What is this called?

[travellew]

Ok..my googlefoo has failed me. What the heck is this plastic/rubbery part that goes from behind the hood latch over the top of the radiator called?I think it may be part C5AZ-8327, but the pictures don't match the part.

Any help would be very appreciated.

[Terry64HT]

I think it's just called "hood to radiator support seal". I've seen it in most of the supplier's catalogs.

Hope this helps
Terry
64HT

[travellew]

I think it's just called "hood to radiator support seal". I've seen it in most of the supplier's catalogs.

Hope this helps
Terry
64HT

I don't think so.. The "hood to radiator support seal" is actually only on the hood and shaped like angle iron (except rubber). I do have that part on order.

That is the problem, every time I search, I just keep getting that part.

[Terry64HT]

I'm at a loss. The part looks right angled in your photos. The location where you are holding it in the second photo looks like the area housing the A/C receiver/drier under the top fan shield. I don't recall ever seeing anything there in the several times I've had the dryer out.
Good luck

Terry 64HT

[travellew]

It looks curved because heat has warped it, but was originally flat. Its fastened to the underside of the support with 3 small bolts. The radiator would be underneath the part protruding into the engine bay. Its made of the same material as the radiator "side" seals (which are also hard, brittle and warped from heat).

My car was not equipped with AC, so maybe that is the difference? For $22 I may just order the part I posted and see if it matches.

[jtschug]

It is a radiator seal. There are also radiator seals on the sides and they are very important to proper cooling, particularly at low speed.

[Terry64HT]

Please see my post on "remove bearing shift selector". Tough to help at times.
Terry
64HT

[travellew]

Please see my post on "remove bearing shift selector". Tough to help at times.
Terry
64HT

I'm guessing this might have been for another thread. I looked up that thread and I don't think anything pertains to this part.

Sigh.. I have had anymore luck in the last few days figuring out what its called so I can order it. I'm hoping the part I posted it is!

[Terry64HT]

The point of my post was that there are many differences between the 3 Flairbird years and not knowing which year we are trying to assist on often makes us look like fools. As my signature says, my car is a 64 and the radiator shroud seems to be different. It looks like jtschug has identified it.

Terry
64HT

[travellew]

The point of my post was that there are many differences between the 3 Flairbird years and not knowing which year we are trying to assist on often makes us look like fools. As my signature says, my car is a 64 and the radiator shroud seems to be different. It looks like jtschug has identified it.

Terry
64HT

Wait.. So you sent me to a post that had nothing to do with this for what purpose? Very strange.

Unfortunately jtschug didn't identify it as searching (1966 thunderbird radiator seal) returns no results that match the part. When I do figure it out, I will post back to help out others. The parts seems to be common for all years and I suspect many are just missing it.

[Rt.146]

I believe Ford considered this part insignificant to warrant naming it, probably just a numbered part.

[Alan H. Tast]

Does this show up in any if the assembly manuals? I'm not home now but can look later this holiday weekend.

[travellew]

Does this show up in any if the assembly manuals? I'm not home now but can look later this holiday weekend.

Thank you. I have the original Ford service manual and its not in there. I'm waiting on delivery of the assembly manual (delayed for the holidays). Hopefully we can find it there.

Worst case if I can't find it, I will just make it. In reality its just a rubbery plastic straight piece. I'm sure I could find suitable material and just make a rough copy!

[RAVEN]

On about 90% of the cars I have putt my hands to, it has failed, fallen off its mounting screws and the owner rips it off and throws it away.
IT IS A WIRING TROUGH that crosses the front of the car under the upper Rad support. It mounts with some small screws, and is used to protect the wiring harness as it travels across the front of the car. It also has two holes for the yellow horn wire to loop out. It has only one function and that is to protect the harness wires.
With time and under hood temperatures this ridged plastic part tends to sag/distort/and basically fails and just hangs on the horn wires.
I have in the past just used the other under hood wire loom "Ps" to support the harness. far better support than the distorted wiring through.
I have tried to heat it up and straighten it with no great success. 10 minutes of heat vs 50 years of sag you can understand why most just remove it and toss!!!

[Alan H. Tast]

Thanks to Raven, it looks like I wasted my Christmas Day afternoon looking for a seal when I should have been looking for a wiring loom retainer/shield, but in the end that searching may help add some clarity to what's used (and where) for radiator seals.

First off, let's start with the wiring loom shield that Raven identified. In the Electrical Assembly Manuals, a different part number shows up for each model year. For 1964, the engineering number C4SB 14A099-A - Shield shows up;

64 Front Crossmember Wiring (from 1964 T-bird Electrical Assembly Manual)

For '65 the engineering number changed to C5SB 14A099-B,

65 Front Crossmember Wiring (from 1965 T-bird Electrical Assembly Manual)

and for 1966 its engineering number changed to C6SB 14A099-A.

66 Front Crossmember Wiring (from 1966 T-bird Electrical Assembly Manual reprint - Jim Osborn Reproductions)

Illustrations in the Master Parts Catalogs (MPCs), including the 1960-1964 Ford Car Parts & Accessories Catalog (a.k.a. the "Blue Bible) and the 1965-1972 Master Parts Catalog for the '64-'66 wiring system show '14A099' as a '64-only item, which contradicts the '65 and '66 Electrical Assembly Manuals and parts listings in the Master Parts Catalogs of the period. Here's where some more deep-diving had to be done: the basic number 14A099, is for window wiring loom shields, and in the 1968 Ford Car Master Parts Catalog, under that basic number, the following are listed:
1964 - C4SZ 14A099-J is listed as a 33.0"-long wiring shield for the front fender-apron support;
1965 - C5SZ 14A099-B is listed as a 33.0"-long shield attaching to the radiator support;
1966 - No part number was listed for 1966, but, between the '66 Electrical Assembly Manual and the Obsolete-Supersede-Interchange (OSI) catalog issued in July 1967, the C4SZ 14A099-J shield is listed as being used.

A search in the Master Parts Cross-Reference catalog from April 1966 reveals that:
C4SB 14A099-A was P&A # C4SZ 14A099-B;
C5SB 14A099-B/C5SZ-14099-B were not listed;
C6SB 14A099-A was P&A # C4SZ 14A099-J,
helping to confirm use of the redesigned 1964 part in 1966.
The OSI listings in July 1967 on page 138 show C4SZ 14A099-B was replaced by C4SZ 14A099-J. There was no listing for C5SZ 14A099-B being interchanged with another part number.

64-66 Wiring (from 1968 Ford Car MPC)

Basic # 14A099 listings (from 1968 Ford Car MPC)

Now, for what's used for radiator-to-body seals, which are actually called Radiator Air Deflector Seals. There are a pair of 17"-long seals used for all 3 years that are attached to the sides of the opening for the radiator. In the Body Assembly Manual reprints, engineering numbers C4SB 8348-A (right (passenger) side) and C4SB 8349-A (left (driver's) side) are shown. The P&A number for these is C4SZ 8349-A. These seals close off the gap between the front body structure and radiator sides.

In the MPC listings, only seal C4SZ 8349-A is shown, and 2 of them are used - one for each side of the opening:

Listing of Radiator Air Deflector Seals (from 1968 Ford Car MPC)

The seal shows up in the '60-'64 'Blue Bible' and '65-'72 Ford Car Master Parts Catalog in the Cooling System overall drawing with a basic number '8349' and noted as being used from 1964-up (the seals weren't used in 1961-1963):

61-66 Cooling System (from 1968 Ford Car MPC)

Radiator Air Deflector Assemblies (i.e. side shields) were used in conjunction with the seals. This is the parts listing for the side shields from the 1968 Ford Car Master Parts Catalog (note that the left side of the listing was cut off) - at the bottom is the listing for T-birds (S), showing that the same shields were used from '64-'65 and into early '66 production until December 1, 1965:

Radiator Side Air Deflector Shields (from 1968 Ford Car MPC)

This illustration from the 1966 Body Assembly Manual shows the radiator assembly, the right (passenger) and left (driver's) side shields with ID # '5', but with no seals in place using the '66-style shields:

66 Radiator Assembly - part ID '5' is for the radiator side deflector shields (from 1966 T-bird Body Assembly Manual)

This separate illustration of the left side air deflector shield C6SZ 8311-A has the illustration ID # '12' and again doesn't show the seal:

Left Side Radiator Air Deflector-Shield (from 1965 T-bird Body Assembly Manual)

Screenshot 2023-12-25 165009.jpg (13.5 KiB) Viewed 782 times

On December 1, 1965, the right side deflector shields changed to also serve as the battery heat shield for '66s. The C4SZ 8349-A seal is shown with part ID # '10' in this illustration:

Right Side Radiator Air Deflector-Shield, Battery Heat Shield & Battery Tray + Top Hold-Down (from 1966 T-bird Body Assembly Manual)

A unique shield was used for non-AC cars on the right-hand side with P&A number C6SZ 10A682-A; AC-equipped cars used a different shield and as such a different P&A part number, C6SZ 10A682-B, shows up.


The basic number '8348' shows up for the seal in this exploded view of 1964-1966 front-end sheet metal near the '66-style battery heat shield pictured in the upper right corner of the illustration, which shows the basic number '10A682':

64-66 T-bird Front End Sheet Metal (from 1968 Ford Car MPC)

The upper radiator support-to-hood seal basic number is 16A238. The same seal, which is 30.12"-long, has engineering numbers C4SB 16A238-A and C4SA 16A238-A, P&A number C4SZ 16A238-A and was used for all three years.

66 T-bird under hood extension-seal (from 1966 T-bird Body Assembly Manual)

64-65 T-bird Hood (from 1968 Ford Car MPC)

66 T-bird Hood (from 1968 Ford Car MPC)

The '66 Body Assembly Manual parts listing does show that the seal needs to be 'inverted' for use with hood inner panel front extension C6SB 16494-A when the upper radiator support used with A/C (the fiberglass shroud version) is used.

Parts Listing - Note at bottom says seal to be inverted for use with RPO A/C applications (from 1966 T-bird Body Assembly Manual)

Oddly, the hood-to-radiator-support seal shows up in the '60-'64 'Blue Bible' and '65-'72 Ford Car Master Parts Catalog illustrations in the Cooling System overall drawing, but doesn't show the under hood extension panel or indicates that it goes on the underside of the hood. Note that it is shown as '1964 only' (this may go back to the illustration originally being used in 1964 and combining '61-'63 parts, but not being updated for '65-'66).

61-66 Cooling System (from 1968 Ford Car MPC)