Battery Heat Shield

[whiteykr]

Ed, did they have black and grey with the C7ZB?
I think if my son ever shows our KR I would like to see the heat shield on it. This is a non A/C  AT .
The heat shield that I bought at the auction has not been cut or no corners missing.
Tim L  Could you give your thoughts on this?
I think it is an interesting topic and I sure would like to know how many A/C , no A/C cars got these.

[Special Ed]

I think they were supposed to be on all 428  big blocks and a/c cars .  The c7zb shield was 1 mould then cut out or trimmed off depending on the car it was going on as the long version c7ob fairlane # on end is gone when shortened then only the c7zb # is left instead of both #s moulded in. On 428 t-bird its the long version with the top corner trimmed off at an angle and also on bottom short side of the shield is another cutout depending on the year of battery change when early batteries had that bottom ear moulded in to use the  metal hold down plate that locks the battery in place vs the top hold down using 2 j bolts. If u have a long type shield or t-bird shield u can simply trim it to fit the mustang like ford did as its thin plastic. The shield was first grey then black and having the same c7zb  number but when and which plants did the black shields start showing up? Just remember the first time u had a dead battery or a starting problem this shield was often removed as being (in the way) as back then batteries needed water 3 times a year and they never lasted very long. Many got pitched at gas stations and battery stores back then.  I think ford went from grey to black to blend in and match the black batteries and the grey showed acid stains and are often discolored with dark stains. The trunk luggage strip wheelhouse protecter was black then went to grey later so go figure.

[whiteykr]

Ed, thanks for the information. Even though I have been into these cars for a long time I always enjoy learning more information  Your knowledge on parts and part #s is outstanding.
I believe this red KR was a June built car so would it be safe to say most 68 GT500 and KRs would have a grey battery heat shield with part # C7ZB ? Or could they also have a black shield real late?

[Special Ed]

Well i havent documented a 68 with a black shield or a 69 with a grey shield yet on a unmolested car. Back in the 80s when we started restoring these cars and u found a battery heat shield it was a great find  and u didnt care what color it was or if long or short version and it went on a show car not really knowing if it was concours correct for that car. The black is more common so the repo was made black. Back in the 80s someone started a rumor that the long type was for a/c cars only but from my research that wasnt true after i found a long shield on an original owner 69 428 cj  non a/c torino cobra and if u notice how the battery is mounted in fairlanes and torinos they are at an angle so the longer c70b shield is needed so the shield end goes past the radiator.   Now on a mustang the battery mounts straight along the battery apron and the shield open end  is in front of the rad to route cool air around the battery so if the long c70b is installed on a mustang with or without a/c it wont make any difference and the long c70b was to be used with the longer 27f battery. The heat shield was designed to route cool air coming thru the rad support metal cutout areas just in front of the battery and thats why the shield has that humped out area on the long front end to act as a scoop to route cool air around the battery case and thats why the shield has those 4 round bumps moulded in the side and the 2 raised lines on the front to hold shield away from battery to let cool air around the battery and the long c70b has a slight curled lip on the long front end to help route cool air since the battery mounts at an angle it dont get a direct routeing of cool air like the mustang battery mounting straight in line with the car. In 70 ford changed the design on the (black only) doof shield having a big curled opening on the front end and having the new 1970 metal radiator support cutout opening to line up with the new doof battery shield front curled lip to route a direct flow of cool air around the battery and this new design started on the 70 and up torinos and 71 and up mustangs radiator support design. The shield also helped keeping hot engine air off the battery case when the car was just sitting still parked at an idle so it served a purpose  on bigblocks and a/c cars that had extreme heat under the hood.

[polyglas]

  I have found the short gray C7ZB battery shields on or in the trunk of several 1970 Boss 302's with the standard 21/22 series batteries. Jeff's photo appears to support this also.

[snakeoil]

Just to add a note my buddy's 70 SCJ mach 1 has a grey C7ZB shield as well- original owner.  I thought it would have been black.
Canadian Mustang

[Special Ed]

Since this thread was about shelbys having battery shields i was focusing on 67 68 69 shelbys not 70 mustangs or 70 boss 302s. Snakeoil was your buddy 70 scj mach1 a dearborn or metuchen car?  I went back thru all my old notes on 70 428cj cars and in my notes i have 2 70s with c7zb grey shields and both are NJ cars but not knowing the entire history on these 2 cars i cannot document this but the cars i did document i knew the entire history on especially original owner cars. The feb 69 428cj mach 1 we bought from a guy in CT. had bought it from his buddy when he came back from service in 1970 and it had a black c7zb shield and was NJ car. The 70 mustang assembly manual dated august 29 1969 says the new black doof shield replaces the c7zb shield so at NJ plant did they find some c7zb grey sheilds when rotating inventory and used them up in early 70 who knows for sure but i do know the grey was first then black and back years ago everybody wanted the grey ones on their car for show as the grey color  stood out against the black battery and looked better than the black. I sold off my grey shields after i documented my 69 dearborn cars should have the black ones. What dont make sence is why would ford go from grey to black then back to grey unless some grey ones got mixed up in storeage or inventory whatever but all battery shields from 70 on were black. The 70 boss 302 photo that jeff s posted has california evap fuel system but i dont think that would matter on a heat shield but boss 302s had a big and small battery option so that could make a difference on using the battery shield. I know an original owner 70 boss 302 guy who still has his car and shows it some and he said his car never came with the shield but his car came with the small battery that sits farther away from the engine than the longer 24f optional boss 302 battery that mounts closer to the engine so you would think the 24f battery would use a shield before the smaller shorter battery but i dont know.  This is one of them issues that could have only been documented when the cars were new as so many cars never had the shields reinstalled after the first battery changeout or unless somebody has any other paperwork other than the assembly manuals info?

[snakeoil]

Car was an early build in Dearborn. Thanks to all for interesting replies. Special Ed - another mystery for the books

[Special Ed]

 Ok and looking at jeffs 70 boss photo that looks like a  70 dearborn car also (see radiator cap)  so the grey c7zb shows up in both plants in early 70 anyway.  So can anybody document a grey shield used in 69 in either plant?

[polyglas]

Ed, The Green 70 Mach 1 Jacky Jones has that you have looked at is a Dearborn car. That car may be the best unrestored 70 Mach 1 out there and it also has a gray heatshield.

[Special Ed]

Jackys 70 mach1 is the best 70 428cj car i seen but i dont know the whole history on that car as jacky has lots of great cars and parts. I am only documenting 69 cars that i know the whole history on like the last car i bought from an estate that was OO lady owned a 69 dearborn cougar 351w  a/c car and the black battery heat shield was still in the battery tray. What we are trying to document here is the grey vs black shields used on 67-69 shelbys and which cars got them as 67-68-69 shelbys were built in all 3 plants and its not a vendor change as i compared the short c7zb  long c70b and cut off corner t-bird type and they are all off the same mould and no different marking between the grey vs black. Why does grey start out then black then back to grey then black from 70 on? The new design 70 doof  d20b and d4db (that is 1/2'' shorter in height that someone was grinding off the numbers and selling years ago before a c7zb repo came out) are all black. We know back in the 80s restorers were putting whatever shield they could find on cars not knowing if concours correct or not. So back to the original ? Does anybody know of a 676869 shelby that still has its born with original battery heat shield and is it grey or black?  Thanks

[gt350hr]

   Ed ,
      I will offer this, grey heat shields are not common out here in the west. Black is by FAR the predominate color. "I" have only owned one grey heat shield and it came from an Atlanta built Torino.

[J_Speegle]

Agree with Randy in that we see much fewer if almost any gray version coming out of San Jose. Must have had 50 plus of the C7's and maybe 100 of the later versions. D4's worked well as a stand in in years past. In yards the batteries had to be removed before the cars were moved to the yard so the shields often got thrown in the trash or tossed some where in the car's interior or trunk

Don't know why the two colors. Likely two suppliers that supplied (primary and secondary) the different plants like so many other items. Its possible that the specifications did not specify the exact color on the blueprints. So many possible variables looking backwards in time

.....So back to the original ? Does anybody know of a 676869 shelby that still has its born with original battery heat shield and is it grey or black?  Thanks

Here is what appears (shield fits the look and condition of the rest of the car) to be an original on a 67 GT500

Looks like a black one with allot of acid burns and bleaching around the top edge




Red GT500 Conv. Original battery was in the trunk - possibly why the shield was still around. Gray version




Do have a few non-Mustang/Shelby examples also but don't want to mix things up. Also one 67 390 Mustang road test car with the odd first version with the post surround - for lack of a better term at the moment.

[Special Ed]

Great pics jeff but that 67 is grey and what we would expect .  thanks

[J_Speegle]

Great pics jeff but that 67 is grey and what we would expect .  thanks

Think I'm going to disagree (take a look at the color at the bottom right of the shield) especially being a later 67 San Jose built car. But its OK to disagree sometimes