[newtoGTO]

Is the Wittek tower clamp used for the air cleaner housing pre-heater shroud hose dated?

Can't seem to see a date or other marking, although there is a bit of corrosion, so want to be sure one way or the other.

Thanks,
John

[JLHarper]

Anyone know?

I have a set on order and can have date stamped.

John, do you know what size this is?

The lower one is crimp style I thought(?) upper is Tower Clamp.
I am looking at these for a 70 GTO, RAIII.
Thanks,
Jeff

[newtoGTO]

Originally Posted by JLHarper

Anyone know?

I have a set on order and can have date stamped.

John, do you know what size this is?

The lower one is crimp style I thought(?) upper is Tower Clamp.
I am looking at these for a 70 GTO, RAIII.
Thanks,
Jeff

I'll check the size when I get home and post it.

Yes, I was refering to the upper clamp used at the air cleaner housing.

[newtoGTO]

The size is 2 1/16"

Just to close out my partial conclusion. Hope to hear others confirm too.

I took my original and lightly cleaned it with a "00" 3M pad. The "2" can be seen
and the fraction is only partially legible. Therefore, they were stamped with the
size but can't see a date yet.

[Ram Air IV Jack]

Originally Posted by newtoGTO

Is the Wittek tower clamp used for the air cleaner housing pre-heater shroud hose dated?

Can't seem to see a date or other marking, although there is a bit of corrosion, so want to be sure one way or the other.

Thanks,
John

The heat tube Wittek tower clamps on the ram air cleaners are date coded. I would assume that the standard air cleaner heat tubes are the same. You might have to wire brush the original clamps to see the date, but if it is an original clamp, the quarter and year should be there.

[68gtoMN]

I have a bunch of these in the shed. I'll head out tonight to see if I can find anything.

[Bet Winner]

Had not thought of this before, but my 1968 standard 400 Firebird has an original looking clamp on the heat riser tube at the air cleaner. I'll describe its markings.

By the tower it says, "WITTEK MFG CO"
Under the above, it says, "CHICAGO, usa"
Further to the right it says, "2 5/16"
Just to the right of that, it says "1/70" in tiny font
To the right of that, it has "74" in large font

All of these quotes are on the clamp in less than half of its circumference. If the very small stamping of "1/70" is the date code, it is not original. Could the "74" be April 1967?--probably not, but this is a May 1968 LOS Firebird.

This may still be a good example of the clamps used in 1970 if it is a Jan. 1970 clamp unless it is not representative of the clamps used in production. I would like to see what some known originals have on them.

[JLHarper]

Thanks for the help, everyone.

I posted in Judge section also, and some info posted there as well.

A member posted that a few parts vendor sells these with different dates codes.
I dont know if PY is one or not, but worth checking.

[68gtoMN]

Here are some pictures from one of the clamps in my box of elbows/clamps for '68 GTOs. I have a handful of others, but had not cleaned them up. This picture was taken without cleaning it up.

One can clearly see the 2/68 date code and the 2 5/16" clamp size. I hope this helps.

Kurt

[Bet Winner]

Thanks, Kurt. I see now that my clamp is dated 1/70 and not original to my 68 Firebird.

[newtoGTO]

Thanks everyone for the information.

Ram Air IV Jack, how did you know the pre-heater hose clamp is dated. The radiator hoses are dated, but wanted to make sure the pre-heater was too.

Also from my orig the size is 2 1/16. Compared exactly the clamp position to a 2 5/16 and a 2 1/16 and only the 2 1/16 was exact. 68gtoMN, therefore it could be possible the clamp taken from the box (for the picture) could possibly have been for a radiator hose and not the pre-heater?

Thanks,
John

[68gtoMN]

Originally Posted by newtoGTO

Thanks everyone for the information.

Ram Air IV Jack, how did you know the pre-heater hose clamp is dated. The radiator hoses are dated, but wanted to make sure the pre-heater was too.

Also from my orig the size is 2 1/16. Compared exactly the clamp position to a 2 5/16 and a 2 1/16 and only the 2 1/16 was exact. 68gtoMN, therefore it could be possible the clamp taken from the box (for the picture) could possibly have been for a radiator hose and not the pre-heater?

Thanks,
John

Hi John, every clamp I have in the box was still attached to the elbow itself. There were 5 elbow in the box, each with the clamp that was on it when I pulled them off of my original air cleaners or those in salvage yards. I took the clamp off for the sake of taking a picture. While possible that I have many wrong elbow/clamps, I find it odd that I have 5 identical elbows with identical clamps.

Who knows?

[Ram Air IV Jack]

Originally Posted by newtoGTO

Thanks everyone for the information.

Ram Air IV Jack, how did you know the pre-heater hose clamp is dated. The radiator hoses are dated, but wanted to make sure the pre-heater was too.

Also from my orig the size is 2 1/16. Compared exactly the clamp position to a 2 5/16 and a 2 1/16 and only the 2 1/16 was exact. 68gtoMN, therefore it could be possible the clamp taken from the box (for the picture) could possibly have been for a radiator hose and not the pre-heater?

Thanks,
John

John,

I have had original Ram Air and Ram Air IV air cleaners over the last several years and I took off those heat tube clamps once and found they were date coded. The clamps looked identical to the radiator hose clamps and were dated with the quarter 1-4, and the year. If you really want to make your car original, I would go that route.

Good Luck

[newtoGTO]

Thanks for confirming the air cleaner heat riser tube clamp is date coded everyone.

68gtoMN, five out of five is too good of odds to doubt. Very stange then on mine as the 2 1/16 matches exactly to the position of the clamp around the tower. Same over hang as the original one taken off.
You wouldn't happen to have a picture of the tower clamp area for comparison?

Thanks again,
John

[JLHarper]

One vendor who sells these DATE CODED only goes up to 2 1/16. The 2 5/16 DATE CODED isnt available from this national vendor of parts.

I assume the larger size: 2 5/16 would be for the large rad hoses, so anyone ordered these 2 5/16 DATE CODED direct or from someone out of Hemmings before?
I recall a small co who sold these date coded.

I appreciate if you can post the source.
Thanks,
Jeff

[Bet Winner]

Originally Posted by JLHarper

One vendor who sells these DATE CODED only goes up to 2 1/16. The 2 5/16 DATE CODED isnt available from this national vendor of parts.

I assume the larger size: 2 5/16 would be for the large rad hoses, so anyone ordered these 2 5/16 DATE CODED direct or from someone out of Hemmings before?
I recall a small co who sold these date coded.

I appreciate if you can post the source.

And do these clamps include the other wording on the clamps:

WITTEK MFG CO
CHICAGO, usa 2 5/16 date code 74

I am as interested in the other wording as I am the date code. The company wording makes the clamp look authentic IMO.

[68gtoMN]

Originally Posted by Bet Winner

And do these clamps include the other wording on the clamps:

WITTEK MFG CO
CHICAGO, usa 2 5/16 date code 74

I am as interested in the other wording as I am the date code. The company wording makes the clamp look authentic IMO.

I'll clean my 5 up tomorrow to look for other markings and will post updates then. -Kurt

[Bet Winner]

Originally Posted by 68gtoMN

I'll clean my 5 up tomorrow to look for other markings and will post updates then. -Kurt

I was really asking whether the repo clamps have all of the wording, but seeing the wording on more originals will be good too.

thanks

[68gtoMN]

I have some updates via clean-up and pictures and a couple of revelations. Of the four clamps I cleaned tonight, breakdown as follows:

• (2) Wittek MFG Co
  Chicago, U.S.A.
  2 5/16
  Both dated month/year
  Both had large font "74" immediately following date code
• (1) Unknown MFR, only stamped 2 5/16
  No Date
• (1) Murray Corp
  Towson 4, MD
  2 5/16
  No Date

I did not expect to find a MURRAY CORP clamp as this discussion only mentioned Wittek Clamps. Perhaps this was another supplier?

[JLHarper]

1. I looked at one source (a large well known parts supplier) and it was not clear if they had all of the original wording in addition to the dating.
They had very few pictures and I couldnt make out anything.
Looks like they only use a quarter dating system, and ONLY offer Q 1 & 4 for each year.

2. Another source, Corvette Central says there's are made from "original tooling and still made by Witek".
They can send out for dating.
The picture posted in their cat. shows what appears to be the "wording:, and you can enlarge the cat by using tools at the bottom.

Link:

http://www.corvettecentral.com/rrser...atalog&page=50

Quarter dating system also, and like the first company above, they only offer Quarters 1 & 4 (all years) based on what I read.

3. Three other Pontiac parts companies I checked dont sell them dated ( that I saw) and I couldnt find any info about correct wording.

4. There is a guy on ebay who sells these and will date by the quarter and year.
I have a set coming in but dont know if all of the wording is on his, I didnt ask.
I will advise once I get them in.
He might do all quarters since he says he is stamping the dates, but dont know for sure.
I can hook anyone up with contact info, PM me.
Jeff