1964 Thunderbird Air Cleaner?

[Sam's1967]

I recently pulled an air cleaner from a 64 Thunderbird and it looked similar to one that I found on a 67 Z Code Thunderbird. I am not sure if it was original to the car or not. I believe these were used on other Ford's, such as a Ford Mustang with a 428 but I can't recall. Can anyone educate me?

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[highwaymanrte66]

having been a teen in the 60's in a Ford family it seems like that was a standard breather for all the FE's with a different color for each size, blue for the 352 gold for the 390....

 

[Seabird]

That's not a 64MY air cleaner. It goes on a 66; could also be 67 but I wouldn't know. It's repainted, obviously. 64 (and 63) were painted Castillion Gold which is a very silvery gold. From 58-69 Ford kept tweaking the body of the air cleaner. 64, 65, and 66 were all shaped slightly different from each other. 65 Gold paint was completely different from 64--it was more yellow-gold. Corporate Blue paint didn't come along until 66. I've attached a pic of my restored OEM 64MY cleaner, click to enlarge.

 

[Dj-Dan]

I had my original: Air cleaner, valve covers, and expansion tank, powder coated then went through MAC for the new stickers.

 

[64ZCODE]

Hate to say it but those stock air cleaners were cleverly designed to restrict the amount of air getting to the engine. Less air, less fuel, less power. Between the tiny snorkel and minuscule filter element, best to relegate those beauties to a shelf in the garage that you can point to and say, "those were the days..."

 

[Dj-Dan]

You are Absolutely correct. It's like a car trying to suck air through a straw. That's why I only put the stock air cleaner on when at car shows. While driving I use the Holley open Air cleaner.

 

[Dj-Dan]

While driving I put this Air Cleaner on.

 

[64ZCODE]

Yeah Dan, that's what I'm talking about. A cold air intake would also improve matters. A couple of holes in the fender wells and tubes leading to the air cleaner. It gets pretty hot under that hood and engines like the cooler air.

 

[highwaymanrte66]

Hate to say it but those stock air cleaners were cleverly designed to restrict the amount of air getting to the engine. Less air, less fuel, less power. Between the tiny snorkel and minuscule filter element, best to relegate those beauties to a shelf in the garage that you can point to and say, "those were the days..."

my dad told me back in the late 50's prior to being old enough to drive that the 1st thing to do with a car you just bought was pull the breather and make the sides and bottom look like swiss cheese with a bit the size of a nickle ;-)

 

[Angry Bird]

I had my original: Air cleaner, valve covers, and expansion tank, powder coated then went through MAC for the new stickers.

Shouldn't the expansion tank be black on the 64? I've had my 64 since 67 and it's always been gloss black.

 

[Ezdarryl58]

You will need the vent house to manifold on the rt rear passenger side of air cleaner to work on 64.

 

[FoxyRoxy]

Yeah Dan, that's what I'm talking about. A cold air intake would also improve matters. A couple of holes in the fender wells and tubes leading to the air cleaner. It gets pretty hot under that hood and engines like the cooler air.

Doesn't enough outside air get in through the hood scoop with the aftermarket filter? Im refinishing my 63 expansion tank and was wondering what color it should be because all the replacements come in black. I do have the original air cleaner in the trunk. I should paint that gold then?

 

[64ZCODE]

Your hood scoop probably isn't functional unless someone modified it. Even then, unless a scoop is directly connected to the air cleaner assembly, any cold air entering a scoop would get heated by the engine before entering the air cleaner.

 

[FoxyRoxy]

Your hood scoop probably isn't functional unless someone modified it. Even then, unless a scoop is directly connected to the air cleaner assembly, any cold air entering a scoop would get heated by the engine before entering the air cleaner.

Very true. I like the idea of fender vents. Been thinking about modifying trans coolant lines as well seeing they pass next to the exhaust wich seems counter productive.

 

[64ZCODE]

Hey FoxyRoxy, check this attachment out, incorporates the cold air concept with ram air on a Ford Thunderbolt:

 

[Rob007]

My Thunderbird came with what appears to be the original air cleaner housing. Apparently, one of the previous owners cut off the snorkel, and then some, in an attempt to get more air flow. Not sure if this is even beneficial in that it would suck in too much hot air, even if I open the hood scoop. I'm thinking of going with the Edelbrock air cleaner and matching oil cap breather. Which Edelbrock air cleaner fits? And what do I do with the choke clean air tube? The original air cleaner housings run up to $400. Not sure if mine is just good for trash though.