I've got a couple questions about the Ford toppers of the era. I've decided to try and fix the one I have, because they are hard to come by up here.

1: Is there a blowup parts diagram of the latching mechanism floating around here? Gotta pull it apart to clean and unfreeze it.

2: Where can I find the rear door gasket? Mines toast.

3: Hinges. I don't have a hinge. The elderly PO took the door off because it was too heavy for him to lift. Are there any NOS dealers with them? Or do I need to come up with something else?

Lastly, does anyone know what the paint color code is for the white on the main body, and how the accent stripe on the Deluxe models is supposed to lay out?


Thanks
Jameson

 

Here is what I know about toppers:

If you are talking about the weatherstrip around the hatch, it appears to have a similar profile to our regular door gaskets so you could start there. If that doesn't work there are weatherstrip suppliers that people use for restoring old cars that don't have reproduced parts. I'll see if I can come up with one that I used a few years ago.

The hinge is what they call a piano hinge but much heavier than what is usually available at the hardware store. Maybe a stop at a place that sells camper tops today to see what they are currently using might yield something you can adapt.

I believe the white was the standard Ford wimbledon white. The fordification site has factory brochures available for viewing which have several good pictures of how they were color matched to the trucks.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

 

Here's the only breakdown of the latch that I know of.

 

The liftgate hinge is part number D3TZ-9942900-A. I couldn't locate any dealer or obsolete supplier that has one.
There were two different gaskets used depending on the serial number. I don't know if the later superseded the earlier one or not.
I tried to locate both and I couldn't find any dealer or obsolete supplier that had either.
You didn't say whether you needed the liftgate props but I checked and there are several of those still around.


Gasket, weatherstrip, liftgate
73-78 before s/n AJ0,001 D3TZ-99404A07-A
78-up from s/n AJ0,001 D8TZ-99404A07-A

Prop, box cover liftgate
D3TZ-99404A10-A
Parts International, Farmer Branch, TX has 2 (972) 241-8730
There are two other dealers show two in stock but one is Bob Allen who i don't recommend and Kinsel Lincoln-Mercury. The two Kinsel show are probably the same two that Parts Int'l. show, they are tied together business-wise.
There are several dealers that show one in stock, if you need more names, let me know. If it were mine, I might look into fitting gas lift struts in place of the props. <s n="" aj0,001="" d3tz-99404a07-a
<s n="" ajo,001="" d3tz-99404a07-a
<s n="" aj0,001="" d3tz-99404a07-a

</s></s></s>

 

I'll look into it when I get home.

I do have the prop, but my plan was to fit gas shocks in. My only concern there is how they would tuck in with it closed. Due to the weight of the hatch, 2 would probably be needed, and I'd guess somewhere in the 80-100 lbs of lift force range.