Cover Me!I recently purchased a new old stock (N.O.S.) pair of C9ZZ-6582-C Boss 302 valve covers at Ford Carlisle. I compared them to the original valve covers on my Boss 302 engine. On the original valve cover, the brackets that hold the spark plug wires in place have screws, while the N.O.S. covers have round head rivets. Why the difference? Are the N.O.S. covers concours correct? I purchased them for a good price so I'm not concerned about the money. I know I could resell them at a profit on www.ebay.com, but can I replace the rivets with screws?Bobby ChristaleDonville, VA
The later Ford service C9ZZ-6582-C Cleveland valve covers used a round head rivet instead of the Phillips head screws on the OEM covers. The diameter of the rivet is slightly larger than the original-type screws. The rivets will twist out at the cover because they have a twist-type spiral thread that will back out of the valve cover with a little coaxing.
If you find a slightly longer Phillips-head screw, you could drill through the metal and have the OEM look on the valve cover.
The covers you have with the rivets are concours correct for all MCA classes except for the Unrestored and Thorough-bred classes.
Old PaintI'm completing the restoration of my '66 2+2 Hi-Po GT that was produced at the Dearborn plant approximately on January 7. I have several questions I hope you can answer.
Upon disassembly, I didn't find the PAINT OK and TRIM OK paint markings that were published in Mustang Monthly. Should all '66 Dearborn cars have these? If yes, were they on the right or left side? Are there any other such markings under the hood?
What should the paint codes on the driveshaft be? Also, I've seen some driveshafts with an engineering part number stenciled on them. Is this correct for factory-installed driveshafts in 1966?
Lastly, based upon the sticker in the glovebox, this car didn't come with redlines. Did Hi-Po cars with black or whitewalled tires receive the standard Goodyear, Firestone, or were they U.S. Royal? Also, the MCA guidebook referenced non-P-metric radials. Did any Mustangs come with radials in 1966? If so, do you know the size and the make? Any info you can give me will be a big help.Rick CombsWestfield, IN
Most '66 Dearborn Mustangs had a paint inspector stamp on the fender or the cowl area. The TRIM OK stamp on the inner fender area is less common. The PAINT OK stamp is often found under the front headlight doors, as well as the lip of the fender. Many '66 Mustangs from the Dearborn assembly plant also used the spare paper stickers in the engine bay with P, T, E, which were also inspector quality control. The paper tags didn't last long with dealer prep or a couple of underhood washes. A repaint or detail will hide the original PAINT OK stamps on the sheetmetal, making it difficult to identify after 30-plus years of use.
The paint codes on the Hi-Po driveshaft are three blue and one black band about 1-inch wide, and one turquoise stripe that's 51/48-inch wide. The stencil on the driveshaft is 19078-4W and is 131/416-inch tall. The 19078 is on all the shafts. The 4W is probably a month code, while most shafts seem to have the W suffix.
This info is for the four-speed. The automatic shaft uses the same stencil with one green stripe that's 111/42-inch wide and one yellow that's 1-inch wide.
Redlines were standard equipment on Hi-Po Mustangs; however, they could substitute for other tires at no cost. The others could be 6.95x14 Goodyear, BFGoodrich, Firestone, General, or U.S. Royal black-on-white sidewall.
I don't have any information to document a radial tire for a '66 Mustang. The P-metric MCA rule is only for the Concours-Driven class.