Reply to "Original Air Cleaner details"

Adams

The car with the blue air cleaner lid is a Pantera L, or at least it has a "L" engine screen. Pantera L's were equipped with Q code motors, and Q code motors came with chrome air cleaner lids.

So, the one in your picture was painted blue because the chrome was in bad shape (most likely), or its not the original lid, or its a production anomaly.

Normally, there was a tag on the front of Ford air cleaners, to the right of the distributor, that instructed owners to use Motorcraft replacement filters, or something like that. But that was on the front, not the rear. Remember, in a Pantera you see the side of the engine that is not seen in other cars. A tag on the rear of the air cleaner would not be visible in any car but a Pantera. So its not likely Ford would have originally placed a tag there.

Cobra Jet motors normally had a blue & white Cobra Jet decal on the air cleaner lids, but they were omitted on Panteras. Like Mike Mayberry wrote ... no decals! My very rusty original chrome plated air cleaner lid has never had a decal on it.

The tag in Brian's photo is the part number tag for the air cleaner assembly, D3ZE-9600-BA. I wouldn't expect to find the assembly number tag on an oem air cleaner, only on a replacement air cleaner ... but stranger things have happened.


-G