Cowl lacing differences!

[FORDification]

OK....we've had some discussion about the differences between the cowl lacing on '67 trucks vs. the '68-up. I was at the shop today and compared the '67 cab with the two '68 cabs I have, and found that there is indeed a difference.



As you can see, the '67 trucks have round holes instead of slots for the lacing clips. The spacing is close between the two, but there are a few differences here.

The '67 lacing is attached with eleven 1/4" round holes, spaced 4-15/16" apart. The distance between the centers of the two end holes is 49-1/4".

The '68 cab has eleven 1/4" x 1/2" rounded slots, spaced exactly 5" apart. The distance between the centers of the two end slots is 50-1/8".

Now, the interesting part, in case you haven't already noticed in the above picture, is the LOCATION of the cowl lacing. The '67's is mounted down lower, below the firewall ridge, whereas the '68's is above the ridge. Therefore, it would seem to me that the '67 lacing needs to be taller to reach the hood lip. (I compared the back lip of the '67 hood with the back lip of a '71 hood and they're both identical, so the difference has to be in the height of the lacing.) Unfortunately, I don't have any cowl lacing remnants from either truck to compare.

Well, so there you go. However, this investigation isn't over. I don't have any other trucks to check out, and I'd really like to get a definitive comparison between all years...so those of you with '69-'72 trucks can help out here. I need you to take some measurements of the spacing of the slots in your truck and see if there are any differences for those years that I haven't mentioned yet.

[flyboy2610]

Thanks, Keith.
I learn something new here all the time!
But that's the idea, right?

[68F250]

Hate to stir the pot but check out the cowl lacing on these two '67s, one's a nicely redone F100 and the other is a very well kept original F250CS.

[68F250]

Here's pics of the whole trucks.

[FORDification]

Oh boy....THIS is going to get interesting already, I can see.

Hmmm....well, it looks like we're definitely going to need some '67 owners to tell me what they have for cowl lacing...whether it's above or below the firewall ridge. I'm also going to need the last 5 digits of the VIN and the assembly plant, so we can figure out WTH is going on here.

[4x4x4crewcab]

The lacing I attached a photo of in the other link was purchased for a 67 truck. I don't have the vin# but it is wrong for the truck I purchased it for as it has one of the other styles. From looking at the purchased item the 67 style with the round holes is a bigger, thicker, stiffer rubber seal than the one I purchased for my truck(70-72). Just a reminder when looking at your trucks the Dennis Carpenter catalog shows 3 different lacings. 67,68-69, and 70-72
I will try to get the two together I have for a comparison photo.

[68F250]

Well Keith I think I know where you can find some cowl lacing for your project.

[trukcrazy]

Looking in the LMC catalog, the illustrations for the 66 and older trucks show round clips, whereas the illustration for the 67-72 shows a flat clip. It goes back to where 67 was a year of transitions in ways we are still discovering. Early 67 must have used the older style and the later ones used the new, improved version? Maybe the difference in whether it is an F-100 or an F-250 and up cab?

[SVT522]

http://www.fordification.com/galleries/ ... m=75&pos=0

My truck was built in August of 1966 at the norfolk plant it was #211. Check out the cowl lacing in the pictures.

[my367s]

Well I have 3 67 trucks and a 67 cab and they all have the cowl lacing like the 2nd picture Keith posted.I think that at least one of the trucks was made in March and one of them was made in August.Jerry

[FORDification]

Hmmmm....I should have looked at the original pictures of my truck. The '67 cab in the picture above with the round holes was assembled in Nov. '66, but my original '67, assembled in June '67, has the slots. This would support the theory that early '67 models had the round holes and later '67s had the slots. Except for Jerry's truck, which he says has slots and was assembled in August.

Jerry: Are you saying you have a truck assembled in August '66 that has the slots?? That would seem to put an end to our theory. That would be strange, since SVT522's truck was also assembled in August '66 and his has the round holes.

[my367s]

Keith,I thought it was made in August 67,but duh that would make it a 68,and it is definitley a 67.Let me get the vin numbers on Sunday and then maybe you can figure them out.Jerry

[68F250]

Is it an optical illusion or does Keith's holes look a lot bigger than SVT522's?

[FORDification]

That's kind of a personal question, isn't it? j/k

His truck's cowl lacing holes look about the same to me. It's probably just the angle and the smaller pic that's making them look smaller.

[68F250]

Whoops! Guess I could have worded it a little better.

Thanks Keith! I guess it's all smoke and mirrors.

Back to the lacing, I've heard that the original Ford replacement lacing (for slots) is a little long and needs trimming on the ends to fit correctly.