John and I have been trying for several months now, to find out what is “correct”. This all started when disassembling everything from my 289 before pulling it. I noticed that my Alternator Harness was brittle, both wires and the boots, and began looking for a replacement(being very confident that mine was original, my Dad having been the second owner, and my having talked with the original owner). I looked at the Repo harnesses (figuring my chances of finding an NOS one were slim to none) offered by our “major suppliers”, and found that all were of the “rubber block” type (as Bob calls it; I call it the “rubber yoke type”), which was definitely not correct for mine. I then decided to “gamble” and started searching for an NOS one, using the Part # from my 1967 MPC (I felt that this would be the most accurate Part # for mine since it was printed in March of ’67, and mine was built on January 31, 1967. To my shock, I found one supplier that had 6 of them. I of course ordered one. When it arrived, in the correct “C7ZZ” package, I could hardly believe it. Then I opened it, and what did I find but a harness with the “rubber yoke type” connector, an orange wire, and a “C8” wire sticker on it. Obviously a Ford “Re-replacement” part.
At this point, I decided to contact John, as I knew that he also had an early ’67 (his being earlier than mine), to see what his harness was like. As John mentioned above, his original was “fried” in early 2000, and he did not have it; but he did have two “donor” harnesses that he thought were correct. After he sent me pictures of his two donors, I could see that they were not at all like mine. While mine had two rubber boots (one reddish brown and one, slightly smaller, white one), John’s “donors” have 3 rubber boots (one reddish brown, one white and one black). Mine has a large (12 or 14 gage) black wire, a white smaller gage (16 or 18 gage) wire, and a black wire with a red stripe (again a 16 or 18 gage), all 3 of which go to a 3 prong (2 male, 1 female) bullet connector. John’s, on the other hand, has a black with yellow stripe heavy (12 or 14 gage) wire, a white smaller gage (16 or 18) wire, and a white with black stripe wire, again of a smaller (16 or 18) gage. On John’s, his black with yellow stripe wire is not part of the same 3 prong connector, but goes to the starter solenoid.
Now it was time for me to do some research. Realizing that the Assembly Manuals and MPC’s are not always “correct”, I decided to look at them anyway. I used the 1967 Electrical Assembly Manual (appropriate page, E7-8601-2 dated 10-14-66), the 1967 MPC (copyright 1966, dated January 1967), the 1960-68 MPC (appropriate page dated February of 1967), and the 1967 Shop Manual (printed March of 1967). I did not use the 1965-72 MPC as by its printing (May of 1975), too many “Superceded’s” (replacement Part #’s) would have occurred. While the research was not extremely helpful, it did yield some information which is appropriate to both Bob’s and Dave’s comments in regard to the “rubber block/yoke’s” use of not being until late 1967 or 1968.
Here is what I found :
1) The 1967 Electrical Assembly Manual (10-14-66) shows the Alternator with
the rubber yoke.
2) The 1967 MPC has no Illustration of the Mustang Alternator Wiring.
However, it does have an Illustration for the Alternator Wiring for a 1967 Fairlane, which looks strikingly similar to John’s donors.
3) The 1960-68 MPC (dated February of 1967) again shows the Alternator
Wiring with the rubber yoke.
4) The Shop Manual (March, 1967, page 13-16) shows the Alternator Wiring to
be identical to mine, including the same colored wires being noted.
While, as we know, just because something is shown in one of the publication Illustrations, doesn’t mean it was used. However, in regard to the “rubber yoke”, it is interesting to note that it was at least considered as early as 10-14-66.
All of this “digging” along with some conflicting information, brings up several questions :
1) Were there differences between “Early” and “Late” models Alternator Wiring ?
2) Were their Plant differences ?
3) Was their a difference between Convertibles (mine), Fastbacks (John’s) and Coupes (even though there are no differences noted in the Assembly Manual nor the MPC’s)?
4) Was there a difference between Factory A/C and non A/C ?
While I am confident that my harness is original and correct for my particular car, questions remain for others (like John’s) as to what is correct ?
The only way that I know to resolve these questions is through feedback from owners who are reasonably confident that theirs is original, and note its configuration, Plant, build date, body type, with or without Factory A/C, etc.
So, let’s hear from people out there and see what we can come up with.
Bob
