Topic: Shock absorber

[6t9m1]

I removed the rear shock absorbers from my San Jose May 1969 built base model mach1 mustang in 1990
Now if you look at the picture I posted of one of these you will see that they are black with a brown paint marking and have the stampings listed below.
Drivers side:       C8ZF 18080 GI     T9BC
Passenger side:   C8ZF 18080 GI     T9DC
Could someone please decode these and also tell me if they could be original to my car.
Also what overall color and paint dash color was applied to the front shockers?
Thanks

[Coralsnake]

I would  say yes they are original to the car.

I believe the dates are 9D and 9B which puts them just before the car was built

The front shocks were likely also black in color

[J_Speegle]

Agreed. If (and they do look) to be original then yes they were both painted semigloss black with unpainted hardware for both front and rear examples. We can tell from the brown markings (identifiers) that these were used on not the base standard suspension cars or models but were often used rear shocks installed on 351 powered Mach I's for example

[6t9m1]

Thanks Jeff and Coralsnake
 
So to be clear the 351 front shockers were also black with a single brown paint strip as seen in my photo?

When you study my Autolite rear shocker photo you will notice that the top of the shocker is very square. Did this shape have something to do with the manufacturer used during May 1969?(or around that period)

T9BC & T9DC
What is the breakdown?  ? aka T, 9, B, C & D
T: manufacturer? And If so who?
 9: 1969
 B:
 C:
 D:

[J_Speegle]

Thanks Jeff and Coralsnake
 
So to be clear the 351 front shockers were also black with a single brown paint strip as seen in my photo?

No just the rears if your car is a 351 Mach I. On at least automatic and 3 speeds the front would be marked with a white daub

When you study my Autolite rear shocker photo you will notice that the top of the shocker is very square. Did this shape have something to do with the manufacturer used during May 1969?(or around that period)

Yes very typical of all the shocks for many years used on Mustangs and other Ford products. Just easier and cheaper to make them that way. They were made by Gabriel at one of two plants. The Canadian plant typically supplied Dearborn and NJ while the US plant supplied the San Jose plant.


Information about decoding, as best we currently understand is listed on page 42 of the Date Decoding article in the Library of this site

[6t9m1]

Thanks Jeff for making this clearer.
My mustang is a 351 Mach1 3 speed manual
Would you happen to have a picture of an original front shocker to suit my application?
And also is there anyone making front or rear shockers that are close to original in shape?
Or does anyone rebuild originals?

[J_Speegle]

Thanks Jeff for making this clearer.
My mustang is a 351 Mach1 3 speed manual
Would you happen to have a picture of an original front shocker to suit my application?

Don't know if this is the correct engineering to be for you application and typically the Made in Canada version here would not be correct for a San Jose though it does show a white paint daub identifying it as most likely one that was used on a 69 351 Mach I and other applications

And also is there anyone making front or rear shockers that are close to original in shape?
Or does anyone rebuild originals?

Not aware of anyone that makes front or rear shocks for your car with the correct body details, markings and thread style


For rebuilding I used the words "rebuild shocks" and came up with the following

https://www.concoursmustang.com/forum/index.php?topic=19857.msg125453#msg125453

In short - Dan in Kansas 1-913-515-3721  www.dansshocks.com