57mikey

Looking for a little help on a '57 trunk issue. Previous owner of my car, with his dubious mechanical credibility, had installed what appears to be a '61/'62 trunk latch which I have removed and am in the process of replacing it with a correct latch, cover plate and striker ordered from CC. After I complete the repair of the damaged glass work on that FG pocket that is mounted on the inside of the trunk lid where the latch is attached, I have a question as to the correct installation of the new latch. Yes, I have looked at my factory assembly manual which seems to contain 4th or 5th generation Xerox copies of the original and thus are not what you would call really legible or useful, ergo my question. The new CC repro latch came with two "U" shaped screw clips placed on the lower "ears" of the latch unit over the tops of the two lower mounting holes. Trying to apply a logical approach to the reassembly, I am assuming that I need to remove those two "U" clips from the flanges of the lock mechanism and then slide them onto the lips of that FG pocket, aligning them over the two mounting holes that were factory drilled in the fiber glass. Once done, I can then slide the new lock mechanism and cover plate up and on to the lips of the FG pocket, install the two bottom mounting screws and the top mounting bolt thru the back of the pocket. I am also assuming that the two flanges on the lock mechanism are mounted at the bottom of the FG pocket's lower lip and not up and inside the FG pocket.
If any of you guys with a 56' or 57' having a correct latching mechanism in place or have done work in this area previously, I would really appreciate a little feed back and guidance on this issue. Thanks in advance.
'57 Mikey

C.T.

Maybe these will help -

57mikey

C.T.
Thanks for the reply and the photos. Clearly your trunk is super nice.....mine, not so much ...yet. I have to repair the FG on that damaged "pocket" where the latch assembly is bolted. Can't quite tell from the photos whether the latch assembly (above the cover plate) is screwed to the bottom of that FG pocket lip or above it and inside the pocket. Thanks again for your help.
'57Mikey

C.T.

The lock goes into the pocket and is held in place by the large phillips and the 4 smaller screws that also hold the cover in place.

adamsocb

Here is a good scan of the AIM trunk lock-latch page. I believe you are talking about the clip-nuts number 3725232 in the drawing below. Yes, those need to slide over the fiberglass of the trunk lid. You can see the outline in my picture below.

You can access a high quality scan searchable PDF of the 1956-57 AIM online just search for it. I am not posting a link because I believe it is a rules violation to post links to other forum websites.

And here are some pics of mine which is not assembled:


Outline of clip nuts in picture below.

57mikey

Adamsocb,
Thank you, I suspected that was where those clip nuts were to be installed as that seemed logical and your photos have now made it clear to me. I have made copies of that installation sheet you attached and it is indeed much better than the Xerox copy in my assembly manual but it isn't clear to me exactly where those clip nuts were installed....now I know for sure. As I have discovered on numerous instances, Chevy's drawings aren't always the greatest and previous owner of my car wasn't to keen on trying to assemble things correctly.
Appreciate the help I'm getting on this question from all you guys on the Forum, very helpful. Maybe instead of screwing around repairing my fiberglass pocket, installing the lock mechanism and adjusting the strike, I could just hook a bungee cord thru the lock hole in the trunk and onto the bumper! Wonder if that would be covered under NCRS judging? Oops, my bad!
Mikey'57

C.T.

NOS bungee cords are still out there, do not despair!
Here's a later (I think) version of that drawing showing that nut in place.