Cleaned up some of the suspension parts. First up is the steering box. This is the original HCC-AX box from the K code. 5A18C date on the tag, 4M21 casting date on the steering box body. Found a couple paint marks. A yellow swipe on the end of the shaft near where the steering wheel attaches and then a pink swipe in the middle of the shaft. On the box, there was a baby blue paint daub on top and then yellow over the top of it, but not obscuring the blue. Then there was what appears to be yellow sprayed on the top near the back/bottom edge. The top of the steering box was blacked out as I have found on other original steering boxes (from different assembly plants too.) This was done before the box went in the car as there is black over spray on the base of the shaft. I have included another steering box with a scheduled build date of 6 days before the K code at San Jose, it also has a blacked out steering box top.
Next up are spindles. These are always interesting parts to clean. After you've cleaned a few, you start to expect certain patterns. The predominant markings on '65 spindles seems to have been pink and yellow. I believe the markings were a mix of inspection marks and identification. I have the original spindles from the K convertible, which were somewhat rusty, but still yielded a few markings. I also have the pair from the coupe with scheduled date 6 days before the K convertible. Those spindles were much nicer and more paint marks were exposed. The spindle markings were mostly consistent, only one variation. All of the spindles had pink paint splashes on the arm ends with yellow and/or pink daubs on the upper arm. I took pictures of the LH and RH in pairs. Also, the dark gray finish can be seen on the non-rusty spindles. There's a bunch of spindle detail pics here: http://www.early-mustang.com/charles/K_vert/5_31_09/
In a previous blog, date codes on lower control arms were discussed. Date codes were found on the uppers also. I have 4 original LCA's with date codes and 4 UCA's with date codes. Based on my observations, I believe they were dated by quarter. For instance, C4 would mean 3rd quarter of '64, D4 would be 4th quarter of '64. These are the 2 codes I have found on the 8 control arms.
Here's a comparison of an NOS Ford service replacement lower control arm to an original assembly line control arm. Much to my discontent, there are glaring differences. To add fuel to the fire, there are multiple versions of NOS service control arms, with the last versions service not even having the dipped black ends. With some work, a service replacement control arm could probably be modified and look pretty close to a factory line part. The ball joint boot would have to be changed out at a minimum and then possibly change out the rivets to match the original. I'm sure there were variations in the rivets and style of compression, but at San Jose at the time the K convertible was built, there was no waffle pattern on the top of the LCA rivets. The other notable difference is the jacking tabs. The original tabs are about an inch further to the end than NOS. Also, the style of tab is different. The originals are a perfect square with square edges (the ones in the image below are damaged.) The NOS has a rounded appearance with tabs turned around the sides. Otherwise, the general shape of the control arms are the same, end bushings are similar.
Moving on to coil springs. Ford documentation shows two spring paint marks for the Special Handling Package in '65. Coupes/fastbacks with P/S and/or A/C and all convertibles should have a brown stripe marking. Coupes/fastbacks without power steering and air conditioning have a red stripe marking. The red and brown are only for cars with the Special Handling Package, which was included with the K engine option or later with the GT option (also an option on all V8's.) Some springs have been found with white stripes, which indicates a variance from the spec. Finding a brown stripe on an original spring with surface rust is somewhat challenging. I was able to find where the stripes were, but hard to make out the exact brown. It appeared to be a chocolate color brown. I ran a piece of tape next to the stripe for documentation of the orientation of the stripe. Only other mention about coil springs is that after lightly glass beading these with low pressure, the original finish appears to be a dark heat treated finish. No black paint could be found.
Last item to share is the pedal assembly. I have a super nice original for the K convertible, just needs cleaning and re-apply the black on the pedals. The picture shows the different finishes on the assembly and an example of the dip lines at the top of the pedals. Note the dip lines do not match, which they shouldn't be expected to.
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