Topic: Anyone have the one-year 1966 MPC?

[66SevenLitre]

Looking for someone who has the large one-year 1966 Ford Master Parts Catalog willing to do a quick look up the 6049 FE head listings (352, 390, 427, 428). 

I know Mustangs didn't get a 390 until 1967, so you may be wondering why I'm asking ...   

In short, 1966 was an especially odd year in Ford history for how they made so many changes to their heads all at once.  For instance, they added the thermactor embossments, transitioned from larger to smaller intake ports (except C6TE-G & C6AE-R), changed intake runners to match, lowered exhaust ports .250" (except on C6TE-G & C6AE-R which had smaller ports), introduced the highly successful Medium Riser and overall had at least 7 different head castings (most ever). 

Been cataloging every head including casting, PN#, engineering #, replacement, valve size, port measurements, chamber type and so on ... and thus far while I have the 1966 Ford Parts & Accessory Book, listings can be sparse in those books.  Thought I'd ask on this forum about the `66 MPC because of how detailed, knowledgeable and experienced posters / participants are here.  Thank you in advance -- Roger   

[67gta289]

Roger, I'm sure that 19667Bob will chime in here as needed, but the "one year" parts catalogs were not "large" as you infer.  It was only when Ford combined multiple model years of vehicles together into one publication that the "parts and accessories catalog" turned into a "MASTER parts and accessories catalog" and went from svelte to large.

I believe then that the 1966 Ford Passenger Car Parts and Accessories Catalog, Form FD 7752-66 is the only document that would fit the bill here.  Keep in mind that there might be more than one version based on date.  The one I have from Bob is dated January, 1966. 

Did you consider looking into 1966 and 1967 dated Shop Tip booklets for this type of information?  Sometimes they would do a deep dive into this sort of subject.  What you are really looking for is engineering documentation IMO.

[RoyceP]

Some of the heads listed are for pickup trucks. Those would be in a separate catalog from any car - related heads. Also the first Medium Riser heads were C5 castings - not introduced in 1966.


There is a 1967 (and several subsequent years) Autolite High Performance catalog that lists a lot of the good stuff but it lists part numbers, not casting numbers.

[J_Speegle]

Have you cross checked with a Hollander Interchange Manual?  Doubt (been a long time) if they will have details as to port or valve size though they focused on casting numbers since that is what yards used to identify parts and what they would fit.

Just a thought, possible help and from a different angle on the related subject

[66SevenLitre]

Roger, I'm sure that 19667Bob will chime in here as needed, but the "one year" parts catalogs were not "large" as you infer.  It was only when Ford combined multiple model years of vehicles together into one publication that the "parts and accessories catalog" turned into a "MASTER parts and accessories catalog" and went from svelte to large.

I believe then that the 1966 Ford Passenger Car Parts and Accessories Catalog, Form FD 7752-66 is the only document that would fit the bill here.  Keep in mind that there might be more than one version based on date.  The one I have from Bob is dated January, 1966. 

Did you consider looking into 1966 and 1967 dated Shop Tip booklets for this type of information?  Sometimes they would do a deep dive into this sort of subject.  What you are really looking for is engineering documentation IMO.

John - thank you for the reply and the insights.  I always thought the same in that the large one-year parts books that came in binders were for multiple years.  But were there ever one-year versions?  Here is a 1973 Ford Master Parts book that was published in 1975.  It appears to be applicable for 1973-75 cars (thru November `75). 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203945605841?hash=item2f7c1afad1:g:o-0AAOSwVwFieY7c

I do have first 10yrs of the Shop Tips, all the MPCs 1960-79 and many one-year Parts & Accessories book including 1966 Ford & 1965-66 Linc-Merc.  While they're among the best resources available, they aren't always 1000% complete.  But often you can piece together a fairly complete picture by looking at multiple books alongside OSI's and MCRLs. 

Some of the heads listed are for pickup trucks. Those would be in a separate catalog from any car - related heads. Also the first Medium Riser heads were C5 castings - not introduced in 1966.


There is a 1967 (and several subsequent years) Autolite High Performance catalog that lists a lot of the good stuff but it lists part numbers, not casting numbers.

Royce - thanks for the input, know how much you've done for the FE community over all these years. 

I looked up the C6TZ-6049-A in a 1966 MCRL book at it correlates to C6TE-6049-A. But as you know, unless one of the P&A or MPCs state which casting was used, it's not known.  I'm guessing it's C6TE-6090-G which as you know was supposedly a 352 truck head, but I have no way to confirm. 

Either way, I can confirm the C6TE-G was also used on a 7-Litre 428 original survivor. Build date on that car was Oct 19 1965.  Don't have casting dates though as was typical back then DEP built engines about 4 weeks ahead of a car's production date.  That coincides with Aug-Sept `65 casting dates I've been able to find for C6TE-G heads.

Beyond that, I have the 1964-72 Ford Truck MPC which lists C8AZ-6049-A for non-Thermactor 352-360-390s and both the C8AZ-6049-M (without valves) and C8AZ-6049-R (with valves) as well as the D2TE-6049-E.  Both the M and R are replacement heads, not original PN#s.  Need to find those from the one-year P&A Catalogs.  As for C8AZ-6049-A, as I'm sure you know it correlates to engineering # C8AE-6049-F which is casting C8AE-H. 

Agree the C5AE-F Medium Riser casting is a 1965 date code.  The part and engineering numbers are C5AZ-6049-C and C5AE-6049-G, respectively.  But ... were Medium Risers actually built in `65?  The challenge with production / supply is well documented (Shelby 428s in place of 427s, etc).  Seems those issues stretched into 1966 because I looked at an original R-code 1966 Galaxie with a date-correct center oiler (rather than sideoiler MR). 

[66SevenLitre]

Have you cross checked with a Hollander Interchange Manual?  Doubt (been a long time) if they will have details as to port or valve size though they focused on casting numbers since that is what yards used to identify parts and what they would fit.

Just a thought, possible help and from a different angle on the related subject

Jeff, great thinking ... thanks for that input. 

I do have two "nameless" interchange books, one is 1950-65 Ford-Lincoln-Mercury and the other 1963-74 Ford.  They were helpful because in some cases they provided head castings.  Overall, seems the HiPo castings are more often identified in Ford books, but the passenger heads not as often.  At least that's what I've seen with FEs. 

I have the 1960-73 Ford & Mercury Muscle Parts Identifier which Bob McKee was kind enough to share.  While it has good info and obviously a lot of effort went into it, there are omissions and mistakes.  For instance, there were no C6OE or C7OE FE castings. 

Seems the best way to piece everything together is by cross-referencing several Ford books spanning multiple years with some real-world confirmations as needed.  As you well know, some of the best books to rely on are those printed closest to the production date.

I'll look for a Hollander book and see what it has.  Thanks again for your help. 

[J_Speegle]

John - thank you for the reply and the insights.  I always thought the same in that the large one-year parts books that came in binders were for multiple years.  But were there ever one-year versions?  Here is a 1973 Ford Master Parts book that was published in 1975.  It appears to be applicable for 1973-75 cars (thru November `75). 

Believe I have a single copy but its 65 Mercury if I recall correctly. Bond fairly thick


https://www.ebay.com/itm/203945605841?hash=item2f7c1afad1:g:o-0AAOSwVwFieY7c

I do have first 10yrs of the Shop Tips, all the MPCs 1960-79 and many one-year Parts & Accessories book including 1966 Ford & 1965-66 Linc-Merc.  While they're among the best resources available, they aren't always 1000% complete. 

Shop Tips were often one main subject for the issue and a number of quick subjects. Not really in depth sort of things. TSB's sometimes echo though there is allot more information covered in them and printed more often. Don't recall much as far as FE heads through all the relative years for us here on that subject

But often you can piece together a fairly complete picture by looking at multiple books alongside OSI's and MCRLs.

Now there is some dry reading 

[RoyceP]

Agree the C5AE-F Medium Riser casting is a 1965 date code.  The part and engineering numbers are C5AZ-6049-C and C5AE-6049-G, respectively.  But ... were Medium Risers actually built in `65?  The challenge with production / supply is well documented (Shelby 428s in place of 427s, etc).  Seems those issues stretched into 1966 because I looked at an original R-code 1966 Galaxie with a date-correct center oiler (rather than sideoiler MR).

I've owned several sets of the C5AE-F heads over the years, many of them cast during the 1965 model year. I can't say if they were used back then - but they existed. I have had some C5AE-F heads with a 1973 casting date - long after any FE was offered in a car but they were still casting them so someone wanted them.


There is allegedly a C6AE-F Medium Riser head - never seen any of those.

[67gta289]

Here is what I'm seeing for single year vs. master (multiple year) parts and accessories catalogs.  I figured that a picture would be worth 1000 words.

Rather than using "large", "huge", and other such words, I figured that the page counts would speak volumes (pun intended)

MPCs are shown in green, single year in blue.  The picture on the left is zoomed into the bottom so you can see the values.  The picture on the right is full scale.

[67gta289]

Here is information from some interchange manuals

[67gta289]

Here is information from the 1979 version of the OSI

[J_Speegle]

Interesting. They only printed 3 versions of the OS & I prior to 1979 for Ford parts. Or am I reading that incorrectly. Need to check print dates on the versions I have

[66SevenLitre]

Here is information from the 1979 version of the OSI

John - thank you for posting this.  I have a spreadsheet with about 150 lines of FE head part numbers.  Give me some time to study the pages you shared from the `79 OSI and follow up. 

One takeaway so far is the MCRL books have been particularly helpful in that they've correlated many of these PN#s to engineering numbers.  However, tying those to castings is another story.  Typically a C6AE-6049-J engineering number would correlated to a C6AE-6090-J casting.  Part numbers are another story.  They may include gasket, bare head only, head with valves, one head with gasket and so on.

Generally the HiPo FEs castings are mostly identified, but not so with passenger engines.  You'd think a C6AE-6049-U engineering number identifies with a C6AE-U casting, but hard to be certain.  The reality is in 1966 Ford had myriad FE head engineering numbers including C6AE-6049-A, D, J, H, K, L, M, N, R, U, V, Y, Z, AD, AE which gives you an idea of the variations (all those engineering numbers came from OSI and MCRL books). 

Then there's the C6AE-6090-R head which was used in the Fairlanes, Ford F100-250 trucks and full-size Ford/Mercurys which commonly called the "poor man's Cobra Jet head" due to the larger-type Low Riser intake ports (though it has smaller exhaust ports).  This head was drilled both for 14-hole shock-tower Fairlane exhaust pattern as well as Ford/Mercury 8-hole.  Kevin Rolph who's been logging FE head castings & dates has found the earliest casting sometime after Oct 10 1965. 

What's interesting is that the MCRL correlates part number C1AZ-6049-G with engineering number C6AE-6049-R.  That doesn't mean C6AE-6090-R is the actualy engineering number for casting C6AE-R, but it sure looks like it.  If that's not enough, the C6TE-G is a a very similar head with large Low Riser intake & smaller exhaust port measurements.  In the same manner, the MCRL correlates PN# C1AZ-6049-F1 with engineering number C6TE-6049-G.  Hmm ... interesting how the only two heads with pre-66 type intake ports seem to have C1AZ part numbers, no?

Interesting. They only printed 3 versions of the OS & I prior to 1979 for Ford parts. Or am I reading that incorrectly. Need to check print dates on the versions I have

Jeff - from what I understand Ford printed two OSIs per year during the 1960s, one each in January and July.  What's not clear to me is who often a separate Lincoln Mercury OSI was published.  My guess is the same.  I have both a 1966 Lincoln Mercury OSI and 1966 Ford OSI, both printed in July. 

The key with the OSIs and MCRLs is to match the volumes into a set.  For instance, the July Volume 2 OSI covers from Jan 1955 - May 1961 (FD7632), Volume 3 (1966) covers May 1961 - July 1966, Volume 4 (1973) covers Jan 1967 - July 1973 and so on.  The intent of the matched set is to cover every part.  -- Roger

[66SevenLitre]

Here is information from the 1979 version of the OSI

Thank you again for posting these pages.  I went through every 6049 listing and compared with the spreadsheet.  The latest OSIs I have the are Jul 1973 OSI Vol 4 and January 1985 OSI Vol 5.  Your July 1979 OSI Vol 4 book had listings neither of my books had.  It identified that a few heads on the list were Not Replaced plus it listed a few others replacements I didn't have.

For instance, the C6AZ-6049-K heads, which the Master Cross Reference List correlates to C6AE-6049-U, which might represent the C6AE-U casting, was replaced by (or Mixed With) the following:

C6AZ-6049-AA
C8AZ-6049-B
C8AZ-6049-M 
C8AZ-6049-S (M/W)
D5TZ-6049-H       

My list did not have the last two entries.  By the way, the C1AZ-6049-F and C1AZ-6049-G heads followed the same path with two additional replacements beforehand (C1AZ-6049-G and C6AZ-6049-E).  The C1 heads had the larger Low Riser intake ports as well as exhaust ports placed .250" higher on the face of the head, so undoubtedly Ford dealerships would have replaced them in sets. 

Again, thanks for the input. 

[67gta289]

The OSI was provided by Bob McKee (19667Bob) so I need to make sure that the appreciation ends up at the right place.  Thanks Bob.