Topic: 65 Dearborn - Shock tower bolt direction

[rtate]

65 Dearborn, 10M build date (December 64), 368524 consecutive number, DSO 81

Should the shock tower bolts have the nuts on the inside (engine side) ?
or did they come both ways depending on the shift ?

[CharlesTurner]

Dearborn was usually nuts on the engine bay side.

[jwc66k]

Dearborn was usually nuts on the engine bay side.

WRONG. It has been determined years ago that it was ONE worker, on ONE shift, that was putting the nuts on in the engine compartment.
Jim

[CharlesTurner]

WRONG. It has been determined years ago that it was ONE worker, on ONE shift, that was putting the nuts on in the engine compartment.
Jim

Wow Jim, really?  How many examples do you want?  I'm sure I can come up with hundreds.


We're talking DEARBORN here, not San Jose.

[rtate]

I don't want to start any arguments, just want to get it right   

[J_Speegle]

Outside (bolt) inward as Charles posted. Would love to see an example of one that was done at Dearborn and was still original. Any years. Direction was often due to where the worker or workers were positioned and where the supply of parts was positioned at the station. The shock tower/coil spring cover bolts is one of the few hardware directional differences that is very consistent my experience, documentation and over the years and IMHO is directly related to car assembly plant. Differences 50 years later are almost always connected to removal and replacement by prior owners and shops

You could have likely found your answer by looking at the original cars in the 65 Unrestored Picture section as well as other details but guess checking to see if those examples are correct is a good idea if you think they are incorrect. Often I'll mention details like that in the captions if they are different from typical

[carlite65]

you should also be able to verify the 'footprint' of the bolt & nut.

[jwc66k]

Wow Jim, really?  How many examples do you want?  I'm sure I can come up with hundreds.

WRONG. It has been determined years ago that it was ONE worker, on ONE shift, that was putting the nuts on in the engine compartment.

Let me expand, I didn't include the number of shifts or days. That hasn't been discussed here. Dearborn produced somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 Mustangs a week. Times 50 weeks, that's between 250,000 and 350,000 Mustangs. A weeks worth of wrong way shock tower bolts on Mustangs would be a lot, between 5,000 and 7,000 units. That still a lot, but a low statistical anomaly.
Jim

[J_Speegle]

When answering any question like this where the member is looking for an answer the default IMHO is how the vast majority of cars were originally assembled at the same plant and the same time period.  This means to not suggest that the person asking the question follow something a worker screwing up on another car or small number of cars from possibly another time period or plant.

WRONG. It has been determined years ago that it was ONE worker, on ONE shift, that was putting the nuts on in the engine compartment.

Who determined this idea or statement and how was it documented?

Looking at least for examples with VIN's so a pattern can be identified and if the statement carries any weight


Guess we can leave it there - got to get back to Christmas shopping

[CharlesTurner]

Let me expand, I didn't include the number of shifts or days. That hasn't been discussed here. Dearborn produced somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 Mustangs a week. Times 50 weeks, that's between 250,000 and 350,000 Mustangs. A weeks worth of wrong way shock tower bolts on Mustangs would be a lot, between 5,000 and 7,000 units. That still a lot, but a low statistical anomaly.
Jim

If you note in my originally post, I indicated 'usually'.  Fred's suggestion to check for a footprint in the metal is the best advice, assuming the inner fenders are original.


Statistically, the evidence supports that Dearborn, overwhelmingly, installed the bolts from the wheel well side.


Here's a few reference cars during the time period I found with the bolt installation that way.  I found 2 cars with the bolts going the opposite, but both cars were restored and had an aftermarket monte carlo bar.


5F09C363719
5F07C363824
5F07T353199
5F07T378815
5F09C361750
5F09C375664
5F07T379135
5F08C374578
5F08C377299
5F08T352791
5F07A362125
5F07C357342
5F07C363824
5F07T265653
5F09A375253
5F09C363695
5F09C369492
5F09C370934
5F09K368804

[jwc66k]

Statistically, the evidence supports that Dearborn, overwhelmingly, installed the bolts from the wheel well side.
Here's a few reference cars during the time period I found with the bolt installation that way.  I found 2 cars with the bolts going the opposite, but both cars were restored and had an aftermarket monte carlo bar.
5F09C363719
5F07C363824
5F07T353199
5F07T378815
5F09C361750
5F09C375664
5F07T379135
5F08C374578
5F08C377299
5F08T352791
5F07A362125
5F07C357342
5F07C363824
5F07T265653
5F09A375253
5F09C363695
5F09C369492
5F09C370934
5F09K368804
/quote]

Using the "Mustang Production Guide, Vol 1", the earliest VIN you reference - 5F07T353199 - appears close to 5F07T353039 that has a scheduled build date of 13L (Nov 13, 1964), and the latest - 5F07T379135 - appears close to 5F07C379307 that has a scheduled build date of 22M (Nov 22, 1964) for a total time span of 5 to 6 weeks. I wonder how many Mustangs in that VIN range and time span did not have the nut attached in the engine compartment?
Jim

[J_Speegle]

............... I wonder how many Mustangs in that VIN range and time span did not have the nut attached in the engine compartment?

I looked through my collection that includes one or more already posted in the Unrestored Picture section of the site and found none installed in reverse (from the inside rather than the vast number found that were installed from the wheel side) except for two. One was a modified K code and the other was a restored car assembled on the west coast during restoration which likely explains why they were installed backwards, copying local San Jose built cars.

Thing we can put this one to bed. If you happen to have a Dearborn car that is different, in any detail, from typical practices best to try and document it as well as including other examples from the same plant and production period.

[jwc66k]

Before this gets lost in time, I wonder if other Ford products built on the Dearborn assembly line at the same time had the same shock tower bolt directional difference. (By the way, the official Ford name for that piece of sheet metal is "Bracket Assembly, Front Suspension Bumper".)
Jim

[J_Speegle]

Before this gets lost in time, I wonder if other Ford products built on the Dearborn assembly line at the same time had the same shock tower bolt directional difference. (By the way, the official Ford name for that piece of sheet metal is "Bracket Assembly, Front Suspension Bumper".)
Jim

Not sure what, if any other Ford models, were built on the same line as the Mustang in that first year given the high demand for the new Mustang. Did a quick look on Ebay and didn't turn up any Fairlanes or Falcons from 65 with a Dearborn VIN but there was only a small handful on there at the moment.

[jwc66k]

Not sure what, if any other Ford models, were built on the same line as the Mustang in that first year given the high demand for the new Mustang. 

By the numbers, the lowest VIN with a date in the range that Charles listed is 353039, the highest is 379307 = 26268 cars in about five weeks, or 5254 per week. Not a significant number to make any claims.
Jim