1969 SHELBY ACCESSORY DRIVE BELTS







July 4, 2023
Article by Peter Disher with help from Ed M




It occurred to me that many people have probably never seen an original drive belt.
Quite honestly, you may never have use for one. However, it is always nice to know what originally came on your car.



Original accessory drive belts were embossed with specific part numbers for their applications. Sometimes belts have a suffix number. Belts may have mutliple uses across all Ford models. You will see by the ID numbers, many belts were used on earlier applications. Accessory belts are also dated, making finding the correct belts more challenging.



Alternator Belts



Alternator belts for a 1969 GT350 are "C4TE-8620-AC". If the car has air conditioning the belt changes to a "C4TE-8620-T"



If you have a GT500 the belts are either "C6AE-8620-L" or "C6AE-8620-B". This is a dual belt set up, as the alternator will have a double pulley. The air conditioned cars will have a single pulley alternator and use a single "C6ME-8620-M" belt.



Power Steering Belts






Power steering belts for a GT350 should be marked "C60E-8620-A". If the car is equipped with AC, the belt will be "C9OE-8620-C".

The GT500 uses a "C9OE-8620-D" power steering belt. If equipped with AC that belt changes to a "C6AE-8620-T".



Air Conditioning Belts



AC belts are "C9OE-8620-B" for the GT350 and "C8ZE-8620-C" for the big block cars.



Thermactor (Smog) Belts



Smog belts are marked with either "C5TE-8620-B" or "C6OE-8620-B" for GT500s. The "C5TE" belts were used on cars with the smaller water pump pulleys. The "C6OE" belts were used on the bigger water pump pulley cars. If the car had air conditioning the "C8ZE-8620-C" AC belt would be used. 1969 GT350s do not have smog.




This information comes directly from 1969 factory build sheets and observations from original 1969 Shelbys. Original belts might be marked FoMoCo or Autolite. After, the 1969 model year, many of the accessory drive belts were consolidated and received new Ford part numbers. That makes identifying original factory installed belts much more difficult.