1960 Ford Thunderbird Fuel Filter

In 1960 Ford switched to an inline canister type fuel filter that screwed into the carburetor on its V8 powered full-sized Fords, Thunderbirds and Edsels. In 1958 and 1959 Ford used a sintered glass type filter in the fuel bowl of the fuel pump. For some reason, replacement fuel pumps did not have this filter, just a simple metal screen that could only filter out large particles. Parts books from 1960 list an inline glass bowl filter with a paper filter as the filter to use in 1958-59 Thunderbirds. This was probably installed by many dealers. As far as I know, the 1960 Ford fuel filter was a one year only design, even though it seem to be good leak-proof design with large filtering capacity. It is a mystery why Ford had such frequent design changes in the fuel filters from 1958-61.

The pictured fuel filter is a 1960 fuel filter that was taken off the 1960 Thunderbird Golde Top with a 352 engine that I am restoring. I have never seen an original Ford fuel filter. I have seen replacement made by AC, Atlas and other companies, but never an original Ford one. The Ford filter has not been available for many years. The car has about 76,000 miles. The filters were recommended to be replaced every 15,000 miles. I would imagine that this was not the original filter on the car, but a replacement put in at a Ford dealership. I just wonder when it was put in. The car was last registered in 1976 before I bought it in 2001..

352 Engine Fuel Filter:

Original: Ford Part number COAE-9155-A (large thread) for the 352 Tbird with the Ford Autolite 4100 carb needing the screw-in type filter.

Replacement:

AC GF-70
Atlas Micronal Gasoline Filter Part# FF-3 fits 1960 Edsel All Models, 1960 Ford All (Except Falcon and Thunderbird 430 Cu. In. Eng.), 1960 Thunderbird Models with 292, 352 Cu. In. Engine. (I am not sure why Atlas lists the 292 engine since no 1960 Thunderbirds had this engine.)
Autolite FG-6
Carter GF-3
FRAM G-7
Hastings GF-5
PG 114
Purolator GF-11-3
WIX WF-35

Thanks to Eric ~ DKheld