Oh, they were most certainly installed on 63s. I've parted out several with them. Components included the vacuum actuators in the doors with linkage (which are handed for right- and left-sides), vacuum switch and bezel in the dash (which took the place of the standard emergency brake warning light/bezel), knee rail with red lens/chrome retainer for brake light, vacuum valve assembly located above the fuse box on the passenger side kick/cowl panel, "coffee can" vacuum reservoir at the cowl ledge with a vacuum check valve, and
lots of vacuum hoses of different sizes.
This is a photo of the vacuum door lock switch and the relocated emergency brake light in a '63 "M"-series Sports Roadster owned by Tom Chitwood (this story of this car will be featured in an upcoming issue of
VTCI's "
Thunderbird Scoop" magazine)
- Vacuum door lock switch (Tom Chitwood photo)
Barely visible in this photo from Tom's engine bay is the vacuum canister that mounted to the cowl ledge.
- Vacuum canister mounted under cowl shelf (Tom Chitwood photo)
The door shells were modified with holes punched below the door latch use of two #12-24 x 1/2"-long panhead mounting screws with captive lock washers to hold the vacuum actuators in place.
- Rear (latch) face of door with additional holes for actuator mounting.
Template with dimensions for screw hole locations. Click on the photo to see an enlarged version.
- Template with dimensions for hole location
I dug into my parts cache to get photos of where the holes are, along with photos of the Vacuum Valve Assembly, lock actuators and a vacuum canister.
Door lock actuators. 3/16" ID hoses go through the doors and door jamb, and transition via 3/16"-to-1/4" hose adapters to 1/4" ID hoses that go to the Vacuum Valve Assembly.
- Vacuum Actuators - passenger and driver's sides. Top vacuum connection is for the "up"/"unlock" action; bottom connections are for the "down"/"lock" action.
Dash-mounted vacuum switch/bezel - bottom view.
- Dash switch - bottom view
Back side of dash-mounted vacuum switch. The 1/8" OD hose ports are for 1/8" ID vacuum lines that go to 1/8" OD ports on the outboard side of the Vacuum Valve. Note colored dots for placement of vacuum hoses. The green dot is for the "unlock" (upward pull) action and the white dot is for the "lock" (downward pull) action. The 3/16" OD hose port with the red dot is for a 3/16" ID hose that goes from the switch to the Vacuum Valve.
- Dash switch - back view. 3/16" port with red dot is for 3/16" ID hose that goes to vacuum valve; 1/8" ports are for 1/8" ID hoses that also go to the top ports of the vacuum valve and control 'up'/'down' direction of vacuum.
Vacuum Valve Assembly - inboard side with color-coded ports. This is the 1961 Lincoln (C1VB) version used before February 12, 1963. The bracket attaches to the kick panel/side cowl structure above the fuse box, with the long side of the bracket being toward the bottom/floor. On top there are two 1/4" ports on the inboard side and two 1/8" ports on the top outboard side, a single 1/4" port on the forward side and two 1/4" ports on the bottom. The forward ports with a yellow dot are for the "unlock" action; the rear ports with an orange dot are for the "lock" function. The single port on the side with the green dot faces toward the front of the car and is for a 1/4" ID hose that goes through the firewall to the vacuum reservoir. The port with the red dot is for the hose from the door lock switch and supplies vacuum to the switch. Black rectangle in upper center of valve is relief air inlet filter.
- Vacuum Valve Assembly - inboard face view with no hoses attached. Top of the assembly has 5 hose nipples; bottom has two.
Vacuum Valve Assembly - outboard side showing small (1/8") hose nipples with green and white dots that correspond with vacuum lines from the door lock switch. A small-diameter port pointing down is hidden by black friction tape - the tape caps off the downward-pointing port.
- Outboard view of vacuum valve showing 1/8"-diameter ports for connection to the door lock switch.
Vacuum Valve Assembly - front view showing yellow-coded ports and end of the port for the hose that goes to the vacuum reservoir. The yellow ports are for the "unlock" function. The 1/4" OD ports with the hoses attached are for the driver's side, while the opposite ports without hoses are for the passenger side. The 1/8" OD ports at the outboard side are for connection of hoses from the door lock switch. The 3/16" OD port on the inboard side toward the forward end is for the hose which supplies vacuum to the dash switch - a red stripe is barely visible on the hose.
- Vacuum Valve Assembly - side view with large (1/4" ID) hoses attached to ports on top inboard side of valve are for driver's side actuator. Small hoses on the outboard side are to the door lock switch.
The rear view of the Vacuum Valve Assembly and bracket mounting face. The orange dot is for the "lock" action. The port on top is for the driver's side; the port without a hose on the bottom is for the passenger side.
- Rear ports with orange dots for "lock" action
- Close-up of rear ports with orange dots for "lock" action
Vacuum Valve Assembly with 1/4" ID hoses on top ports attached to driver's side actuator; 1/8" ID hoses go to the vacuum switch. The single 1/4" hose port with green dot on side goes to the vacuum reservoir; from this port vacuum pulls toward the engine. Two 1/4" hose ports at the bottom are for the passenger-side door lock actuator; a 1/4"-to-3/16" hose reducer is used for each of the two hoses going to the passenger side actuator. Ports opposite each other with the yellow dot go to the top nipple of the actuators for the "unlock" movement; ports on the opposite side with an orange dot are for the "lock" movement.
- Vacuum Valve Assembly - inboard face view with hoses attached for driver's side actuator and hoses to the dash switch. Two hose nipples at bottom are for hoses to/from passenger side door actuator. Nipple with green dot is for the hose through the firewall to the vacuum canister.
Vacuum Reservoir & attached check valve, most likely the version before January 15, 1963. A 1/4" ID vacuum hose goes from the end of check valve to the vacuum hose fitting on the intake manifold. Another 1/4" hose goes from the port between the valve and reservoir and goes to the 1/4" port on the side of the valve assembly.
- End view of vacuum canister with inlet at end of check valve and outlet between check valve-canister to vacuum valve.
The vacuum lock system requires a combination of 1/8", 3/16" and 1/4" ID vacuum hoses. Reducer fittings are placed inline to connect the 1/4"-lines to the 3/16" lines that go to the door lock actuators.
- Overview of the vacuum door lock hoses and parts spread out to give an idea of how much hose is needed.
The vacuum lock system is illustrated in the 1960-64 "Blue Bible" in the "Illustrations" volume on page 635. Click on the illustration to see an enlarged version.
- 1963 Vacuum Door Lock Diagram (from 1960-1964 Ford Car Parts & Accessories Catalog-Illustrations, Sec. 210, p. 635
Regretfully, the parts are not listed in the Text volume of the "Blue Bible" as it cut off listings for body components. Luckily for all of you, I have the catalogs which contained the part numbers. The parts for the vacuum locks are pretty much unique to '63 T-birds, with exception of the vacuum lock control valve assembly, which used a '61 Lincoln unit before February 2, 1963. There was a change in the vacuum reservoir on January 15, 1963, but I'm not fully aware (yet) what that is, and suspect it may be the vacuum check valve that's attached to the canister. Some parts for the '64 system are shown in the lists below (which are copied from the Ford Car Master Parts Catalog circa 1968) to show that they used a unique part number which differs from '63.
- Parts listings including vacuum door lock parts (from 1960-1968 Ford Car Master Parts Catalog, Section 210)
- Additional parts listings including vacuum door lock parts (from 1960-1968 Ford Car Master Parts Catalog, Section 210)
What's not listed above is the relocated emergency brake light assembly, which used a unique lens/retainer that was installed in the lower dash rail.
Emergency Brake Light Lens/Bezel and socket assembly
- Emergency Brake Light Assembly
Bezel and socket separated
- Emergency Brake Light Lens-Bezel and light bulb socket