heater hose strap - measurements

I am holding the one that came off my 64 1/2. It is @ 8 inch by 3/4 of an inch.

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If anyone has an original heater hose strap they can measure it would be appreciated - length and width.

Thanks.

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A guy has some believed NOS straps including screw posted on eBay for about $40....

Item #160367186644 expires 10/11/09

My car still has it's original and it looks correct.

Mark

Dave is correct, Just find an old car tire, and cut a 8" x 3/4" strip out of it. Trust me they were nothing special or fancy. Mine is not even 100% straight, that might be due to age and warpage, but I doubt it. Mine even has Nylon threads all over the outer layer where you would have been able to see them mounted in the car.

Edited by - 5F09C on 10/05/2009 19:12:24

My restorer had some of these made in leather by the Amish folks in Ohio-I know that leather is not really correct but mine sure looks great and I think I like the leather idea better than the old tire rubber......and it looks the same to me....

Edited by - 6hypo5conv on 01/30/2011 18:41:39

Just a question about the correct length of the hose strap. I have an original July 65 San Jose K and the hose strap is 3/4" x 9 1/4". My strap is of course worn and cracking but it doesn't seem to be a cutting from a tire casing. It is rubber coated with what appears to be white cording and very thin about 3/16", nothing that would make me think it came from a tire. does anyone know for sure just how these were made. I'd like to replace mine but like most of you would like it to be as close to original as possible.<font face='Arial'></font id='Arial'>

I double checked and mine is indeed @ 8". My car is a June 28 Dearborn car so that could be a factor. I am quite sure there could have been some variations in length. These are hand made then that I am sure is the reason that mine was 8" and Roberts was 9".

I am pretty sure they were made from tires. I have seen photos of these with parts of the white-wall on them. The nylon cords that we are seeing are from the plies in a tire. TO be dead on 100% one would need to find a tire 60's vintage or earler to cut up. What I am saying is you can not use a modern tire to get this same look as what FoMoCo used.

Edited by - 5F09C on 10/06/2009 17:26:28

Edited by - 5F09C on 10/06/2009 18:35:30

I am pretty certain that at least the strap on my "K" kar is made from a section cut longways from a Ford radiator hose of the 60's era. It has the white nylon or rayon cords that show in the center, and the slick side is obviously "aligator skin" in texture as were the hoses used during that time period. The thickness also is the same as that of a radiator hose. I too thought that it was part of the sidewall of a tire but a few years ago Scott Halseth from NPD wanted the same measurements so I looked at it very closely while getting the dimensions for him and discovered that it probably was sourced from a radiator hose, not a tire.

I sent Dave Wallace a few images of the strap, maybe he can post one or more of them if it will help others see the details of this strap. Sorry to say that I am just too stupid to figure out how to post images on this forum.

Here is my strap for reference

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I can see how this could be raidator hose. However could they possibly made them from what ever they had on hand?

Those straps that are selling on ebay. measure 12 inches by 3/4" at ends gradually reducing to 5/8" at center of the strip. It has 3 cords running through it, and has light grooves running lenghtwise. It also is curved like a hose ( heater or radiator) with the inside surface having rust. It has seen contact with coolant.

The screw is not a ford screw it is 5mm metric and has .ab on the head. It may be a replacement but I don't think so. the strap looks good so I will use it after using the factory screw I still have. I payed $35 with shipping on ebay.

Scott

I dug up this thread from way back.

Does anybody have any more feedback about these straps?

I'm interested in any more observations on original cars. I've seen restored cars with one screw holding the strap in the front hole, one screw holding the strap in the back hole (like John's pictures), and two screws-one in each hole holding both ends of the straps.

...or maybe not all HiPo's even had the strap?

Brant,

sent you an e-mail........

Mark

I had actually dug up this old thread doing some research and realized I spelled a word wrong in my reply so I corrected it and that brought it back to the top-(LOL)

Anyway, recent conversations with Charles have provided information that BOTH hoses (on a Hipo at least) should go through the strap.

And MY feeling is that IF the export brace has two holes in it in the area then the strap most likely was attached with two screws-I found that mine HAS the two holes but the strap was only attached with 1 during the restoration.

I agree that most of the originals were made by cutting old radiator hoses lengthwise-I think the person selling them on Ebay knows just enough to be dangerous, and I think anyone could find some old radiator hose and cut several of these straps out of it.

Again, MY current strap is made from LEATHER made by a craftsman in the Ohio Amish country, I realize it is not correct this way, but it looks the part and I like it, until I come across some old radiator hose and make up a few....

Does anyone know where the "correct" screws can be had for these straps? the one in the picture above seems to have a "D" on the head...

I personally believe that the installation of these straps was an afterthought on Ford's part, I am curious as to what the reason was--I have owned dozens of early Mustangs back in the day and we never worried about the mechanics of an old broken rubber strap.

Believe the correct screws will depend on the assembly plant. Found 'D' on Dearborn cars and 'CF' on San Jose. I'm not so sure that the original straps were simply cut/made from radiator hose. Might have been similar material, but the original ones I've seen are not smooth.

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Believe the correct screws will depend on the assembly plant. Found 'D' on Dearborn cars and 'CF' on San Jose. I'm not so sure that the original straps were simply cut/made from radiator hose. Might have been similar material, but the original ones I've seen are not smooth.

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Charles,

What are your findings on the screw placement(s) - one or two? - ...if one, front or back? ...or have you seen different configurations between various plants and production dates?

Different for different plants. Seeing one screw on Dearborn and Metuchen and 2 screws on San Jose... and then some here and there either way.