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<---Windshield Wiper Nozzles
1969 Mustangs and the 69-70Shelby windshield wiper nozzles have two holes in the nozzle head and were plated yellow zinc dichromate. 1970 Mustang windshield wiper nozzles had one hole in the nozzle head and were plated olive drab. Both years used the same soldered on mounting bracket with a large K stamped on the flat surface facing out. The 1969 version stayed in production until September 2, 1969 according the Master Parts Catalog. This means if you had an early 1970 Mustang the 1969 style nozzle can be correct. We will never know when each factory ran out of the 1969 nozzles and started to use the 1970 nozzles. 

What’s an olive drab finish?
Olive drab is not paint.  Its a dichromate chemical conversion finish similar to yellow dichromate.  Dichromate is applied after the part is plated with zinc.  Yellow dichromate will not show signs of rust until it’s exposed to 96+ hours of constant salt-water spray.  Olive drab dichromate will last 150 hours before rusting.

How to restore them?
Find a plater that can do yellow zinc dichromate (1969) or olive drab (1970).  Make sure you clean the nozzles holes good before you have them plated so the chemicals flow freely threw them.  When you get them back from the plater clean the nozzles out again to remove any residual acids used in the plating process.

<---The Knuckle Busters
Original production spring clamps used for fuel lines, vacuum lines (1970) and brake booster hoses are different from the ones available today.  In the picture of the fuel line clamps you can see the original clamp (left) has longer squared off tips and the reproductions are rounded and shorter.  The correct finish for the fuel line clamps is silver paint.  The correct booster vacuum hose clamp finish is black enamel paint (finish code S22) per assembly manuals.  Ford used this type of clamp for the booster hose until sometime in 1972 when they changed over to one that had shorter squared off tips and then later changed to the round tipped version we see today.  If anyone has ever slipped a wrench and hit one of these clamps with their knuckles understands why restores call them the knuckle buster clamp.  I would imagine this is why the manufacture of the clamps eventually went to the rounded ends we see today.

<---- Steering Column Tube Finish
The correct finish for 1969-1970 Mustang steering column tube that extends into the engine compartment is the same as the steering column inside the car.  

That little bit you see in the engine compartment is simply the end of the steering column tube you see inside.  A common restoration mistake is to paint this part of the tube semi-gloss black. The inner tube and the steering shaft was natural bare steel (done in phosphate for rust protection in this picture).

Steering Column Paint:

Charcoal black poly lacquer

Ditzler DL32586

<---- Power Brake Master Cylinder
Production master cylinders for 1969-1970 Mustang/Shelby with power disc brakes are identified by a dimple near the front outlet (1), Bendix logo cast into the bottom (2) and a dome hex head bolt (piston stop) on the bottom (3).  The master cylinder, brake booster and cap were Painted semi-gloss black as a whole unit. Plugs were used to keep spray paint from the threaded outlets so you will see a round bare steel circle around each exit.

In the upper picture (original 7K mile Shelby) you can see that it didn't take much brake fluid to remove the light coat of black paint on the master cylinder itself although a white paint dab did survive.

<---- Wiper motor wiring harness
On almost every restoration I've seen the windshield wiper motor harness is taped incorrectly to its clip or not at all.  This picture of an original 7,000 mile 1970 Shelby is a great example of how it should be done.  In the picture it's hard to tell but the cloth electrical tape is 1/2" wide (most standard cloth electrical tape come 3/4" wide).  NOTE: We now have this exact tape available in our Restoration supply section.

Start by wrapping the tape around the wires by themselves to hold them together at an angle (see tape in the middle of the two end wraps), then continue to wrap one end of the clip 2-3 times and cut.  The other side of the clip was wrapped 2-3 times and cut.   In some cases they would cross over to the other side of the clip without cutting the first side.  There were many methods used to wrap this wire harness but this way seems to be the most common. 

The windshield wiper harness was clipped into the far left hole on almost every original car we’ve seen.

<---- Another difference between production and NOS 
Production reverse lights and Ford service (NOS) reverse lights are not the alike.  The housing is the same but the lens would be incorrect for 1969 cars and the wire harness was thinner in construction they used decals for the engineering number instead of stamping the wire itself (see exploded view of wire).  There were many changes in the wire harness while the backup light was serviced by Ford over the years but it never looked exactly like the production version.

Thick or Thin?

Backup lights changed to a thicker lens starting on 2-28-69 (per Ed Meyer) by adding a second thin 69 lens.  The Master parts catalog put the change over date to the thicker lens on 4-7-69.  It may be impossible to say exactly when the cut over date occurred since it would hinge on when the remaining stock of thin lens was exhausted.  According to Ed and the MPC you would be safe to use the thin lens before 2-28-69, double-upped lens from 2-28-69 thru 4-7-69 and the thicker lens after 4-7-69. You can find plenty of NOS 70 lenses around but it's difficult to find a set of NOS thin 69 lenses because they only serviced them for less than a year.  One way to get a NOS looking set of thin 69 lenses is to find an original set of backup lights that were doubled up and use the lower lens.

Right or Left?
Ford made a right and left versions because the rear valance is rounded slightly.  You can tell the difference by the main housing itself and by looking on the back of the main housing for an R or RH and L or LH cast into the housing.

Just Weird
We found one documented original San Jose 69 Mach 1 built on 3/18/69 that had three 69 thin lenses stacked.  The outside lens protruded out from the chrome housing.  When the owner took the lenses off he found the lower two lenses were like new.  See a picture of this freak.

<---- Production U-joints 
Production u-joints are easily identified because the center is dished out on each side and there is no grease zerk.  On one side you will usually find a faint Ford logo but not always in the casting (see lower picture). 

These u-joints are very rare today because they where only found on production driveshafts and older NOS service replacement driveshafts. 

Is your car judged?  Zerkless u-joints are good for 1 point in MCA concours classes.

This is another case where production parts were not the same as service parts.

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