I'm new here so don't really know where this question belongs.
I am returning my engine bay to factory original. Shouldn't the snorkel on a '66 GT (A-code) convertible air cleaner have a diagonal notch cut in its outer end where it almost touches the round underhood convertible brace? I thought that was how they were originally but I fail to find any examples today. Did I dream this one up? All the photos I find show air cleaners that look just like the one on my '66 coupe.
If the notch should be there, does anyone have a picture that shows just how this all should fit?
Did a quick look and don't see any difference between body styles. Reference book is pretty good but I know that the California air cleaners were different and it doesn't show that.
Welcome by the way, lot of good info on the Classics here, sometime better that a book.
Dave
Hello. The 66 convertibles did have a notch cut out of the snorkel. It was for clearance on the extra braces the convertibles had in the engine compartment. I know that I have a couple of them stuck away somewhere. I could dig one out and take some pictures and some measurements if you like. So, no, you aren't imagining things. The convertible snorkels on the 66s have a chunk cut off of the end at an angle.
Thanks Veronica. One reason I joined this forum was because of all the excellent replies you have given to other's questions. I was betting with my wife that you would know the answer to this one.
Right after I bought this car I thought sure I remembered my friend's similar 66 had that cut but that was 26 years ago! From Day One I have intended to return mine to original but am just now getting around to the job. It seems that the notched and unnotched snouts were the same except for the notch. Since no one seems to sell the notched ones I may need to go into the sheet metal cutting business.
Looking at the photos of your '64 I see what looks like the same air cleaner snout but its attached to a different (smaller diameter?) body with different bracework so a snout notch isn't needed; is that correct? How many years had the notch? Most 66's seem to have a chrome air cleaner these days but even the few with the big blue one have no notch for some reason.
Yes, I would much appreciate any information you have on this detail. I am sure I made my own notes about in 1982 but if I still have them I don't know where.
Hi again.Thank you. That is very sweet of you to say that.
The notched snorkels were on the 66s only. That's because the early cars, like mine, didn't have any extra braces, the later 65s had an extra set of braces, but they were a little different from the ones used on the 66s. On the 65 braces the end towards the front of the car bolted straight into a hole in the inner fender with the bolt basically parallel to the ground. The 66s have a little bracket that bolts to the inner fender and the brace bolts to that bracket with the bolt basically perpendicular to the ground. The bracket pushes the brace inward towards the center of the car a couple of inches more than the 65s, and the engineers apparently slept through the fact that this would cause the brace to hit the snorkel. Rather than redesign the snorkel, they just took the snorkels that they already had and, if it was going on a convertible, just shove it through a band saw.
I looked through all of the places that I might have one stashed in the house today and came up empty-handed, so, that means that they are in the attic. It should be warm enough tomorrow to go poking around up there.
The breather on my car is actually a lot more different from the regular 65/66 breathers than it probably appears. The snorkel is also different. Different enough to where they can't be used interchangeably. This is the breather that was used on the 260s. I can take some pictures of it sort of taken apart and you will see what the differences are. It's pretty useless information, but, I always like to see things when they're taken apart. Maybe other folks do, also.
Hi again. I was just out in the garage, looking for a box of license plate lights that I have stuck away somewhere because someone had a question about them ( Hi Mike ) and I tripped over some junk that I didn't see. I guess if I had seen it, I wouldn't have tripped over it. At least, I hope not, but, I digress. What that junk turned out to be was another 64 1/2 breather that I had forgotten I had. I was going to paint it as a spare, and had it in primer, but sort of forgot about it. I took some pictures of it, the snorkel and the snorkel off of a 65/66 breather that I had stripped, but also forgot about. Geez, that sounds like I'm getting senile. Am I getting senile? Would I even know ? Naah, it can't be that, people in their mid-30s don't get senile. Do they? What were we talking about?
You'll notice that the 65/66 snorkel is a bit larger in diameter and has a little step sticking out of it that goes into the breather assembly. The 64 1/2 snorkel has that little step on the breather itself. The 64 1/2 breather is also only about 14 inches across. The 64 1/2 snorkel also has a little notch stamped into it so that it can be attached to the heat riser with a sheet metal screw. Some of the 65/66 snorkels have a hole for this purpose, mostly earlier ones, while the later ones are like the one in the picture which you just shove down onto the heat riser.
Sounds like I am not the only one with boxes in the garage I have forgotten about or stumble over!!
Thanks for the comparison of the 64 and later snorkels although, as you say, its rather an aside to the current topic. The two are more different than I thought. I definitely have one of the later version, uncut snorkels in my hand.
Your explanation about the notch in '66-only snorkels is very informative but brings up a question/problem since my San Jose (6R08A) car from July '66 (21G) has the round braces bolting directly to the inner fenders without the little brackets. That would indicate that I don't need the band saw (which I have if its necessary). Could it be that by July the engineers had figured out the 'problem' and had already made a mid-year change? A couple of weeks later they were probably making 67's on the same line.
My braces, and the car in general, are fairly pristine and there is nothing to indicate they had been messed with prior to 1982 when I adopted the car. There are two sets of impressions from the star washers since the braces were out when the prior owner swapped in a '73 302, 2V (now back to a correct 289, 4V). This whole problem exists because he tossed the original air cleaner along with the engine.
Hi again. That certainly simplifies things for you. If your car has the earlier style braces, then it would not have the cut snorkel. That is strange that your car would have that, though. I suppose that it could have been that they ran out of the braces right at the end of the year in San Jose, but still had some of the earlier ones, and since that part wasn't going to be used in the 67 model year, they just stuck the earlier ones on your car to get it out the door.
Hi again. I got to thinking about my last post, and it occurred to me that my explaination of how your car ended up with those braces sounded pretty stupid, so I went back and checked, and sure enough, I was just as wrong as wrong could be. ( I hate it when that happens ) The 66s had the braces bolted straight to the cars and it was the 65s that had the little brackets, so, the 66s would not have had the cut snorkels, it was the 65s. Here's a picture of a 65 A code convertible with the brackets.
OK, that makes good sense. As an engineer I know the best and stiffest way to bolt on the braces is directly to the inner fender so the '66 way was an improvement. I only wonder why it took them so long to figure it out.
The flat ends on the '65 style brace you show are nearly parallel and the front end of it hangs out over the (+) battery terminal. With the notch and everything it looks sort of like a kludge. On the to-the-fender style '66 brace the flat on the front end is rotated almost 90 degrees and bolts to the inner fender just barely in front of the solenoid so the '66 one is also shorter (saved Henry 2 cents) not to mention more out of the way and better looking. Its still a close fit to the snorkel but it doesn't quite touch.
Thank you. I think you answered my question: Put away the saw. My friend must have had a '65. I would have asked him but he has been out of Mustangs for a looong time.
BTW, in the 65A photo you show, are those plugs instead of windshield washer nozzles? Was there a washer delete option? I thought Big Brother made those manadatory in 1964.
Hi again. On the 65/66 cars the windshield washer was part of an option called the Visibility Group. It cost $29.56 for the 66 model year, which is actually down a bit from the $36.60 it cost in 65. My car didn't come with the windshield washer, either. Here's the panel where all of that stuff would have been, and there are no holes in it for the stuff, all of the dimples in the metal to mark where the holes are supposed to go for the line workers, and the May 23 date code, which is perfectly consistent with the rest of the sheet metal on my car. It's all mid to late may.
As a side note, automotive safety regulations, like the ones you are referring to, went into effect in California in 1966, and the rest of the country, in 1968, with the exception of the seat belts, which were mandatory everywhere in the 66 model year. Up until then, it was whatever the manufacturers thought that they could sell successfully. Ford was an exception to this, and was actually making safety-oriented equipment available on their cars. Ford even had child restraint seats available in the 65/66 cars. If that was a bit too expensive, you could also get the child safety harness for your Mustang, which was this thing kind of like a parachute harness that attached to the seat belts. I used one of those on my son when he was 6 or 7. It was actually kind of cool.
We are drifting away from the original thread topic which you have so ably answered. Should I be starting a new thread with these other questions?
Interesting detail about the windshield washers. I had always assumed the washers were on all Mustangs and the 2-speed wipers were the only choice. The 2-speed option for $12.86 is all that is listed on the original sales invoice for my '66 coupe. These were new cars when I was a senior in high school and we didn't tend to study windshield wipers very much for some reason. Even without the washer your car had the hole punched for the plastic strap that would have held the washer hose: visible just above your vacuum advance unit. Also concerning seat belts, Ford was selling them in the 50s. My truck driving father-in-law had them in his '55 Ford.
The photo of your left inner fender shows an unconnected radio noise suppression lead on the regulator - the one with the red tag. Your car(?), like mine, came from the factory without a radio? A factory 66 radio was added to mine but none of the goodies that should have been with it (noise suppression, extra wire in loom under dash, etc.) so it must have been a quickie dealer installation. I wouldn't have thought 'no radio' would not have been that common, especially on the convertibles.
I will attempt posting my first picture so we'll see how it goes. Hopefully the one I attach will be recognizable as the same area on my car as it appears today.
You show 4 dimples in the metal near the top and on my car we see the right two of those are for the washer bag support. What are the other two? Your car has dimples, my convertible had holes, my Dearborn coupe (6F07C) has neither dimples nor holes there. Above the set of unidentified holes, nearly at the top, is the larger hole for the left side convertible brace.
Even more curious are the 4 holes below the wiring which would be hidden behind the windshield washer bag. They are very neatly and professionally formed in a rectangular pattern which makes me think they were from the factory but for what? On the wheel side of the metal there are indentions in the metal/undercoating where bolts w/ washer(?) used to attach something. That spot on my Dearborn coupe is smooth. What was removed?
Hi again. We aren't really that picky about what thread goes where here in the Classics forums, so it will be fine to just this develop into whatever it develops into.
My car is a 64 1/2. In the 64 model year Ford was still using the Eaton power steering pumps, which have a pump that is separate from the reservoir. This wasn't a problem most of the time, but, if a car came with both power steering and air conditioning, the a/c compressor occupied the same space that the power steering pump reservoir was supposed to, so, on those cars, the power steering pump reservoir was attached to the inner fender with two screws that went, that's right, you guessed it, where those two other dimples are on my car. My car came with a/c, but had manual steering.
The car came with a radio, but, I now have a later radio/ cassette deck/10 disc cd changer in it. This my car, as in, my primary means of transportation, not a trailer queen. I left the tag on so that I wouldn't lose it, and, if I go insane and decide to turn my car into a trailer queen, I can hook up a suppressor and not have to find a nearly perfect original tag, like the one that's on it now.
Those four holes in yours that are in a rectangular pattern, along with the dents in the undercoating, are not factory. My first guess would be that someone had mounted an overflow bottle for the radiator at some point. If the car was going to be raced at a track, that would have been required, or, sometimes people just did that. People did all sorts of odd things to their Mustangs.
The visibility group option also included a day/night mirror and remote inside mirror, along with some other trivial items, which is why it cost more than just the two speed wipers. Hope that helps.
This wasn't a problem most of the time, but, if a car came with both power steering and air conditioning, the a/c compressor occupied the same space that the power steering pump reservoir was supposed to, so, on those cars, the power steering pump reservoir was attached to the inner fender with two screws that went, that's right, you guessed it, where those two other dimples are on my car.
My car had neither power steering nor A/C so I am still at a loss as to what was in those two holes as well as the 4 below. Who knows how the previous owner (also a truck driver) killed his 289 or what he may have mounted in the engine compartment although if he were a racer one wouldn't think he would swap a 4V engine for 2V one. Also, the stock washer bag was still mounted over the top of whatever those 4 hole might have been when I bought the car directly from Mr Trucker. How many people may have owned the car prior to him I do not know.
Oh well, the washer bag covers most of the holes so I won't worry about them.
BTW, I agree about trailers. Cars are for driving. Trailers are for hauling junk home.
Hi again. Those upper two holes on yours wouldn't have been for a power steering reservoir because Ford stopped using the Eaton pumps early in the 65 model year and went with their own that has the pump and reservoir as a single unit. Those two holes, along with the other four, who could really say why people do some of the stuff that they do. I do know that a whole bunch of these cars have a whole bunch of holes poked in them that weren't put there by Ford. But, that sounds like a very nice car that you have there. You should get a lot of enjoyment out of it.
66 A-code convertible air cleaner 
The 66 convertibles did have a notch cut out of the snorkel. It was for clearance on the extra braces the convertibles had in the engine compartment. I know that I have a couple of them stuck away somewhere. I could dig one out and take some pictures and some measurements if you like. So, no, you aren't imagining things. 
The convertible snorkels on the 66s have a chunk cut off of the end at an angle.
