need.

I will be be placing a post on the Reatta Buy/Sell forum as soon as they come in. In the meantime if anyone needs a few, let me know via PM.

[ice man]

I replaced mine a couple of years ago and purchased them from Lowes. I can't remember if they were metric or not because whatever they were I bought matching stainless steel screws to fasten the air box.

[wws944]

I replaced mine a couple of years ago and purchased them from Lowes. I can't remember if they were metric or not because whatever they were I bought matching stainless steel screws to fasten the air box.

Hi - yes, that was my backup plan. But I really wanted to use the original metric screws to maintain the original appearance, and all the expansion nuts I could find at the hardware stores were not metric.