SIDE by SIDE Comparison of a 1962-63 FORD THUNDERBIRD "M" Code Tri-Power and a GALAXIE Tri-Power assembly

ZOOM, ZOOM, ZOOM! (Tune up specs)

4000 POUNDS OF FIREWORKS What makes it an "M" Code

Make it look right! (Detailing Specifications)

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	THUNDERBIRD	GALAXIE
Thunderird Emblem at front of Lid			plain with no emblem
Single Plane Carb Mounting			Stepped Carb Mounting Plane
Unique PCV System			PCV Valve or Road Draft Tube
Unique Carburetors			Note the Crank on the Primary
Anti-stall Dashpot			Not Used on Galaxie
Unique Kickdown Bracket			Unique Kickdown Bracket
Unique Throttle Rod			Straight Throttle Rod
Unique Vacuumn Advance Line			Mechanical Vac Advance
Unique Thermostatic Choke Heat Riser Line			Heat Riser off Left Exhaust Manifold

The emblem on the Thunderbird lid is the same emblem that is found on the valance over the rear seat in the '63 Thunderbirds in case you need to replace one. It's also quite easy to take a plain Air cleaner lid and cut the fins out to make your own Thunderbird air cleaner using one of the emblems out of a '63 parts cars back seat. The correct Galaxie lid is plain, no emblems.  There is another version of a bird emblem with crossed flags used on some lids, but I don't know the correct application for them.  If you know, please email me and I'll add it here.   I've seen these emblems for sale often on ebay advertised as "Thunderbird" emblems. They may call them "Thunderbirds", but they are definately NOT for Thunderbird cars. It should also be noted that the Galaxie 406 Tri-power car also used "THUNDERBIRD" script valve covers.

The Galaxie intake is stepped up toward the rear. Each carb sits about 1/4" higher than the one in front of it. The reason for this is that the engine sits in the car tilted down in the back. Thus the intake has to be stepped up toward the back so that when installed on the engine in the car, the carbs will sit level for proper float levels. The Engine in a Thunderbird sits level, therefor the mounting plane of the intake must be level.

The intake sucks the crankcase fumes and built up pressure which are created by the hot engine and the oil splashing around the lifters and push rods, and sucks them back into the combustion chambers for burning. The PCV pipe enters the intake just below the primary carburetor on the left side of the intake, drawing from the large opening at the back of the intake behind the rear secondary carburetor. There is a "basket" filled with a "steel wool" type material inside this hole which catches any oil splashing and allows it to drip back down and continue oiling the engine. The picture above shows an illustration of a Galaxie inline PCV valve between the rear PCV plate and the rear vacuum port. That's just one way Ford dealt with crankcase pressure. The other and more common method was to route a road draft tube from the rear PCV plate to below the engine level so oncoming air/wind would pull fumes from the crankcase. I don't have a pic of the road draft tube but the road draft tube would connect to the cover nipple.

The jetting is also different than it is on the Galaxie Carburetors. The Thunderbird Carburetor identification numbers are listed at the bottom of this page.

On quick deceleration, the tang on the bellcrank will hit the dashpot probe and stop the throttle plates short of closing to the slow idle position which would cause the engine to stall. The Galaxie intake set ups didn't use a dashpot, not sure if it's because of different settings, different high speed bleeds, etc, or if Ford just figured out that stalling on deceleration was caused by fuel spilling over onto the jets since the carbs are mounted backwards but there doesn't seem to be a need or a problem on the Galaxie intakes. Because there is no Dashpot you may have noticed that the Galaxy bellcrank doesn't have the "tang" that the Thunderbird bellcrank has.

It again is unique to Thunderbird Tri-Powers, however if you don't have one it is very easy to convert a Thunderbird 4V kickdown to an exact duplicate of the 6V bracket. Click here for step by step instructions. The long throttle rod on the Galaxie connects directly to the gas pedal on the firewall.

Two more parts identify the Thunderbird Tri-power at a glance, however, these parts are often modified or missing.

They are the Vacuumn Advance Line and the Thermostatic Choke Heat Riser Tube.

The vacuumn source is located on the left side of the metering plate on the primary Carburetor and of course goes to the vacuumn advance diaphram on the distributor. The tall loop in the line is to keep moisture from entering the distributor. The vacuum advance is another item that's non existant on the Galaxie set up. The circuitry for it is all there throughout the carb but the carburetor base is not drilled for it. The 390-406 Galaxie set ups all used mechanical advance distributors.

On both cars it is a steel line with an asbestos woven insulator and on the Thunderbird Part# C2SZ-9819A is 33.5" long!

The The above items are only found on correct complete Thunderbird "M" code intake systems. I've seen a lot of variations and adaptations on both Tbirds and Galaxies.