для справки нашел рабочий вариант для 6й версии:

function phptemplate_preprocess_page(&$variables) {
if ($node = menu_get_object()) {
$variables['node'] = $node;
$suggestions = array();
$template_filename = 'page';
$template_filename = $template_filename . '-' . $variables['node']->type;
$suggestions = $variables['template_files'];
$suggestions[] = $template_filename;
$variables['template_files'] = $suggestions;
}
}