Happy birthday

I just noticed that it was one year ago today that I started this blog. Woooohoooo!! Happy birthday, blog.

Reverse Warning Lights

Here's how that system is supposed to work.

This is the system for a car with an automatic transmission. A black wire with a red stripe comes out of the fuse box, goes out through the firewall, then dives down to the transmission. On the side of the transmission, where the shift linkage is attached, is the neutral safety switch. This switch does two things. It prevents the car from starting when it's not in Park or Neutral, and, it sends power to the reverse lights when the shifter is in the Reverse position. The black wire with the red stripe goes into the neutral safety switch and comes back out of the switch, goes back through the firewall, and the goes to the back of the car with the tail light feed harness, which runs from under the dash, then underneath the driver's side door sill plate, and back into the trunk area.

A manual transmission car has that black wire with the red stripe coming out of the fuse box, and then running underneath the carpet and down through a hole in the floor right behind the shifter, where it goes into a reverse light switch which is positioned in such a way that, when the shifter is in the reverse position, the shifter arm pushes the button on the switch. The black wire with the red stripe then comes back up through the floor, back out from under the carpet, and then joins up with the tail light feed, and goes to the trunk area, just like on an automatic car.

The most common problems with this system are either that the bulbs are burned out, or the ground wire from the reverse light housings have been disconnected or cut, or just got all corroded and funky-looking, or, on an automatic car, the neutral safety switch has gone stupid on you. On a manual tranny car, the same things could happen with the bulbs or the ground, it's just the reverse light switch that goes stupid instead of the neatral safety switch, since it doesn't have a neutral safety switch. If the lights stay on all of the time when the key is in the 'On' position, that is almost certainly a defective switch.

Headlight switch replacement

To replace the headlight switch, you have to first remove the instrument bezel. This is not a big deal at all, and I've given the very simple, step-by-step instructions in a piece called, that's right, instrument cluster removal.

Shown below is a picture of the headlight switch connector. Just unplug that from the old switch, as shown in the next picture. There isn't any secret clip that you have to undo or anything, it just unplugs. Sometimes it will be kind of tight and try to fight you a little bit, but, it will turn loose.

Next, pull the switch knob out, as if turning on the headlights.

There is a release button for the knob shaft on the switch, as indicated by the arrows. You can't see it with the switch installed in the car, but you can easily reach it, if you know where it is. This is where it is. You just push that button all the way in and, while holding it in, pull the knob shaft out of the switch.

Next, take a flat bladed screwdriver and unscrew the little bezel thingy from out of the switch.

Then the switch can be removed from the car. Place the new switch in the car, and re-install the little bezel thingy, insert the knob shaft into the new switch, while holding the release button down, and this is what you end up with. A brand new headlight switch installed in your car. When installing the knob shaft, be aware of the fact the shaft is triangular in shape, as is the hole that it goes into. Twist it around to get the shaft lined up correctly with the hole when re-installing the knob shaft. Don't use excessive force, because there are some things inside the switch that you can break. It takes a little force to get it in, but, don't start really leaning on it, or pounding it in with a hammer or something. It is a very simple job that you can easily do yourself successfully.

Problem questions and answers

A gentleman posted a question as a comment on something and I did not notice it for a few weeks. It's not that I just blew him off or anything, it's just that I didn't see it. Sorry about that Sean, by the way. So, if you have a question about something that your car seems to be doing, or not doing, post it here, and I promise that I will check this at least once a day and try to help you out if I can.

Emergency flashers

Here's how this stuff is supposed to work. The two yellow arrows in the picture indicate where the flasher pot plugs into the harness. The emergency flashers have their own flasher pot, also part number 552, which is not the flasher pot that operates the turn signals. The middle picture shows you the two plug connectors that interupt the turn signal plug-in connector towards the base of the steering column. You just unplug the turn signal switch, and then plug the two connectors from the emergency flashers into the two connectors that you just unplugged. It isn't possible to plug them in the wrong way, there's only one way that they will all go together. The first picture shows a red arrow, which is pointing at the wire that plugs into the back of the cigarette lighter, and a green arrow that is pointing at the wire that plugs into a blue wire with a white stripe that is coming out of the fuse box. Nothing to it.

Torque Specifications

Here are the torque specifications for your 65/66 car. At the bottom is the general guide for bolts of various sizes. One should always proceed with caution when dealing with 40+ year old components. This will not be their first rodeo. You have decades worth of metal fatigue due to wide variations in temperature, along with the simple march of time, slightly distorted threads from previous repairs, slightly looser threads from the metal loss due to rust, etc.. to contend with. And, metalurgy in the 60s wasn't anything close to what it is today. There was a much greater degree of variation in the strength and consistency of the seemingly identical components. By now, each and every component has it's own distinctly unique set of characteristics. You will need to be much more cautious and pay a lot more attention to what you're doing than you would if you were just slapping together brand new stuff.

What the vin means

I just realized that I haven't gotten around to putting this up yet. Oh, well.Here's what the VIN on your 65/66 car means.
The first digit is the year model, as in 5 means 1965 and 6 means 1966

The second digit is the code for the plant at which your car was built. F is Dearborn, MI, R is San Jose, CA and T is Metuchan, NJ. Those were the only three plants that were building Mustangs then.

The third and fourth digits represent the body style. 07 is a coupe, 08 is a convertible and 09 is a fastback.

The fifth digit is the engine code.
U is a 170 cid six cylinder with a 1 bbl carb
T is a 200 cid six cylinder with a 1 bbl carb
F is 260 cid V8 with a 2 bbl carb
C is a 289 cid V8 with a 2bbl carb
D is a 289 cid V8 with a 480 cfm 4 bbl carb
A is a 289 cid V8 with a 480 cfm 4 bbl carb
K is a 289 cid V8 with a 600 cfm 4 bbl carb ( along with some other cool stuff)

The last six digits are the sequential production, or 'serial' number.