The Care and Feeding of Ponies

Christopher Hitchens passes away

2011-12-17T15:12:00.000-08:00

I know that this has absolutely nothing to do with an old Mustang, but, a truly great man has passed away, and I must acknowledge that. On thursday, December 15, Christopher Hitchens passed away at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. He died of complications resulting from esophageal cancer.The bare-bones version of who he was is that he was an author and journalist. He was a frequent guest commentator on literary and news programs that went all the way across the ideological spectrum. The reason for this was very simple. He was that rare combination of being both blindingly brilliant and supremely clever. He is the only man that I have ever seen that could make you laugh while he was destroying your long cherished ideas. He was also a frequent participant in public formal debates. To be on the other side of the issue from him would be a brutal experience. A frequent tactic in that type of debate is to quote sources or reference incidents that are so obscure, you are confident that your opponents have never even heard of them. I never saw Mr. Hitchens get caught by that. People tried it, of course, but, it always turned out that he was thoroughly familiar with the incident, knew the history of it, all of the principle players in it, and might even have previously written something about it. He had no patience for the hypocrite or the ignoramus, and had no problem at all with having a good deal of fun at their expense. He drank heavily, and he was a smoker. He did quit smoking, but, he quit too late. The cigaretes ultimately killed him. He was who he was, and he offered no apologies for that. He was a columnist and literary critic at Vanity Fair, Slate, The Atlantic, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, along with several other media outlets. He was named one of the world's "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" by Foreign Policy and Britain's Prospect. He will be sorely missed by many, myself included.

1965 Mustang Interior Codes

2011-12-13T15:25:00.000-08:00

It appears that Blogger has reformatted the way that pictures are viewed, and now, the pages with interior codes are no longer legible. I guess I'll have to redo this stuff.

Привет России

2011-11-29T21:35:00.000-08:00

Я заметил, русские здесь. Я хочу сказать привет и я рад, что вы нашли это место. Мой говорит о вашем языке не есть хорошо. Очень не хорошо. Я должен сказать, что я вижу вас, и я счастлив, что вы находитесь здесь.

Making things more search friendly

2011-11-27T21:45:00.000-08:00

Hi, everybody. I was just looking at what people type into their search engines when they are looking for stuff about how to fix their car, and it occurred to me that I could make this stuff a lot more search engine friendly by modifying the post titles, and maybe duplicate the same post on, for example the charging system, and call one 1965 Mustang alternator wiring and the other 1966 mustang alternator wiring, since they aren't exactly the same. That might help people out. Or, maybe not. (insert smiley face here. )

Mustang Fuse Box 1965 1966

2011-02-25T21:08:00.000-08:00

Many questions seem to arise concerning this seemingly simple component, such as "Where is the main power feed?' or "How do I replace this with the more modern blade type fuses?" First, there is no 'main power feed'. Here is how the wiring is on the 65/66 Mustang fuse box.

In the bottom left corner of the picture there is a contact with a black wire with a yellow stripe attached to it. There is a black/yellow wire coming from the hot side of the starter solenoid, the same terminal that the positive battery cable is attached to, which comes through the firewall, splits into three wires, one black/yellow, one black/orange and one yellow. The black/yellow wire on the fuse box is the black/yellow wire coming from the starter solenoid. This is constant power, whether the key is on, off or in the accessory position. The power is always on, thus, the term, 'Constant Power'. (insert smiley face.) You will notice that this contact has two round thingies on it. If you flip the fuse box over, you will see that one of those round thingies is the hot side of the fuse for the cigarette lighter/emergency flasher circuit, and the other is the hot side of a circuit called 'Dome'. A 65/66 Mustang does not have a dome light. This is the interior courtesy lighting which comes on when you open either door. On the other end of the Dome fuse is a green/yellow wire. This green/yellow wire goes out to the driver's side door jamb switch. On the other end of the cigarette lighter circuit is a blue/white wire. This goes out to the lighter, and splits off before it gets to the lighter and also goes to the emergency flashers, if your car has the emergency flashers. Not all 65 model Mustangs had emergency flashers.

On the middle fuse you will have two blue/red wires. One of them brings power directly from the headlight switch and the other goes to the instrument cluster back-lights. Those are the ones that come on when the headlights come on, not an alternator/generator warning light, or the oil pressure warning light.

In the top right corner, there is a black/green wire. This brings power from the ignition switch when the key is in the on or accessory position. Again, the wire is attached to a contact plate with the two round thingies. The one on the top is the hot side of the accessory fuse. There should be a wire hanging out of the front of the fuse box on that circuit which supplies keyed power to whatever accessories are plugged into that wire on the other end. The other round thingy, marked by the brown/green arrow, is the hot side of the heater fuse. There is a brown wire coming out of the other end of this fuse. If you have three speed heater fan, this wire goes out to the fan motor. If you have a two-speed, center-position/off heater fan, this wire goes to the fan switch. The fuse box of a 64 1/2 is a little different in a couple of ways. I'll address that one in another post.

So, as you see, power goes to the fuse box from three different places, the starter solenoid, the ignition switch, and, the headlight switch, and the systems that get power from one are pretty much completely isolated from all of the others. There is a little more involved in replacing this with a blade type fuse box than just removing this fuse box and sticking the new one in. The new one needs to either have a provision for isolated independent power feeds for different circuits, or, it needs to be more than one fuse box.

Ciao, Italia

2011-02-20T11:58:00.000-08:00

Ciao a tutti da Italia. Se c'è qualcosa che ti interessa qui, ma l'inglese non è ben capito, si prega di chiedere, e cercherò di tradurlo.

Moi Suomessa.

2011-02-12T09:54:00.000-08:00

Tervetuloa, Suomessa.
Kaaviot johdot ja johtojen ongelmat ovat enimmakseen 2008. Kommentoikaa. Auta minua sanoa tata oikein.

1965 Mustang build date

2011-02-02T21:08:00.000-08:00

Here is the list of VIN data that I've been collecting for a while. This is just for the 64 1/2 Dearborn cars, but, I'll be posting the rest of the 65/66 stuff that I have as I type it up. If you want to estimate the scheduled production date of your car, just click on this http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/classic-tech/278593-64-1-2-vin-data.html#post2408151 then click on the PDF link and scroll down the list until you find cars with sequential numbers ( the last six digits of the VIN) that are close to yours, and that will get you very close to what your's probably was. Ford destroyed the records for the 65/66 cars, so, there is no way to know for certain what the scheduled production date for a car would have been, but, this will allow you to come up with the absolute best estimate possible from any source.

I have just added the 64 1/2 San Jose cars. The pdf for that is in post #4. I've already started organizing the 65 Dearborn cars, and, will be posting that soon.

Recreating your Mustang door tag 1965 and 1966

2011-01-09T20:09:00.000-08:00

Many of the cars, after nearly half a century, have either lost their warranty plate (door tag) or, it has become too ratty-looking to read and looks just awful. Brand new replacement tags are available from http://www.martiauto.com/ but, you have to tell them what it's supposed to say. The warranty plate will have the VIN of your car on it, along with some codes that gave the dealerships that would be working on the cars some basic information about this particular car. The first code is body style. For a 65/66 Mustang, how that goes is

Coupe............65
Fastback........63
Convertible...76
with a letter after it. Standard interior would be an A, deluxe (pony) interior would be a B, and standard interior with a front bench seat, instead of front buckets, would be a C. So, if you have a standard interior coupe, that would be 65A, a pony interior convertible would be 76B, etc..

Next would be the exterior color. I have a list of the color codes here. http://thecareandfeedingofponies.blogspot.com/2008/04/paint-codes.html What would be on your door tag would be the single-digit designation above the name of each color.

Next would be the interior trim of the car. Again, I have all of the possible interiors for these cars here. http://thecareandfeedingofponies.blogspot.com/2008/05/65-interior-samples-and-codes.html and here http://thecareandfeedingofponies.blogspot.com/2008/05/66-interior-samples-and-codes.html In the first column there is a two or three digit designation under 'Code'. That's what would be on the door tag.

Next is the scheduled production date of your car. Ford destroyed the records for the 65/66 model cars, so, there is no way to say for certain when your car was built. However, I have amassed a pretty good data base of cars that the scheduled production date was still known from the original door tag, and, if you go here http://www.allfordmustangs.com/ go to the classics forums and ask about your cars birthday, I can ballpark it within a day or two. This is assuming that nothing goofy happened during production of your car, and it rolled off the line pretty much in sequence with other cars. It would be a good workable date for buying parts for your car, and it's a date that would make sense.

It is not possible to deduce what the D.S.O. ( District Sales Office) code for a car was if the original door tag is gone, because, as I mentioned, Ford destroyed the records, and, basically, the car could have been ordered by anyone, anywhere in the world. If you still have the tag, and are wondering what that code means, then the number designates the city or region that your car went to to be sold originally.
11_Boston
12_Buffalo
13_New York
14_Pittsburg
15_Newark
16_Philadelphia
17_Washington D.C. After 1/1/66
21_Atlanta
22_Charlotte N.C
23_Philadelphia
24_Jacksonville FL
25_Richmond VA
26_Washington DC
27_Cinncinati After 1/1/66
28_Louisville KY After 1/1/66
31_Cinncinati
32_Cleveland
33_Detroit
34_Indianapolis
35_Lansing MI
36_Louisville KY
37_Buffalo After 1/1/66
38_Pittsburg After 1/1/66
41_Chicago
42_Fargo ND
43_Rockford IL
44_Twin Cities( Minneapolis/St. Paul)
45_Davenport Iowa
51_Denver
52_DesMoines Iowa
53_Kansas City
54_Omaha
55_ St. Louis
61_Dallas
62_Houston
63_Memphis
64_New Orleans
65_Oklahoma City
71_Los Angeles
72_San Jose
73_Salt Lake City
74_Seattle
75_Phoenix
81_Ford of Canada
83_Government
84_Home Office Reserve
89_Transportation Services
90-99_Export

Next will be the axle code, which tells you what the rear axle gear ratio is. The 9 inch rear end was not the only rear end that had an optional limited slip gear set-up. This was also available on the 8 inch rear end used in the A code and C code cars, as well as with the integral carrier used on the 6 cylinder cars. This was extremely rare on cars destined to be sold in the United States, though. One would be safe in assuming that this is not what their car came with unless the car was originally sold in Canada or Europe, and then made it's way back to America. Here are the codes for the door tag. This will be in the form of 'if the motor that your car came with was a_____ then the axle code on the door was _____
Before 9/01/64
170____________ 5
260____________1
289____________1
289HP (K code)__8 (3.89) or 9 (4.11)

After 9/01/64

200/auto__________2
200/manual________3
289/2bbl__________6
289/4bbl__________1`
289/4bbl/HP_______5(3.50), 8 (3.89), 9 (4.11)

And, finally, the transmission code. This is just for the 64 1/2-66 cars. There were some minor changes in the codes and options at the beginning of the 67 model year.

Automatic transmission___________6
6 cyl/three speed manual__________1
V8/three speed manual___________3
V8/four speed manual____________5

After determining what your car actually came with, this should provide you with all of the information that you need to recreate your door tag.

Mustang heater blower motor 1965 and 1966

2011-01-03T00:48:00.000-08:00

Here is how the heater blower motor works on the 65/66 Mustangs. If your car is an early 65, and has the center position off switch, the top drawing is how that is wired. Power comes from the fuse box to the switch, and, goes from the switch to the blower motor. If you look at the blower motor itself from under the hood, you will see three wires sticking out of it. One is red, one is orange, and the other is black. The black wire is the ground wire, and should be attached to the firewall. The other two bring power to the motor from the switch.

If your car has the off position on the switch all the way over to the driver's side, the second drawing is how your car is wired. This is a system that can be a little confusing until one realizes that it is wired backwards from the way most of the stuff in this car is wired. Most systems have power coming from the switch to the component. The heater blower motor has power coming from the component to the switch. Power comes from the fuse box and goes straight to the blower motor on the brown wire. It leaves the blower motor through the yellow wire, which plugs into the resistor on the front of the heater box. There will also be a three wire harness that plugs into the resistor which goes to the switch. You will notice that there is no ground wire in this system. The switch feeds power from one of the three wires coming into it, depending on which position the switch is in, straight into the metal of the dash. It is important that the switch be making good contact with the unpainted metal of the dash on the back side, or, the system won't work, so, if you decide to paint your dash, make sure that the switch housing is still making good contact when you reinstall it.

Ford radios and 8-track tape players

2010-09-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

This is a page that I blatantly cut and pasted from http://www.hammar.dyndns.org/radio.htm and then reformatted slightly to have it make sense on this page. The information came from Hammar, though. They did the research and published the page, not me. It is a very useful source to help you figure out if your car has the right radio in it.

How to Identify FoMoCo Radios and 8-Track Tape Players

(Note: Though the following information is primarily geared toward mid-1960's Ford/Lincoln-Mercury radios, this coding system was employed on all Ford/L-M units from the 1961 through early 1969 model years. Bendix AM/FM radios continued employing this system through 1972.)

All original Ford sound equipment installed prior to 1969 was clearly marked with a four or five character code identifying the model year, manufacturer and intended application. Following this was a four-to-six digit serial number (for the radio -- NOT related to the VIN!)

These markings will be found as approximately 1/4" characters, stamped into the side or back of the radio chassis. Though they bear some resemblance to part numbers, they in fact have very little, as the following table reveals:

First Character: Radio Type
(BLANK) = AM

D = Underdash "Hump" Mounted*
E = Electric Retractable Antenna**
F = AM/FM
T = 8-Track Tape (Includes AM/8-Track)
TOB = AM/FM***
(*1968-69 Only)
(** Used only on some Mercury units)
(***1965-66 Thunderbird Only) Last digit of model year (BLANK) = 8-Track*

Second Character: Model Year This a single digit indicating the last digit of the model year, as 5 is 1965, 6 is 1966, etc..

Third Character: Sound Type (?)
Blank 8 track*
T = Transistor Radio
S = Stereo (8-Track or AM/8-Track)
(*1968-up)

Fourth Character: Manufacturer
B=Bendix
M = Motorola

P = Philco

Fifth Character: Model Application

C = Continental

D = Falcon

E = Comet

F = Galaxie

G = Comet

H = Hang-On Tape Player

L = Lincoln

M = Mercury (Full Size)

O = Fairlane

S = Thunderbird

T = Truck

U = Econoline Van

V = Lincoln

W = Cougar

Y = Meteor

Z = Mustang

Sixth Character: Speaker Configuration or additional info

(BLANK) = Front Only

F = Fader for Front/Rear Speaker(s)*
L = Truck**
M = Truck**
U = Econoline**
(* Used on some Continental/Thunderbird units)
(** 1968-1970 Truck Only)

A Few Examples

4TBZ = 1964-1/2 Mustang AM, by Bendix

5TMZ = 1965 Mustang AM, by Motorola

5TPZ = 1965 Mustang AM, by Philco

5TPD = 1965 Falcon AM, by Philco

6TPZ = 1966 Mustang AM, by Philco

F6TBZ = 1966 Mustang AM/FM, by Bendix

T6SMZ = 1966 Mustang AM/8-Track, by Motorola

T6SMF = 1966 Galaxie 8-Track Player, by Motorola

(Beginning in February 1966, Ford marketed this as

a dealer accessory "hang-on" player for all models.)

F7TBZ = 1967 Mustang AM/FM, by Bendix

T7SMZ = 1967 Mustang AM/8-Track, by Motorola

T7SMH/F = 1967 "Universal" Hang-On 8-Track, by Motorola

(Identical to the 1966 T6SMF/T6SMM, with the

addition of a built-in rear speaker fader control.)

Notice that this coding is not based on interchangability -- a 1965 Falcon radio will fit your 1964-1/2 to 1966 Mustang just fine. These markings merely indicate for what year and model a radio was intended.

Here http://www.hammar.dyndns.org/radiolist.htmis is a more complete listing of radios used in 1964-1/2 to 1973 Mustangs.

Notes:

The belief that 1965 Mustang AM radio dials start with a "6" while 1966 dials start with a "5" is actually a myth, stemming from the fact that in 1965, Ford used multiple Mustang AM radio suppliers (Bendix on the "Early" 1965's, Motorola or Philco for "Late" 1965 models), but fitted 1966 AM-equipped Mustangs exclusively with Philco sets. All 1965-1966 Philco radios featured dials beginning at "5", while the other makers began their scale at "6."

The Bendix 4TBZ was electronically identical to the Falcon 4TBD, but featured an updated dial free of the Conelrad marks mandated on all US-made AM radios produced since 1953. Though the Conelrad warning system was deactivated in 1963, the decision came too late for design changes to the new 1964 sets. All 1964-1/2-1966 Mustang AM radio models also featured the same chromed pot metal volume and tuning knobs, while the Falcon version used black plastic ones. Because both models were otherwise interchangable, it's possible (and even likely) that some on-hand Falcon radios were installed at dealerships -- nevertheless, the "Conelrad" design would still be technically "incorrect" in a 1964-1/2 Mustang.

Generally, from 1966 onward, factory-installed AM radios were supplied by Philco (a Ford subsidiary), AM/FM units by Bendix, and 8-track players by Motorola.

Some confusion exists regarding 1965-66 Mustang radios featuring with the word "Deluxe" on the chrome bezel. In reality, these were not Ford radios at all, and had no connection with the "Deluxe" (Pony) Interior Decor Group. These "Deluxe" radios were merely aftermarket AM units produced by Boston-based Automatic Radio Manufacturing Company. Interestingly, Automatic Radio later filed a lawsuit over Ford's 1967 switch to the use of Ford-made (and marketed) radio mounting bezels.

Although the Mustang AM/FM is normally thought of as a 1966-up item, it was actually introduced to dealers in July 1965 (as an accessory only -- it did not become available through the factory until the start of the 1966 model year).

Interestingly, the dealer advertising proudly trumpets the use of a "new, unique station selector controlled by five 180-degree turn-over buttons" -- in reality, the Mustang AM/FM used the same type of tuner button as the AM version (though in a more attractive chrome finish), and relied on a simple slide control to switch between the AM and FM bands. Other Bendix-supplied AM/FM radios did use these "turn-over" buttons -- and this "better idea" was adopted for the Mustang sets beginning in 1967.

The first AM/FM stereo radios appeared in 1968 Models - for the Mustang, they were the Bendix-made "F8TBZ". All earlier AM/FM radios are Mono, reproduced in Life-like High-Fidelity through the trusty dash speaker.

The Philco-Ford Story

Ford purchased pioneering radio manufacturer Philco on December 11, 1961, and in 1963 merged in the "Aeronutronic Ford Corporation," acquired by Ford in 1956. Philco Aeronutronic became NASA's primary communications equipment contractor for the U.S. Manned Space effort during the 1960's and early 1970's, designing and supplying control consoles for the newly constructed Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. Other divisions of Philco-Ford built home appliances and entertainment equipment -- as well as more than a few car radios.

In 1974, likely motivated by the forced divestiture of Autolite, along with the weakness of U.S. auto sales and a general recession in the wake of the Arab Oil Embargo, Ford sold Philco's Consumer Electronics Division to GTE-Sylvania, who in 1981 resold both it and Sylvania to the Netherlands-based Phillips Consumer Electronics (a longtime Philco rival best known in the U.S. for their Norelco shaver -- sold in every other country as the "Philishave", but renamed in America thanks to Philco's skillful trademark protection).

Philco-Ford's Appliance Division was spun off to White Consolidated Industries (formerly White Westinghouse) in 1977, and purchased by Sweden's AB Electrolux in 1986.

Of the original Philco-Ford, only the Aeronutronic unit remained, producing radios from 1975-1989, first as the "Aeronutronic Ford Corporation" and then from December 1, 1976 on as "Ford Aerospace and Communications Corporation". On January 5th, 1988, the company was redesignated "Ford Aerospace Corporation", and less than two years later, on October 24th, 1990, the "Philco-Ford" era ended when Ford sold Ford Aerospace to Loral, creating "Loral Aeronutronic". Loral Aeronutronic supplied radios to Ford during the 1990's before being acquired by Lockheed Martin in 1997.

The Philco name hasn't entirely disappeared from North America, however. Until recently, the Philco name could be found on a line of budget-priced audio/video products sold through K-Mart, and the brand still graces a line of Nordyne home cooling systems. Finally, Polyconcept USA, Inc, now markets several "retro"-styled "Philco" turntables, under license from Philips Electronics North America Corporation.

How to distinguish a factory GT from a non-GT

2010-05-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

This is a question that seems to come up on a fairly regular basis. I haven't gotten around to writing anything about this because a nice man named Steve Schwartz at Mustang Dreams asked me to help him out while he wrote something about this, and he did a very good job with the subject. But, it can't hurt to have the information in as many places as possible, so, here goes.

The GT package on a 65/66 Mustang included :
Front disc (non-power) brakes
Dual exhaust with the exhaust trumpets exiting through the rear valence, not underneath it

Special handling package: front sway bar measuring 13/16 in diameter, instead of the standard 11/16,
higher rating front coil springs and rear leaf springs,

heavy duty front and rear shocks:
64 1/2-65 front shocks were the C4ZF-18045-E
66 front shocks were the C5ZF-18045-B
64 1/2-66 rear shocks were the C4ZF-18080-A, -B, or -C

Quicker steering box gear ratio of 16:1 instead of the standard 19.9:1. The manual steering cars will have the HCC-AX tag, and the power steering cars will have the HCC-AW tag. All power steering cars, not just the GTs, have the steering gear box tag of HCC-AW, so, on a power steering car, this tells you nothing.

Rocker molding and quarter ornament delete. The GTs had the no rocker molding or quarter ornament because they had the GT stripes.

No running pony on the fenders, or the small Mustang script. They had the GT fender badge and the Mustang script down lower in individual letters.

GT gas cap on the 66s, standard gas cap on the 65s

Fog lights

The factory GTs, since they had the dual exhaust exiting through the rear valence, did not have the rear bumperettes, or any of the attaching brackets for those. They also have reinforcement plates inside the driver's side rear frame rails for the driver's side exhaust hangers, which a single exhaust car did not have.

The only 65/66 Mustangs that came with the GT package were 'A' code or 'K' codes. There were no 6 cylinder cars or cars that came with a 2bbl carb that also came with the GT package.

The GT package was not available for purchase until mid April of 65, and consequently, any car with a scheduled production date before February of 65 definitely did not come with the GT package. Sometimes, people will have a new door tag made with an unreliable scheduled production date on it, but, the sequential production number of the car in the VIN, the last six digits, are not something that a person could alter without committing a felony. So, you can generally trust that a lot more.

On a Dearborn built 65 Mustang, it would have to have the last six digits of the VIN be a number higher than 620,000.
On a San Jose built 65 Mustang, it would be a number higher than 180,000.
On a Metuchan built 65 Mustang, it would be difficult to argue that the production number was too low, because that plant started building Mustangs at about the same time that Ford started building Mustangs with the GT package. It was a little bit before, but not by much.

Here is the address of that article by Mr. Schwartz that I mentioned, which has pictures and stuff.
http://www.mustangdreams.com/Verify-1965-1966-Mustang-GT.htm

Casting Numbers/ Part Numbers

2010-02-03T20:33:00.000-08:00

There always seems to be a little confusion concerning what these numbers mean, and, what the difference is between them. They are, after all, very similar. We'll start with the casting numbers. This is the number which is actually on the part itself. Some have it cast into the part, others have it stamped into the metal of the part, others, like wiring harnesses, have it ink or paint stamped on the part, and some don't have it physically present on the part at all.

Here's how that works. The first digit will be a letter which signifies which decade the part is from. 'A' is the forties, 'B' is the fifties, 'C' is the sixties, etc... The second digit will be a number, which indicates which year of the decade the part is from. So, if the first two digits are C1, this is 1961, D4 is 1974, B9 is 1959, and so on.

The third digit will be a letter, unless it's a part originally intended for something that didn't go into production until after 1970. Then, it could also be a single-digit number, but, not for a Mustang. This tells you which car line the part was originally designed for. This is just what it was originally intended for. They did not use car-line specific part numbers for the same part that was used in several different vehicles. A 66 model 289 hipo engine block will have the casting number of C5AE-6015-E on the side of it. This does not mean that the motor came out of a 65 Galaxie and was put in the Mustang by someone. On the small block V8s, the official "Original Intention" was for the Fairlanes on the 221/260s. That's why the early blocks have an O for the third digit, even though they were also using that motor in other cars, as well. That's why you see some blocks with an A for the third digit, like the 65/66 6-bolt K code motor. That particular variation was designed to be put in the full sized cars, but, was also used in Fairlanes, Mustangs and Falcons. The short version of this explaination is that the third digit tells you what the original drawings had written on the bottom of the page, but, the same part might be, and frequently was, used in several different car lines.But, what those digits actually mean is,

A---Full-sized Ford built after 1957

B---Bronco 70-73, Maverick 75-77, and Fairmont 78-83

D--- Falcon 60-69, Maverick 70-74, Granada 75-82, and, LTD 83-->

G---Comet 61-67 and Montego 68-76

H---Heavy truck 62-82

L---Lincoln 58-60, Lincoln Mark something 61-->

M---Mercury

O---Fairlane 62-68, Torino 69-76, LTD II 77-79

P---Autolite or Motorcraft 62-->

R--- Rotunda 62-69, Ford of Europe imports 70-->

S--- T-Bird

T--- Various trucks and Broncos

U--Econoline van

V---Lincoln Continental

W--- Cougar 66-72, Bobcat 75-80

Y--- Canadian Mercury Meteor 62-73

Z--- Mustang, Mustang II

The fourth digit is telling you what sort of part it is in a very general way.

A-- light truck part

B--Body or electrical component

C--Chassis

E-- Engine/powertrain

F--Electrical/ fuel system

P--Transmission/ axle

R-- Transmission/axle

S-- Truck Engineering

W-- Transmission/axle

X-- Muscle parts

Y Lincoln/ Mercury replacement parts

Z--Ford replacement parts

The first four digits will be followed by a hyphen, and then there will be a string of numbers, some having a letter thrown in just for fun, and then another hyphen. The stuff between the hyphens is what's called a group number. This tells you what the part is. 6015 between the hyphens means that this is an engine block. This might seem a pretty trivial bit of information to the person that is looking at the engine block, since they're looking right at it, but, to the people ordering the parts from the plant making them, which also makes a bunch of other stuff, it is very useful. On many parts, the casting number will not include the group number, because the person looking at the the number on the part would know up front that they have a carburetor in their hand. There's no need to stamp the 9510 on the carb just to make sure that the person with the gasoline dripping into his hand realizes that this is not a front bumper, but, a carburetor. The engineering number will have this, as will the replacement part number, though. The person at the warehouse processing the order has no idea what it is that I need.

After The 4-digit prefix, the group number, and, the second hyphen, there will be a letter. This letter indicates the design change level. That means that they started with a part, say, C5ZE-9600-A, which would be a breather assembly. They then change the design to include a fitting sticking out of the side of it. It becomes C5ZE-9600-B, they change the design again to put a longer, stiffer spring on the snorkel flap. It is now C5ZE-9600-C, and so on. This is purely for the sake of example, and are not actual design changes that are represented by these specific numbers. Let's say, for example, that I am needing a rebuild kit for my 2bbl carburetor, but, I am not sure if it's the original carburetor for my car, and, the I.D. tag for this carb has vanished in the haze long ago. I look at the driver's side of the carb, and, lo and behold, there is something stamped there on the base, near the front, and it says 6 D F. Clearly, this is not the entire part number, so, I will need to start filling in the blanks. I can tell that this carb is an Autolite 2100 from looking at it, so, it was built sometime in the sixties. That gives me C6 D F. I also know that, since this is a carburetor, the fourth digit will be an F, so, I now have C6DF F. Again, since this is a carburetor, the group number will be 9510, so, that gives me C6DF-9510-F, and, that is the complete part number. If my car happens to be a 66 model Mustang that came with a C4 automatic transmission and the thermactor system, this is the correct carburetor for that. The replacement part numbers and the engineering numbers will have the entire number, while, the casting number will frequently leave out the stuff that you can easily deduce by looking at the part itself.

Finding an electrical draw

2009-11-23T05:44:00.000-08:00

If you find that your car's battery dies in a day or two when you don't drive the car, it could be that you have an electrical draw somewhere that is draining the battery. First, you would want to find out if this is actually what's happening. Start by charging the battery, and, with the positive battery cable connected and the negative battery cable disconnected, and take a volt meter and connect the positive probe of the volt meter to the negative battery cable and hook the negative probe of the volt meter to the negative battery post. With the doors of the car closed and the key in the 'off' position, the volt meter should read zero like that. If it it does indeed show zero like that, then you do not have a draw, and the problem is going to be the battery itself. If the meter does show voltage like that, something is pulling power when it's not supposed to. Fortunately, the list of suspects on a 65/66 Mustang is very short. You have the horns, the headlight switch, the emergency flasher/ cigarette lighter circuit, the ignition switch, and, if you have a convertible with a power top, the top switch. Also, the charging system has a wire that feeds into the hot side of the starter solenoid, so that, when the car is running, everything electrical is running off of the alternator/ generator instead of the battery, and, the ammeter gauge/ charge indicator light has a wire attached to this same post on the starter solenoid.

None of this stuff is on a fuse in the fuse box, except for the emergency flashers, so, don't start pulling fuses one at a time and checking to see if the draw went away. Unless the problem is with the emergency flashers/ cigarette lighter circuit, which it almost never is, the problem won't go away like that. Start by unplugging the alternator harness from the headlight harness and see if the draw went away. It's the three-prong connector down near the frame rail, kind of underneath where the battery is. If the draw went away, plug that back in and unplug the connector from the side of the voltage regulator. If the draw reappears, the problem is the alternator. Check and see if the black wire with the yellow stripe attached to the 'bat' post on the back of the alternator is shorting itself out on the alternator case somehow and, if yes, fix that. If it isn't, then you need a new alternator. If the draw does not reappear with the alternator harness plugged in and the voltage regulator unplugged, you need a new voltage regulator.

If the draw is still there when you unplug the alternator harness, then the problem is with one of the other systems mentioned, and, you will probably need to remove the instrument cluster to have a look back there. If you look in the april of 08 section here, there's a post on how to do that. It isn't difficult at all. Before you do that, though, go ahead and pull the emergency flasher fuse and see if the draw goes away. If no, go ahead and snatch the instrument cluster out. If yes, put the fuse back in and unplug the wire from the back of the cigarette lighter and see if the draw goes away. If yes, replace the lighter.

Once you have the instrument cluster out, disconnect the headlight switch connector from the headlight switch and check to see if the draw went away. If no, the problem is not with the lights or the horns, since the horn circuit gets it's power from the headlight switch. That leaves the ignition switch. You can check the wire that is hooked to the + or 'bat' post on the coil with the volt meter to see if it shows power with the key in the off position, but, if it does, you need to replace the ignition switch and you have to remove the instrument cluster to do that, so, it wasn't needless work removing the instrument cluster.

If the problem went away when you unplugged the headlight switch connector, plug the connector back in, and unplug the turn signal switch at the base of the steering column. If the draw goes away, the problem is something in the turn signal switch, most likely the horns. If the draw does not go away, unplug the connector behind the dash, kind of up above the fuse box , that the taillight harness plugs into. If the draw does not go away, the problem pretty has to be up front with the headlights or front parking lights/ turn signal lights. It isn't complicated, it's just a question of picking a place to start and working your way through until you find the problem. You don't want to fall into the trap that ensnares many, which is assuming that the problem is with component A and replacing it, only to discover that the problem is still there, so you then replace component B, C, D, etc... Don't start just throwing new parts at the car until the problem disappears. Take a minute to figure out what's actually wrong, and then fix that. You'll be much happier with this way of doing things in the long run.

64 1/2-only stuff in the underhood area

2009-10-11T20:26:00.000-07:00

First, Let me start by saying that there are no Mustangs with 64 year model V.I.N.s. The first Mustang, 5F08F100001, was titled as a 1965 model car. All of these cars that we refer to as 64 1/2s are just really, really early 65 model cars according to the V.I.N. However, they have characteristics and features that Ford dropped at the end of the 64 model year. There were no alternator charging systems on 64 model Fords, and there were no generator charging systems on 65 model Fords, with the exception of the early production Mustangs, which they began building in early March of 64, instead of in July of 64, like the other 65 model cars. This is a pretty obvious difference between a 64 1/2 and a 65. This first picture is the generator of a 64 1/2 Mustang. It has this size-huge cast iron upper bracket, instead of the stamped steel bracket of an alternator car. This one is kind of hard to miss. Many of these cars, like mine, for example, have been changed over to alternators, though, so the absence of this generator and bracket does not mean that the car didn't originally come with it. I still have all of the generator stuff, in case I want to go back to trailered concours perfect, but, since it's my primary means of transportation, I have it on an alternator.

On the V8 cars, the 64 1/2s have what's called a five-bolt block, while the 65s have a six-bolt block. This is referring to the number of bolts that hold the bell housing onto the back side of the engine block. Here is a picture of a five-bolt bell housing. The arrows show where the bolts that attach it to the block are, and yes, you can see this with the motor and transmission still in the car, so, all that you have to do is open the hood, and then count them. There will also be some other bolts there, like the two that hold the starter on, the inspection plate at the bottom of the bell housing, but, the bolts that hold the bell housing to the block are pointing in the opposite direction of the others, so, it would be very difficult to get them mixed up.
On a 64 1/2, the brake light switch is on the front of the master cylinder, like the one in the picture, instead of hanging on the brake pedal inside the car, like a 65. You will also notice that the engine gauge wire harness has a couple of extra wires coming out of the firewall for the brake lights, so, the 64 1/2s also have a different engine gauge harness to accomodate the brake light switch.

This is a picture of the front passenger side of the radiator core support in front of the battery. You will notice those three slots in it that look like gills. The alternator cars don't have that. They just have those four slots over to the passenger side of the gills.

The flap indicated by the arrows hangs down a lot further on the 64 1/2s than it does on a 65. On the 65s, it only comes down about half that far. From the factory, this part is painted black, as is the upper area of the piece that this flap is a part of from the front edge of the cowl lip forward. This one is painted body color just so it stands out better. Again, if I ever go back to trailered concours perfect, I'll also fix that.

Many of the 64 1/2s had a cast iron crankshaft and water pump pulley set-up. Here they are, sitting beside the generator bracket. The one in the middle is the water pump pulley and the one on the left is the crankshaft pulley.

The generator cars had these great big horns mounted down on the strut rod brackets, instead of the smaller horns on the radiator core support that an alternator car had. There was also a horn relay mounted above the voltage regulator on the generator cars, instead of a wire coming straight out of the turn signal switch and going directly to the driver's side horn, then over to the passenger side horn, like the alternator cars.

This is kind of a small thing, but, it was a 'better idea' from Ford. You will notice in the picture that negative battery cable is attached to the inner fender area with a clip and a sheet metal screw. The generator cars had this, the alternator cars didn't. Even if the clip isn't there, there should be a hole in the car for the screw.

More to come later. (Insert smiley face here.)

Floor Mats

2009-10-10T10:51:00.001-07:00

These are the different floor mats that were available for the 65/66 Mustangs. This first picture is of a set that was more commonly used on the 65 model cars, although, they were still listed in the 66 accessory literature. These would set you back the extravagent sum of $7.95 for the front mats and $4.96 for the rear. It's identical in every respect to the regular floor mats that are seen all the time in Mustangs now, except for there is no embossed horse on them. These are quite rare now.

This second picture is of a set of floor mats that were available over the counter from the parts department of your local Ford dealership.
This last picture is the set of floor mats that the car would have come with from the factory. These are reproduced and are readily available from any vendor of vintage Mustang parts.

Happy birthday

2009-03-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

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

Mustang back up lights 1965 and 1966

2009-03-24T19:45:00.001-07:00

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.

Mustang headlight switch replacement 1965 and 1966

2009-02-21T08:06:00.001-08:00

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

2009-01-30T19:22:00.001-08:00

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.

Mustang emergency flashers 1965 and 1966

2009-01-18T11:08:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-18T05:57:00.000-07:00

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.

VIN decoder for 1965 and 1966 Mustangs

2008-10-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

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.

The picture indicates the location of the three VIN stampings on a 65/66 car. If you open the hood, you should be able to see the front one on the driver's side. To see the other two you have to remove the fenders.

How much is my 65/66 Mustang worth?

2008-05-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

A question that is frequently asked is ' I have a 65 Mustang. How much is it worth?', and then the process of trying to coax a little more information out of the person begins, which often seems like pulling teeth. The simple truth of the matter is this. There is absolutely no way to accurately appraise the value of a forty+ year old vehicle based on a couple of emails and a phone conversation. The market variables are sometimes far too subtle and complicated for someone to stick a price tag on the car based on such vague information. The statement of ' I have a 65 Mustang' does not narrow it down at all. There is a world of difference between a rust-bucket 6 cyl coupe, a 98 pt. trailered concours factory GT K code convertible, and an R model GT-350. There are a few things that are the kiss of death for a 65/66 Mustang's value.

The motor that the car came with originally is what the car is. What is physically present in the car at the moment means almost nothing. If your car came originally with a 6 cyl, you have a 6 cyl car. " But it now has a supercharged 427 SOHC motor in it." You have a 6 cyl car that has a very expensive motor in it, and that motor would be worth even more if it didn't have that pesky 6 cyl Mustang wrapped around it. The car is actually bringing down the value of the motor. Here is how that heirarchy works. The fifth digit of the vin tells you what motor/carb the car came with originally. The value, from top to bottom, would be K, A, D, C, F, T, U, with the K code at the top of the list and the humble U code as the low man on the totem pole.

The body style matters. With everything else being equal, a fastback is worth more than a convertible, and they are both worth more than a coupe. People like the fastbacks, and Ford built about 5 times as many coupes as they did fastbacks, so, rarity+desireability= more expensive. Same deal with convertibles. People like convertibles, Ford didn't build very many compared to the coupes, and a convertible is far more prone to rusting away to nothing, so more of them are lost or parted out every year. The totem pole of body styles would be fastback, convertible then coupe.

Then there is the condition of the body. Each and every car is in it's own unique condition. Many of these cars have been wrecked, some on more than one occassion, with the following repairs being done with various levels of skill and quality. Sometimes the repairs were done very well, but the method is slip-shod by it's very nature. A car gets hit real hard in the rear. Rather than do all of the work needed to fix what's there, it was not uncommon to just take another car that had crashed into something, crushing the front of it, saw both cars in half and weld the two good ends together. This is called being 'clipped', and you have to get underneath the car to see if this has been done. There is not supposed to be a raggedy seam going all the way across the middle of the car. A car can be drop-dead gorgeous in pictures, but have the entire cowl area or the rear frame rails be rotten from rust, rendering the car unsafe to drive. You have to look at the car very carefully and know exactly what's supposed to be there.

And then there is always the question of whether or not the car that you are looking at really is who it says it is, especially on the K codes or the factory GTs. On the K codes, there is a little more to it than looking at the breather decal. The K codes came with a manual choke carburetor. This manual choke has a cable going from under the dash inside the car through the firewall and out to the carb. That cable went through a specific hole in a specific location and was of a specific size. The K codes were the only cars to have this. If that hole isn't in the firewall, something is very seriously wrong here, even though the vin is that of a K code. All K codes came with a 9 inch rear end and all other 65/66 Mustangs came with either an 8 inch or the integral carrier of the 6cyl cars. On a 9 inch rear end the snubber is mounted to a bracket that is attached to the rear end. All other 65/66 Mustangs have the snubber bolted to a piece that's spot welded to the floor of the car. That bracket should not be on the floor of the K code. To make things more interesting, there is a piece welded to the floor of the K code also, for the snubber to bump into instead of just sheet metal, and it is virtually impossible to describe them both in such a way for someone to be able to accurately identify what's on the car that they are looking at. The differences are very easy to tell if you know what the K code bumper plate looks like, though. If the car has the snubber mounting bracket instead of the bumper plate, again, we have a big problem.
A person could say that 'This K code has it's original, vin stamped motor' and technically be telling the truth, but the motor is missing nearly eight thousand dollars worth of parts, like the carb, fan, balancer, distributor, main bearing caps, etc... The 65 K codes had a unique set of motor mounts that don't look anything like the other 65 Mustang motor mounts, and they are very difficult to find, and extremely expensive when you do finally track down a set. And, just for fun, Ford made them very, very similar to the Fairlane motor mounts, but not identical, but it is extremely difficult to tell the K code mounts from the Fairlane mounts when they are bolted to the car, especially if they are all funky-looking and covered with dirt and grease and stuff.
The bottom line is that, in order to accurately determine the fair market value of a 65/66 Mustang, someone that is thoroughly familiar with 65/66 Mustangs is going to have to have a look at the car in person. When someone asks me what a car is worth that I have never seen and don't know anyone that has, the only thing I can do is ask them to email the car to me and let have a look at it.

On a high dollar car, like a K code or a GT, there is no way to tell what a particular car is worth without having someone that knows exactly what to look for go and inspect the car in person.

Why we call them 64 1/2s

2008-05-13T06:03:00.000-07:00

There has always been some discussion about this point among Mustang folks. The reason that there has always been discussion is because the point is a little more complicated than it might seem at a glance.On the one hand, you have the fact that all Mustangs built prior to the 66 model year have 1965 vins, and on the title it says 1965 Ford Mustang.One would think that this would pretty much exhaust the matter. But, on the other hand, you have a mountain of evidence to the contrary.First off, you have dozens, if not hundreds, of parts on a 65/66 Mustang carrying a part number that goes C4Z something or another. If you check with your handy Ford part number decoder you will see that C4Z means 1964 Mustang. Fortunately, I have a pretty extensive collection of original Ford publications from that era. The first picture is the cover of a Ford publication that they put out in aug of 1963 in preparation for the 64 model year. It is not a copy or a reprodution, it is a 44 year old, original brochure of about 16 pages. On the cover you see several 64 model cars with license plates that say '1964'. On the top is a Mustang, but they have it turned sideways. The next couple of pictures are of a trim and upholstery guide. Each Ford dealership was given a couple of these every year in preparation for the new model year to help people see what their new car would look like with a particular trim, upholstery and paint scheme. And in it we have the Mustang section. You will also notice the absence of the fastback body style. Those were not available during the 64 model year, but the coupe and convertible were, even though this car that was built in march or april of 64 had a 65 title. Clearly, Ford was building and selling Mustangs during the 64 model year and these cars have numerous distinct differences from the cars built and sold for the regular 65 model year, and the differences between a 64 1/2 and a 65 are far more numerous and significant than the differences between a 65 and a 66. That's why folks keep arguing about it. There is no clear-cut right or wrong answer. It just depends on how heavily you weight 'this' aginst 'that'.

Since I was 8 or 9 I have been wondering about why Ford gave the Mustangs that we call 64 1/2s 65 VINs. They started building them in like feb. of 64. There isn't a single part anywhere on the car with a 65 part number. If you see a part with the number starting out C5Z and going on, that part has been replaced. Ford quit using 5-bolt, generator charged motors at the end of the 64 model year. All 65s had 6-bolt, alternator charged motors, etc... Everything about the cars say that they are 64 model cars, with the exception of the VIN. Why did they do that? Someone had to make that decision, and the decision was made before they ever built the first Mustang. What was the rationale behind it? They started out by building about 25,000 Mustangs to start selling on April 17 of 64. They felt like that would be enough to carry them through until the 65 model year began. However, they sold every one of those cars, plus took orders for about 15,000 more on the april 17 of 64. They also introduced several other pretty cool things in 64, like the factory lightweight T-bolts and some K code Falcons and stuff to hedge their bet on the Mustangs. They had no idea if these cars would sell or not, and just in case they still had 20,000 of those first 25,000 Mustangs in aug. of 64, they could still sell them as brand new 65 model cars. They didn't know. Maybe those Mustangs will do the same thing that some other seemingly good ideas on car design did, namely, they couldn't give them away. They didn't do it to confuse and bewilder as yet unborn enthusiasts at all. It was one more way to hedge the bet.

I have actually pondered this question on a regular basis and have come up with nothing for a really long time. It just made no sense to me. Everything about it is a 1964 model car, and yet, someone made the decision to title these things as 65 model cars in the winter of 63/64, They weren't building any other 65 model cars. They weren't even making any parts for 65 model cars yet. They were advertising them right beside other 64 model cars. It was a very strange decision to make. It would probably have never even crossed my mind to do that, unless I was sitting in a meeting discussing this and someone said, " You know, we're all going to be looking for jobs if these things don't sell" Then we would start brainstorming about how to avoid that very unattractive eventuality, and that's where the idea for 65 VINs came up. For as far back as I can remember, I would just sit down and think about something that pertained to a 65/66 Mustang on a regular basis. Sometimes I put my car up on jackstands and crawl around underneath it, just looking at stuff. Like watching television. For hours.This 65 VIN thing has confused me to no end for the longest time, and, again, finally coming up with something that makes sense about this, to me anyway, very perplexing question, has made me really happy.

Trunk lock cylinder replacement

2008-05-09T12:21:00.001-07:00

The first picture shows the trunk latch. Remove the two bolts holding it onto the trunk lid and it will basically fall off into your hand. Make sure that it is, in fact, your hand that it falls into, instead of letting it figure out a way to hit a painted surface.
This is a picture of what you will see when you get the trunk latch out of the way. Remove that nut with a socket wrench and pull the washer off with the nut. That will leave a split, funny looking tube thingy that is pinched onto the back side of the lock cylinder bezel. The split tube thingy will pull off of there.
The next two pictures are the entire assembly. The first is full assembled, minus that pesky trunk lid, and the second is everything disassembled.

This last picture shows the release button for the lock cylinder. You just depress that button with the key in the lock, turn the key a little bit so that the key won't come out of the cylinder when you pull on it, and pull the cylinder out. If the reason that you are replacing the cylinder is that you have no key for it, you can also take a very small flat-bladed screwdriver and get behind the cylinder with it and, with the button depressed, pop the cylinder out like that. The rod sticking out of the back of the bezel is a seperate piece that you will need to put back in before you install the new cylinder, or put your old cylinder back into your new bezel. Whatever it is that you are trying to accomplish here, drop the rod into the bezel, put the lock cylinder into the bezel, making sure that the tab on the end of the lock cylinder is lined up with the slot in the end of the rod, put the trunk lid gasket onto the bezel, put the bezel into hole in the trunk lid, put the split tube thingy onto the bezel from inside the trunk, put the washer and the nut on the bezel and snug up the nut. It doesn't need to be tight enough to have the bezel squash the gasket and crack the paint.

As a side note, if you have accidentally locked your keys in the trunk of the car, ( hey, it happens ) what you do is, on a coupe or a convertible remove the upper part of the back seat and take a half inch socket wrench with about 3 miles of extensions on it, and remove either the two bolts holding the trunk latch to the trunk lid or the two holding the the other part of the trunk latch to the taillight panel area, whichever you can get to the easiest. If you have a fastback, crawl through the trap door and do the same thing. You might have to remove that rear carpeted piece to get the trap door open, depending on how well the trap door is adjusted, which is usually not very well.

Tag codes

2008-05-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

When your car was new, it had a bunch of little metal tags hanging on it, some of which might still be on the car today. The purpose of these tags was to tell the people at your local Ford dealership which component this particular car had in it so that they would be able to get the right parts for warranty work. The first tag is what would have been hanging on the front of the carburetor. The C6AF B is which carb this one is. There was an astonishingly large number of different carbs used in the 65/66 model years for different applications on the Mustangs, and I'll put the list of the most common ones down at the bottom. On the bottom row of the tag you see the letter C. That indicates the design change level, which means that the basic design of this particular carb has been modified in some way twice since it's original design. A would indicate the original design, B means the original design has been modified once, C means twice, etc... After that you see 6CC. This is the date on which this particular carb was built, in this case, it is the third week of march in 1966. That goes Y/M/W on a carb tag.
This next picture is of a 65 and a 66 door tag. I whited out the vin to for the privacy of the owners of these two cars, which isn't me. The one on top is a 65 and the one on the bottom is a 66. What this tag tells you is the body style, the body paint color, the interior code, the scheduled production date, the D.S.O., which is the district sales office, or, where your car was sent originally to be sold, the axle code, which tells you the rear end gear ratio, and which transmission your car came with. However, these tags can be purchased brand new from Marti Auto, so, what these tags really tell you is nothing, since there are no original records on the 65/66 cars, and Marti makes the tag with the information that you give him. Fortunately, Marti's tags are a whole lot nicer than Ford's were. The two tags in the picture are original tags. You will notice, for example, that the axle code is not even close to being underneath where it says 'Axle' on the tag and looks a lot more like a 2 digit trans code. Marti's tags have everything lined up real nice and neat, the letters and numbers fit into space a lot better, lots of little differences. On the 66 tag in the picture, it looks like the stuff stamped on the tag is too big for the space allowed. Marti's tags have everything fitting in there very nicely. I think it costs extra to have him make one that's all screwed up like Ford's were.
The next picture is a couple of engine tags. This would have been on the top of the intake manifold, over on the driver's side. The top row tells you the cubic inch displacement of the motor, the plant at which the motor was built, (the lower tag was built in Cleveland, Ohio, the top tag, a 6cyl, doesn't have the build plant on it) the year model of the car that the motor was destined to go into, and the bottom row tells you the date that the motor was actually built, the top one is oct of 65, which is in the 66 model year, and the bottom one is march of 66, also the 66 model year, followed by the engine code number. This number is a lot more important on the V8 cars than it is on the 6cyl cars, because the 289 in the car could have been a plain old, nuthin special C code 289 2bbl or it could have been the high performance 271 hp K code 289 4bbl. A world of difference between those two 289s. Sadly, this tag is the C code.
This next tag, shown below,is what would have been attached to the third member of the rear axle assembly. This tag is actually out of an old Bronco. I'll dig out a Mustang tag and get a picture of it up soon. I put this one here just to show kind of what it looks like. On the Mustang tag there will be a three letter dash one letter code, like WCZ-H for example that tells you the gear ratio, whether it's a 28 or 31 spline,and whether it's a 7 1/4 inch, 8 inch or 9 inch rear end, followed by a number that is the design change level. The bottom row will have the actual gear ratio, which will be something like either 3.00 ( conventional) or 3L00 ( limited slip) followed by a date code which will be Y/M/W and then a plant code, which doesn't really mean much after the warranty has expired, which, on your car, it has.
This next picture is of steering gear box tags. In 65/66 Mustangs there were only three different steering gear boxes used. The top one says HCC-AW on the top. That is a 16:1 steering gear ratio used in cars with power steering. The next one says HCC-AT which is the 19.9:1 steering gear ratio used in manual steering cars, and the bottom one says HCC-AX which is the 16:1 steering gear ratio box that was for manual steering cars that came with the Special Handling Package. All 65/66 K codes should have the HCC-AX steering gear box tag, except for the 64 1/2s, which should have HCC-AX-1, since the Special Handling Package was mandatory for the K codes. Also, the presence of the Special Handling Package does not mean that the car was a factory GT. It was a stand-alone option that could be ordered for the car without the car having the GT stripes, badges, etc.. The bottom row on the tag is the date code which is Y/M/D/ Shift. The bottom tag is Aug 12, 1965, second shift, the middle tag is December 17, 1965, second shift, and the top tag is June 14, 1965, third shift.

1966 Interior samples and codes

2008-05-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

This is material from the original Ford Master Parts catalog for the 66 model year. How this works is you find the interior code for your car in one of the charts ( picture 4 or 5) move over to the right hand side and there will be some numbers representing seats, door panels, etc... If you click on the picture it will enlarge enough for you to actually be able to read it. You then find the patch with that number on one of the other pictures and that's what the headliner or whatever is supposed to look like. Nothing to it.

1965 Interior samples and codes

2008-05-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

This is material from the original Ford Master Parts Catalog for the 65 model year. How this works is, you find the interior code of your car on one of the charts ( picture 3,4, or 5) and out to the left will be some numbers representing the headliner etc.. If you click on the charts or pictures, it will enlarge so that you can actually read what they say. You then find the patch on one of the other pictures with that number beside it, and that's what your seats or whatever are supposed to look like. Nothing to it.

Optional equipment for the Mustang

2008-04-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

Here are the available options, along with their part numbers, and how much they would have cost 'back in the day'. These were the prices in June of 1966. You can see slight variations in the prices in different Ford publications printed at different times. The old 'Prices are subject to change without notice' thing.

Television---------------------------------C5AZ-18804-A----------$169.95

Deluxe 14" wheel cover w/spinner---------C6ZZ-1130-B-------------$33.20 (set of 4)

'Mag' wheel cover/14"---------------------C6OZ-1130-J-------------$81.15 (set of 4)

Styled steel wheel-------------------------C5ZZ-1007-B(wheel)------$158.40(set of 4)

Lug nuts----------------------------------C5ZZ-1012-A-------------$9.60(set of 20)

Center cap--------------------------------C5ZZ-1130-G-------------$10.00

Wire wheel cover-------------------------C5OZ-1130-C--------------$83.35(set of 4)

'White wall' trim rings 13"-----------------C5AZ-1211-A--------------$14.58(set of 4)

14"-----------------C5AZ-1211-B---------------"-------------"

15"-----------------C5AZ-1211-C---------------"-------------"

Floor mats/ front twin---------------------C5ZZ-6513086*-----------$7.95

/ Rear twin---------------------C5ZZ-6513106*------------$4.96

*= specify color

Full Tonneau Cover( cockpit cover)--------C5ZZ-76501A42-A(blk)---$52.70

"---------------------------------)--------C5ZZ-76501A42-B(wht)---$52.70

Door edge guards-------------------------C5ZZ-6520910-A----------$3.45

Rear seat armrest with ashtray-----------C5ZZ-6531600------------$15.20 pr (65)

"------------------------------"----------C6ZZ-6531600-------------$15.20 pr (66)

Air conditioner---------------------------C6ZZ-19700-A(6 cyl)-B(V8)-$240.00

Speed control----------------------------C6AZ-9A818-A--------------$71.40

Throttle control kit----------------------C4AZ-9B742-A--------------$10.00

Engine coolant heater------ 550 watt----C3RZ-8B152-A--------------$13.45

"--------------------------"1000 watt--C3RZ-8B152-B--------------$15.50

Both plug into household outlet

Power brakes----------------------------C62A091-A-----------------$47.00

Inside day/night mirror-----------------C6ZZ-17700-A--------------$4.95

Right-hand standard mirror------------C3RZ-17696-A---------------$2.45

Left-hand remote mirror---------------C5ZZ-17696-A---------------$12.95

Cigarette lighter/ map light------------C2RZ-15072-A---------------$3.00

Trunk light----------------------------C2RZ-15A700----------------$2.35

Parking brake warning light----------C4DZ-15A852-A---------------$3.80

Spot light----------------------------C5ZZ-15313-A(L.H.)-----------$29.95

"---------"--------------------------C5ZZ-15313-B(R.H.)------------$29.95

Turn signal-Fender mount----------C5AZ-13A310-A----------------$7.15 pr

Compass----------------------------C4RZ-19A548-A----------------$7.95

Trunk mount luggage rack----------C5ZZ-6555100-F---------------$39.95

Luggage rack hold-down straps-----C5ZZ-6555196-A---------------$5.25

Electric clock-----------------------C6ZZ-15A000-A----------------$20.80

Vinyl top--------------------------C5ZZ-6350005-A(blk)-B (wht)--$69.50

Stainless sill plate-----------------C5ZZ-6513242-A----------------$9.95 pr

Litter basket---------------------C1AZ-19D504-A thru D----------$2.45

Tissue dispenser------------------C3RZ-19A549-A----------------$3.95

Remote trunk release-------------C6AZ-65432A00-A------------$6.95

Adjustable clothes rod-----------C4AZ-19D536-A-----------------$3.00

Auto vacuum (plugs into lighter socket) C5AZ-19E521-A----------$14.95

Radiator bug screen-------------C5AZ-8198-A-------------------$1.95

Am/Fm radio-------------------C6ZZ-18805-BA----------------$123.15

CB radio------------------------C5AZ-18805-E------------------$179.50

Two-way walkie-talkie---------C5AZ-18805-F------------------$119.50

Studiosonic sound (reverb)-----C6AZ-18875-A------------------$27.95

Luggage rack zipper bag-------B9AZ-19B507-B-----------------$39.95

Rotunda child car seat---------C6AZ-19E535-A-----------------$29.95

Rotunda child safety vest------C6AZ-19F519-A-----------------$10.95

Child proof lock knobs--------C6AZ-5421850-A-----------------$2.95 pr

Reflector/ flare kit-----------C5AZ-19E500-A-------------------$11.20

Fire extinguisher/ 2 3/4 lb--C3RZ-19B540-A-------------------$16.50

"-----------------" 5 lb------C5AZ-19B540-A------------------$27.50

Dual air horns---------------C5AZ-13800-A-------------------$53.50

Glove box lock--------------C4DZ-6206081-A-----------------$2.50

Engine gauge kit------------C6AZ-10B944-B-------------------$45.00 ( A single round gauge housing with engine vacuum, water temp, oil pressure and volts. Not the rally-pac)

Cobra Tach------------------C5AZ-17A326-A (6K, V8) (-B 6k, 6 cyl) $42.50

Cobra tach------------------C5AZ-17A326-C ( 9K, V8)---------$46.50

Sun Tach-------------------C4AZ-17368-A (9K V8)-----------$60.00

Sun Tach mounting kit------C4AZ-17368-A-------------------$6.10

Seat belt retractors---------C4AZ-62611A06-A---------------$3.85 pr

I'll put some more of this stuff up later, when I type it up.

Carburetor common repairs and adjustments

2008-04-23T07:43:00.000-07:00

This first picture is of the accelerator pump diaphragm housing, held onto the front of the carb with four screws.If fuel seems to be leaking from that hole towards the bottom of it, that means that the diaphragm is ruptured and needs to be replaced. The ruptured diaphragm will also make the car behave very badly coming from a dead stop. First, you remove the four screws and pop the housing cover off and swing it out of the way. What you will see when you do that is shown in the sixth picture. That is the diaphragm itself. Pull that thing off. When you do that, what you will see is in the fifth picture. That spring is what pushes the diaphragm back outafter the arm cam pushes it in. If this is all that you intend to do to the carb, just put the new diaphragm on, making sure that it goes on facing in the same direction as shown in the picture, with the spring underneath it, replace the cover, snug up the screws and you're good to go. Do not overtighten the screws because you could strip out the screw holes and the carb will leak like crazy from that day forth.

If fuel is gushing out of the vent tubes on the top of the carb, that means that your needle and seat assembly is not working correctly. This is commonly called ' float is stuck'. To replace the needle and seat assembly, remove the top of the carburetor by first removing the little clip holding the choke flap arm onto the choke linkage. It is shown (sort of) in the third picture. It is that tiny little clip just to the left of the dirty brown plastic thingy. Next, remove the four screws from the top of the carb, along with the stud that holds the breather assembly wing nut on and remove the top of the carburetor. What you will see is shown in picture #11. In picture #10 you see the float clip popped loose. pop the clip loose on yours and lif the float out of the carb. There will be a little brass thingy with a rubber tip hanging on the end of it, as shown in picture #9. You will then remove the brass seat that is screwed into the carburetor, shown in picture #8. Use a 6 point 3/8 socket wrench for this. When you install the new one, be sure to put the new gasket underneath the seat assembly. Replace the old needle ( brass thingy with rubber tip) , reinstall the float with the needle inside the seat, without dinging it up, reattach the clip holding the float in, and again, you are good to go.

If, when you remove the top of the carburetor, yours is all funky and crusty-looking, like the one shown in picture #7, you need to clean that stuff up before you put the carb back together. Those two brass things that look like screw heads with a hole in the middle of them are your main jets. You remove them with, that's right, you guessed it, a big flat blade screwdriver. That other thing in there with the brass tip is the top side of your power valve. This is replaced by flipping the carb over, assuming that you've emptied the fuel out of the carb by now, and removing the housing cover, as shown in picture #15, by removing the four screws and popping it off of there. What you will see is shown in picture #14. That is the other end of the power valve. It unscrews in the normal way with a 1 inch open-end wrench. Unscrew it and install the new one, again, making sure that you also replace the gasket underneath it, then replace the cover, again, with the new gasket, and that is that.
Autolite carbs, with the exception of the K code 4bbls, have thermostatically actuated chokes. How the choke is adjusted is by loosening the three screws on the choke thermostat housing, which is the round black plastic thing on the passenger side of the carb, shown in picture #3, and rotating it slightly, then tightening up the screws. You will notice that there is an indexing mark on the carb to help you keep track of the adjustments you make. Rotating the housing clockwise makes the choke open sooner, counter-clockwise makes the choke open later.

The idle speed is adjusted by running the screw on the throttle linkage on the driver's side of the carb, as shown on the right hand side of picture #12. The fast(cold) idle speed is adjusted by the screw on the choke linkage over on the passenger side of the carb shown kind of right in the middle of picture #14. Nothing to it.

Basic carburetor function

Here's how your Autolite 2100 or 4100 carburetor does what it does. Understanding this is essential to diagnosing and correcting any problems that it might be having. The carb is responsible for delivering fuel to the engine. How it does this is by a couple of basic physical principles. One is that air moving through an hourglass shaped tube is at it's highest velocity and lowest pressure at the skinny part of the tube. This was discovered by an Italian physist named, that's right, you guessed it, Giovanni Battista Venturi. Your carburetor's fuel bowl has a vent hole on top of it. The pressure at the top of the fuel is normal atmospheric pressure because of the vent hole. The fuel has a few different routes that it can take to get into the venturis, but at the discharge port, the air pressure is lower, because of the venturi effect, than it is at the top of the fuel bowl. That creates a 'push' on the topside of the fuel. An Autolite carb has three basic fuel circuits. One is the idle circuit. This is the path that the fuel follows when the throttle plates at the bottom of the venturis are closed. The discharge ports for the idle circuit are below the throttle plates. This works by straight-up suction, or engine vacuum, so that when the car is at idle speed, fuel is delivered to keep that going. Next is the transition circuit. Here, the discharge ports are slots that are partially below and partially above the throttle plates and works partially by the suction of the engine and partially by the pressure differential of the venturi effect. Last, we have the main fuel circuit, which works entirely by the venturi effect. The discharge nozzles for the main circuit are the ones that are inside the booster venturis, or, the little hourglass tube shaped thingies that you see inside the throat of the carb. The float that is inside the fuel bowl is responsible for keeping the fuel at a certain level. The correct level for the fuel in bowl is slightly below the main discharge nozzles. If the level is too low, the venturi effect won't be strong enough to push the fuel uphill and get it into the carb. If it is too high, gravity will pull the fuel out of the fuel bowl until the two levels are the same, and then the siphon effect takes over and drains the fuel bowl entirely. Where that fuel goes, when the motor isn't running, is straight into your oil pan, degrading the lubricating ability of the oil and making you have to crank on the starter until the fuel bowl is filled up again so that the car can start. You also have an accellerator pump to deliver a little shot of gas to keep the motor running while the carb changes from one circuit to the next. This is also what the power valve does. It is held closed by engine vacuum. As you open the throttle plates on the carb, engine vacuum drops temporarily, allowing the power valve to open and let some more gas into the engine after it has burned the little shot provided by the accellerator pump. The engine vacuum recovers pretty quickly and the power valve closes and the motor is running on the main fuel circuit entirely at high speed cruising speed. Normally the motor is running on a combination of two circuits, depending on what you are asking the car to do, and most round-town driving is down on the transition circuit. Puddles of purely liquid fuel do not burn very efficiently at all. That is why the carb is designed to vaporize the fuel, and you hear people talk about the ' air/fuel mixture'. Inside the carb there are these little thingies called emulsion tubes. These create a mixture of highly airated, but still basically liquid, fuel. When this air fuel emulsion goes out the discharge nozzle, the process of vaporizing the fuel is finished by the shearing and velocity change of the mixture, so that it is vaporized as effectively as possible when it gets into the motor. On the four bbl carbs you have two primary venturis and two secondary venturis. The 4100 has vacuum secondaries. What that means is that the change in engine vacuum caused by hard accelleration or wide open throttle is what causes the secondary venturis to open, allowing even more fuel into the motor, much like a great big power valve. And that is how that works.

Paint codes for 1965 qnd 1966 Mustang

2008-04-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

These are the PPG paint codes for the colors Ford used on the 1965 Mustangs.
A
Raven Black
9000,9300

C
Honey Gold
22581

D
Dynasty Green
12853

F
Arcadian Blue
12854

H
Caspian Blue
12547

I
Champagne Beige
22436

J
Rangoon Red
71243

K
Silversmoke Gray
32377

M
Wimbledon White
8378

O
Tropical Turquoise
12852

P
Prairie Bronze
22438

R
Ivy Green
43337

X
Vintage Burgundy
50657

Y
Skylight Blue (64 1/2 only)
12164

3
Poppy Red
60449

5
Twilight Turquoise
12893
7
Phoenician Yellow
81444
discontinued 2/65

8
Springtime Yellow
81510
new color 2/65

And, here are the PPG paint codes Ford used on the 1966 Mustangs.

A
Raven Black
9000,9300

F
Arcadian Blue
12854

H
Sahara Beige
22528

K
Nightmist Blue
13076

M
Wimbledon White
8378

P
Antique Bronze
22603

R
Ivy Green
43408

T
Candyapple Red
71528

U
Tahoe Turquoise
12745

V
Emberglo
22610

X
Vintage Burgundy
50669

Y
Silver Blue
13045

Z
Sauterne Gold
43433

4
Silver Frost
32520

5
Signal Flare Red
71529

8
Springtime Yellow
81510

G
Sapphire Blue
13075

When the time comes to paint your car and you want to go back to the original color, simply give the PPG guy this number and he can mix up the paint for you. Or, if you prefer some other brand, that guy will be able to cross this number over to their brand and give you the right color.

Motor identification

2008-04-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

A question that comes up on a regular basis is ' Is this the original motor for my car?' . The vast majority of the time, the correct answer is a very simple ' No. it is not.' Sometimes, though, it appears that a car might indeed still have it's original motor. Or, as is far more common, that assertion is being made by the person trying to sell you a car. How can one know for sure if this assertion is true? The bottom line would be that there is no way to know with absolute certainty that the motor in a car is, in fact, the same motor that this car left the factory with many moons ago. There are, however, a number of ways to determine that the motor is NOT original. Once you decide what that even means, that is. A motor is a collection of parts. How many, and which ones, of these parts can be replaced and still have it be considered ' The Original Motor' ? Most folks would agree that it would pretty much have to still have the original block. After that, the line gets a bit blurry. It wouldn't necessarily have to still have the original distributor or carburetor, but it probably should have the original heads, and possibly the original intake. All of these parts have casting numbers and date codes on them.
The engine blocks used in 65/66 Mustangs (also the 64 1/2s, which are titled as 65s) were actually very few. You had two different 6 cyl motors, the U code 170 C.I.D. and the T code 200 C.I.D. You also had the F code 260 C.I.D. V8 along with the D, C, A, and K code motors which were various configurations of the 289 C.I.D. V8. The D code motors had 5 bolts holding the bell housing onto the block, the C and A code motors had 6 bolts holding the bell housing to the block, and the K codes could have been either 5 or 6 bolt, depending on the production date of the car. The 5 bolt blocks were phased out in aug/sept of 64 in preparation for the regular 65 production year, so if your K code had a scheduled build date of oct of 64, it would have had a 6 bolt block. If it had a scheduled production date of may of 64, it would have been a 5 bolt. Even though it was not a clean break on a certain day, if your K code was built before aug 10 of 64, it was probably a 5 bolt and after that was probably a 6 bolt.

V8
The 260 block should have a casting number of C4OE-6015 followed by either a -B, D, or E
The D code 289 should have a casting number of either C4OE-6015 -C or -F
The A code or C code 289 should have a casting number of C5AE-6015-E, C5OE-6015-A, or C6AE-6015-C
All 6 bolt K codes have a casting number of C5AE-6015-E
5 bolt K codes will have a casting number of C4OE-6015-C, or -F. There was also a 5 bolt K code block with the casting number of C3OE-6015-B, but that was not originally used in Mustangs. Also, if the motor has a 3 or 4 digit number stamped on a pad on the block over by where the clutch Z-bar is attached to the block, that motor came out of a Fairlane. The K code motors that left the factory with a 65/66 Mustang wrapped around them had the vin stamped on the block on the passenger side, right above the top of the oil pan, towards the front. Sometimes it is stamped so poorly that it is very difficult to see, let alone read, but it is there.

Right above the casting number will be a date code. How to interpret that is explained in the section I called, that's right, 'Date Codes'. The date code on the motor should be consistent with the scheduled production date of the car. Ford did not put a motor built in aug of 65 in a car that was completed in oct of 64, nor did they just sit on a motor for a year waiting for just the right car to put it in.

Cylinder Heads

This one is very simple. If you pull the valve covers off, you will see on the top surface of the head either the number 260, 289 or 302. The 65/66 Mustangs did NOT come with 302 heads. Ford did not start building 302s until the 68 model year, so, if the heads on your car have the number 302 cast into them, they are definitely not the original heads for your car. There will also be date code on the top of the head. Again, the date code on the head should be a little bit prior to the scheduled build date of the car.
The K code heads were different from the others. They had screw-in rocker studs, instead of the press-in studs the other 289 heads had. They also had little pockets that the valve springs sat down into to keep them from scooting around on you at high rpms. They will also have either the number 19, 20, or 21 cast into the front outboard corner of the driver's side head and the rear outboard corner of the passenger's side head. The head shown in the pictures is a K code head.

Intake Manifold

The intake manifold will have a casting number on it right in front of the carburetor.
The 4bbl intake will have the casting number of C4OE-9424-H
The 2bbl intake will have the casting number that starts out with C4, C5, or C6, then either an O or an A, followed by an E, which is followed by 9424, then dash something. There is a date code at like 2 O' Clock from the distributor, which, again, should be consistent with the production date of your car. There were a whole bunch of different casting numbers for 2bbl intakes, so who could really say which is which. As long as the date code matches up, that might be the original intake.

Trunk lid adjustment

2008-04-20T09:39:00.001-07:00

Here's how you adjust your trunk lid so that you don't have to slam it shut, or have it rattling and bouncing around, or have your trunk fill up with water every time that it rains. The first picture shows the bolts that hold the trunk lid catch to the car. If you have to slam the trunk shut to get it to catch, you simply loosen these two bolts and raise the thing up a hair. Close the trunk and see what it feels like, and tweek as needed to get it to close correctly. Be careful when you close it the first time, because the catch might have scooted over a little bit to one side, causing it to push the trunk lid over a little bit, which, in turn, causes the trunk lid to hit the rear quarter panel and chip your paint.

If your trunk lid is alligned a little bit funny, like sitting too far up in the back or is a little bit cockeyed, this, also, is not a big deal at all. To get the trunk lid to drop down in the back, loosen the bolts shown in the second picture on both sides of the car and let the trunk lid drop a little bit, snug up the bolts, close the trunk lid and tweek as needed. If the trunk lid is sitting a little bit too far forward (towards the rear of the car) you just loosen the four bolts that hold the trunk lid to the hinges and adjust accordingly. Be careful not to have it too far back because the back edge of the trunk lid could hit the panel that's right in front of it and chip your paint. These are very easy adjustments to make, and your car will really appreciate it if you stop all of that water from gushing into the trunk and quit slamming the trunk lid shut.

Mustang Brake lights 1965 and 1966

2008-04-17T11:27:00.001-07:00

Here is how the brake lights work on your car. There are actually two different circuits. The bulb in the tail light socket is a dual filament bulb. Power comes from the headlight switch over to the brake light switch, which breaks the circuit. When you step on the brakes, that completes the circuit in the switch, and power then proceeds from there to the turn signal switch, which sends the power on back to the tail light sockets, lighting up both filaments in each of the tail light bulbs. When the tail lights are not on, and you have your foot on the brake pedal, both filaments should be on, until you activate the turn signals. Then one bulb stays light and other blinks full on/all the way off. When the tail lights are on, like when driving at night, that activates one of the filaments in each bulb. When you step on the brake pedal, again, both bulbs are full on. When you signal a turn, one bulb will be full on and the other will blink full on/ half on, because one filament is still getting power as a tail light from the headlight switch. You might be thinking how it seems like, when the tail lights are on and you step on the brakes, one of those filaments is getting power from two different places. If you did think that, congratulations. You are correct. This isn't something that most people would ever notice, but, if you have your foot on the brakes and then turn on just the tail lights/ parking lights, your brake lights will get a little bit brighter.
The most common problems with the brake lights make up a pretty short list. At the top of that list is the bulbs are burned out in the tail lights. Always check that first. Then, it would be the plug-in connector to the tail light housing, or the socket on the housing itself, has gotten all corroded and funky looking. After that would be the brake light switch ( part # C5AB-13480-C) has gone bad. Replacing this isn't a big deal at all. It's hanging on the brake pedal arm, up above the steering column. You just unplug the two-wire connector, remove that pin that goes through the peg that the switch and the master cylinder push rod are hanging onto, pop the master cylinder push rod off of the peg and the switch will fall out into your hand. Nothing to it. On an earlier car ( like mine) the brake light switch is screwed into the front of the master cylinder, but the wiring system is the same. The only difference is the actual location of the brake light switch. Sometimes, the turn signal switch is the culprit, but normally a bad turn signal switch will make your car go retarded on you in some other way. Occassionaly it will be a problem with the wiring or the head light switch, which is the source of power for the brake lights.
How to trouble shoot the brake lights should go like this. First, check the bulbs and the sockets in the tail lights. Next, unplug the connector from the brake light switch and take a paper clip, bend it in such a way that you can stick that into both slots of the wire connector. Try not to have your skin touching any bare metal on the car when you do this, as it might deliver a little bit of a shock to you. It isn't dangerous, but it also isn't very enjoyable. If the brake lights come on, replace the brake light switch. If the brake lights don't come on, check with a volt meter to see if power is reaching the connector. If no, find out why not by checking the headight switch and connector. The wire that supplies power to the brake lights is coming out of the same slot in headlight switch connector that has the big yellow wire that supplies power to the horns. If yes to power reaching the brake light switch connector, check with the volt meter to see if power is leaving the turn signal switch at the two wire connector coming out of the steering column from the turn signal switch. If yes, your problem is in the wiring along the tail light harness somewhere. If no, your problem is in the turn signal switch, or the wiring going to or from it. Problems with this system, just like any other, are diagnosed by starting at one end and systematically going through the circuit until you find the break. You can do this.

Instrument Cluster Removal

2008-04-11T07:54:00.001-07:00

There are many things that a person might need to do to their car which are very simple tasks with the instrument cluster removed and are virtually impossible with the instrument cluster still in the car, such as replace the headlight switch or replace one or more of the light bulbs back there. Removing the entire cluster can seem like a scary proposition if you are unfamiliar with how all of that junk back there goes together, but it is not a big deal at all.

First, disconnect the negative battery cable from the battery. Next, you have to disconnect the speedo cable. There is only one route that your hand can take to reach it. With the driver's side door open and you on your knees outside of the car, you have to run your hand up between the emergency brake handle and the air vent cable. From there, you keep running your hand up until you locate the speedo cable. Where the speedo cable goes into the back of the instrument cluster there will be either a round, gnurled knob thingy or what feels like a big hex nut. Either way, you just unscrew that and pull the cable out of the back of the speedometer. It might be a little snug, but fortunately, there was no way for the last owner to get a wrench on that, or tack weld it in place, so you will be able to unscrew it by hand. I don't have any trouble at all getting my hand up there, but men sometimes find that their forearm is just a tad too big to squeeze in there. If this is the case, just take those two big screws out that are holding the emergency brake handle assembly and the air vent knob to the dash and that will give you enough room.

Once you have the speedo cable loose, remove the six screws that hold the instrument cluster to the dash. There are four along the top and two on the bottom. Work the instrument cluster out far enough to start unhooking all of that stuff back there. The wires just unplug and the bulb sockets just pull out. Once you have every thing unhooked, remove the instrument cluster from the car. Be sure and have a towel or something on the steering column because you will definitely scrape up the paint if you don't. The second picture is color-keyed to show you how the wires and bulbs go back on. There will also be an instrument cluster voltage regulator with three wires attached to it. Two of them will be dark green with a black stripe, and one will be black. How this works is in the section on gauges, along with the wiring diagram, but, the black one is the dash ground and the two green with black stripe are power-in / power-out for the instrument cluster voltage regulator. The third picture is to show you exactly where the speedo cable is attached to the instrument cluster.

This has all been for either a 66 model car, or a 65 that that has gauges instead of idiot lights. A 65 with idiot lights is just like a 66, except for you just unplug the lights instead of some wires. On some, you have to twist the idiot light sockets and then pull, and on some you have to just pull the bulbs out. On a 65 with gauges, there will be a big wire going through a loop on the back of the ammeter gauge. The wire has a disconnect that you can unplug several inches back from the gauge. When you run the wire back through the loop to re-install the instrument cluster, be sure that it goes through the same way it came out or your ammeter gauge will read backwards.

When you re-install the instrument cluster, it is very good idea to hook everything back up except the speedo cable and, before you put the six screws back in, re-connect the battery and check to see if everything works like it's supposed to, so that, when you hit the left turn signal, your high beam indicator isn't the one that starts blinking. It is also a very good idea to, while you have the instrument cluster out, replace all of the bulbs. They are available at any auto parts store and are cheap. The part number for the bulbs is 1895. Nothing to it.

Mustang hood adjustment 1965 and 1966

2008-04-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

It is very common to see an otherwise beautiful car that has the hood sitting on it a little funny. Trying to adjust that can be very annoying if you aren't really sure what's making it do that. Fortunately, it's a very simple matter to correct. The second picture shows the hood latch stuff that's mounted on the hood itself. Remove that by loosening the nut that locks the hood stob into place, unscrew the hood stob and then remove the safety catch by removing the two bolts. Loosen the four bolts holding the hood onto the hinges a couple of turns, but DO NOT remove them. Close the hood very carefully, in case it has moved on you and could hit one of the fenders or the cowl panel and damage your paint. Once you have the hood stob and safety catch removed, the bolts loose and the hood closed, bump the hood around gently until it is sitting like it's supposed to, raise the hood very carefully, so that it doesn't shift on you, just high enough to get a half inch boxed end wrench on the front bolt of each hinge and snug them up enough to keep the hood from moving, raise the hood the rest of the way and tighten up the bolts. Be careful the first time that you raise the hood because it can look like you've got the perfect gap between the back edge of the hood and the cowl, but actually it's a little too close and the hood will hit the cowl on the way by as you open it and chip the paint. Also, be careful the first time that you close the hood after you tighten up the hinge bolts, because that might lower the back edge of the hood a little bit and, again, cause the hood to hit the cowl and chip the paint. Re-install the hood stob and safety catch.

Now that you have the hood sitting in the right spot, you need to make sure that the hood latch assembly, shown in the third picture, doesn't push the hood over to one side or the other when you close it, causing the hood to hit one of the fenders and, again, chip the paint. Loosen the bolts holding the hood latch to the hood latch bucket. On a 64 1/2 or a 65, there will be three bolts, on a 66 there will only be two. Lower the hood to where the hood stob is almost going into the hood latch and look to see if they are lined up correctly. The hood stob shouldn't be trying to push the hood latch one way or the other. Bump the hood latch around until it looks like the stob will go in without actually touching the latch at all, and then tighten up the bolts holding the latch. Close the hood carefully to make sure that nothing is hitting something else.

Now it's time to adjust the hood stob. With the hood fully closed and latched, the hood shouldn't be able to bounce up and down, but you also shouldn't be have to slam the hood closed to get it to latch. Screw the latch stob up or down as necessary to make this happen. You should be able to hold the latch release handle open with one hand, close the hood with the other, release the handle, and the hood is fully latched but won't move up or down when you try to wiggle it. Once you have the latch stob positioned like it needs to be for this to be the case, tighten up the lock nut on the latch stob.

In the first picture you see one of the two adjustable hood bumpers that control how far down the front of the hood is able to come. These are adjusted by loosening the nut, indicated by the red arrow, and then screwing the bumper up or down as necessary. When the hood is pressing lightly agianst the bumbers so that it can't go down any further, and the latch stob is fully latched, preventing it from moving up any further, but you didn't have to slam the hood shut to get it to 'catch' , that is how the hood is supposed to be at the front end.

If you look at the fourth picture, you will see that the hood is centered well, but is sitting up too high in the back. The fix for this is NOT to lean on the area until the hood goes down to flush with the fender. This is adjusted by opening the hood, loosening the three bolts holding the hinge to the car on both sides a couple of turns and pushing up on the front of the hood, causing the back of the hood to rotate downward. Be careful that the entire hinge doesn't drop down on you. How I do this is to leave the lower front bolt on each hinge sort of tight. I just kind of break it loose with the wrench, but leave it very snug. That way, the hinge rotates rather than drops. I normally use a telescoping hood prop to push the front of the hood up and hold it there, but I have found that a conveniently located friend works just as well. She holds the hood up while I snug the bolts back up. Close the hood carefully to make sure nothing hits anything and then tweek as needed, and then your hood sits in there perfectly.

Wing window adjustment

2008-04-08T08:47:00.001-07:00

The wing window being slightly out of adjustment is a fairly common cause of having the door window not operate as smoothly as it should, the reason for this being that the front edge of the door window rides inside the track on the wing window assembly. When this is running a little bit off from the how the rear door window track runs, it causes the window to bind up a little bit. Adjusting the angle of the wing window is very simple. In the first picture you see the entire assembly. On the left hand side of the picture there is a leg sticking downward that is chromed. That leg will have two funny looking bolts holding it onto the door. You remove the top one and loosen up the bottom one. If you look at the second picture, you can see how the adjustments are made with the funny looking bolt.The flat part on top of the bolt is behind the attaching point and the lock nut is attached out in front of the attaching point. You take an allen wrench run the bolt in or out to position the top end of the window like it needs to be, and then use the same procedure to adjust the angle that the window sits at with the adjusting bolt that is in the bottom end of the long track on the right hand side of the assembly, as shown in the last picture. Then sng up the nut that holds the attaching bolts in place, and there you are. Nothing to it.

1965 and 1966 Mustang door window adjustment

2008-04-07T08:37:00.000-07:00

To adjust how far up or down the door window is able to travel, you simply loosen the two bolts shown in the first picture, roll the window up to where it should stop, position the window stop against the regulator arm, tighten that bolt up, roll the window down to where it should stop, position the other stop where it needs to be, and tighten that bolt, and then roll the window all the up and VERY CAREFULLY close the door to make sure that the window isn't going to hit anything as you close the door. Tweek as needed to make the door window stop exactly where you want it to.

If the window seems to be binding and it is very difficult to roll up or down, this is very often a mis-alignment of the two guide tracks that the window rides around in. Those two tracks have to be parallel for the window to operate smoothly. The rear track, shown in the second picture, is adjusted by loosening the two bolts that are up near the top and the nut that is down near the bottom. If you open the car door and look at the face that the door latch sticks through, you will see two bolt heads up near the top door face plug and the upper door bumper. Those are the guide track bolts. If you remove the lower door face plug, inside that hole you will see the nut. Loosen those, roll the window all the down, wiggle that guide track around until it is in a relaxed position, and then snug everything back up. If this fixes the problem, cool. If it fixes the problem, but now the angle of the window is off when the window is rolled up all the way, as in, it's leaning outward or inward too far, then tou will need to adjust the front track, which is part of the wing window assembly, and then repeat the process for adjusting the rear track. The reason that you should start by trying to adjust the rear track first is because this does not require removing the door panel. A really tight window can also be caused by a bad window regulator or possibly something as simple as the scissor guide tracks needing a touch of grease. These are not parts that generally receive regular lubrication. Do NOT lubricate the window guide tracks. Whatever you use to lubricate these tracks will get on the glass itself, and look just terrible. The wing window adjustment procedure will be in a section of its own.

Door window regulator assembly

2008-04-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

Are you tired of having to lift up on the back of the window in order to roll the window down? This first picture is what your window would look like rolled down inside the door if you car had the rare invisible door option. How your window regulator mechanism works is the two upper arms of the regulator scissors are attached to the track on the lower part of the window frame and the third, lower arm is attached to a short piece of that same frame stock that is held onto the inside part of the door itself with two bolts. When you turn the window crank, the other end of the piece that the window crank handle is attached to has gear teeth, which mesh with the saw-blade looking part of that big flat piece on the regulator that has the big watch spring thingy on it. The spring is designed to help lift the window and apply a bit of resistance to lowering the window, so that it takes about the same amount of force to lower it as it does to raise it, and to hold the window up. Without the push from that spring, the window would just drop down into the door. As that big flat piece rotates around, it pushes or pulls on the regulator arm, which , in turn, pushes or pulls on the regulator scissors. The scissors bracket is held to the door with three bolts. The black part of the scissors work like a bell crank and push the window up or pull it down when the regulator arm moves. The next two pictures show how the regulator arm is attached to the scissors. There is a little post on the scissors and a hole in the end of the regulator arm. The post goes through the hole and then a clip is installed to hold them together.

If you have to lift up on the back of the window to lower the window, or it acts like one end of the window is trying to outrun the other, what has probably happened is that one of the scissors arms has popped loose from the roller that holds it into the track. The fourth picture here is one of the scissors arms with the roller attached to it. The next picture is of the roller itself and the clip that holds it onto the scissors. You just place the roller onto the scissors arm and install the clip and that holds the roller on. There is a groove in the roller that holds it onto the track.

To replace the window regulator you have the window in the up position, stick something like a piece of wood underneath the window to hold it up, unhook the clip from the end of the scissors , pop the regulator arm loose, remove the four bolts that hold the regulator onto the door and remove the regulator from the door. To install the new regulator, just do what you just did backwards. Don't lose one of the bolts that hold the regulator on. They're really short like that for a reason. It's so that the saw blade piece of the regulator doesn't hit them and get jammed up on the way by.

To replace the scissors, you again have the window all the way up with a piece of wood under it to hold it there, remove the clip and pop the regulator arm loose from the scissors, remove the clips from the three rollers, pull the scissors arms out of the rollers, remove the three bolts holding the scissors bracket to the car, and remove the scissors from the door. Again, installation of the new one is do what you just did backwards.

Mustang door lock, latch and handles 1965 1966

2008-04-04T08:22:00.000-07:00

Here is how the door latch, release handles and locks work on your car. In the second picture, the outside door handle rod is indicated by the green arrow, the rod that the door lock knob screws onto is indicated by the blue arrow, the outside door lock cylinder rod is indicated by the red arrow, and the inside door release handle rod is indicated by the brown arrow. The third picture ( further down )shows how the outside door handle rod is connected to the latch mechanism in the red circle. It is basically just pushed into a slotted plastic bushing. You don't want to detach that if you don't have to because they never really hold as well after they've been popped loose and then reinstalled. The outside door lock cylinder rod is held to the latch by a springy little clip, as shown in the green circle. If you look at the fourth picture, you will have a much better look at another one of those clips which is holding the outside door handle rod to the outside door handle. The clip has been popped loose, which allows the rod to be removed from the handle.

If you are replacing the outside door handle, you just pop that clip loose, remove the nut that's holding the front of the door handle to the car, and then the phillips head screw that's holding the rear part of the door handle to the car. If you open the door and look at the face where the latch sticks out , where the door tag is on the driver's side door, etc.. you will see two rubber bumpers, or possibly just the rectangular holes where the bumpers are supposed to be. About four inches above the top bumper is a screw head. That's the one holding the door handle.

The next picture shows the outside door lock cylinder attached to the rod, again, with one of those clips. And, again, the clip is popped loose. To remove the lock cylinder, you simply pop that clip loose, and then pull the big, flat U-shaped clip that's holding the lock cylinder onto the car, as shown in the top picture, along with the part number for a new lock cylinder set, and then carefully pull the old lock cylinder out of the door from the outside. It is very, very easy to damage your paint when removing the door handle and the lock cylinder. Just take your time, be careful and you shouldn't have any problems.

The last two pictures show the attaching points for the inside door release handle rod. The last picture shows the rod attached to the door release lever mechanism. This triangular shaped piece is what has the shaft that the inside door release handle is attached to. That shaft is over on the other side of piece. The next to the last picture shows the inside door handle release rod attached to the door latch mechanism, again, with one of those clips.

Just a word about those clips. They have a death-grip on those rods. It would be very impressive indeed to see someone just reach in there and pop them loose with their fingers without gashing those fingers to shreds in the process. I take a very small flat blade screwdriver and push up under that little tail on the clips and pop them loose like that. Also, I never had any trouble reaching any of this stuff inside the door, but, if you are a man, your arms will be several inches longer and significantly larger in diameter than mine. At least, I would certainly hope that they are. (I wish I had smilies here) Also, you have the window regulator mechanism and the rear guide track for the window to work around. With all of this stuff still inside the door, you can't actually see most of this junk while you're working on it. You have to do it by feel, using the three-dimensional hologram diagram in your mind as a guide. Also, you can't possibly get both hands on the same component at the same time. You locate the rod, feel along to the end until you locate the clip, feel for the little tail on the clip and which way it's pointing, put the little screwdriver under it and pop it loose.

Once you get to this point, if you want to actually remove the latch mechanism, all you have to do is remove those three phillips head screws holding it onto the car that are located on the outside of the door latch, forming a little triangle around the latch, and then snatch it out of there. The window's rear guide track is going to try to prevent you from removing the latch mechanism, but don't take no for an answer. It's your car, not the guide track's.

Mustang Ignition system 1965 and 1966

2008-04-03T09:24:00.001-07:00

Here is what your ignition system looks like without that pesky Mustang wrapped around it, along with the wiring diagram. This is a very simple system with a high degree of reliability, even when subjected to the horrible abuse and neglect some people inflict on these cars. How this works is, when the key is in the 'On' position, power goes from the ignition switch to the resistor wire, indicated by the red arrow in the bottom picture. This wire is plugged into a red wire with a green stripe that comes out of the ignition switch. When the power flows through the resistor wire, the voltage is reduced from 12V to about 9V by means of, that's right, resistance. The resistor wire ends at the firewall connector, indicated by the yellow arrow, and turns back into a red wire with a green stripe, which is attached to the post on the ignition coil marked either 'bat' or +, depending on the manufacturer of the coil that is currently in your car. That is the point indicated by the blue arrow. Inside the coil, the power is transformed from 9V to something in the 25,000 to 50,000 volt range, again, depending on the manufacturer of your coil. It sends this blast of power to the distributor by the big wire in the center of the distributor cap that looks like an extra spark wire. The rotor inside the distributor is spinning. The contact point on the tip of the rotor makes contact with the contact points underneath each of the plug locations of the spark plug wires as it spins around and sends that blast of current to the appropriate spark plug wire, which, in turn, causes the spark plug to fire.

In the picture of the distributor top without the distributor cap, the red arrow indicates the condensor, and the yellow arrow indicates the breaker points.

Here is how a breaker point ignition system works. The ignition system has two separate circuits in it. One, called the primary circuit, consists of the primary windings in the coil, the primary lead, which is the wire that runs from the Dist post on the coil to the distributor, the points, and then a path to ground through the casing of the distributor.The secondary circuit is the secondary windings of the coil, the high tension lead ( ninth spark plug wire that goes to the distributor cap), the distributor cap, rotor, and the plug wires. There are two different circuits inside the coil. How this works is power is supplied to the coil through the post marked Bat. When the key is in the 'Start' position power goes out to the starter solenoid through the wire attached to the S post on the solenoid. This closes the switch inside and sends power to the starter, and sends power out through the wire on the 'I' post on the solenoid, which meets up with the wire that goes to the bat post on the coil. Power goes into the coil, runs through the primary windings, out the Dist post on the coil, through the closed points, and then to ground. When the car starts and the key is in the 'On' position, power goes through the resistor wire plugged into the ignition switch connector, and out to the Bat post on the coil and, again, through the primary circuit. When the points open, that breaks the primary circuit, (hence the name 'Breaker Point Ignition' ) and the magnetic field that is built up in the primary coil windings goes through the secondary windings in the coil, and this produces the high voltage needed to actually fire the spark plugs. The high voltage goes out of the coil through the high tension lead, down into the distributor cap, through the rotor and out to the spark plugs, which are grounded through the threaded part of the plug. The points then close, which allows the current to pass through the path to ground through the primary circuit, and the coil builds up another shot of the high voltage for when the points open again. So, if the points are good, you will see a power reading from pretty much any metal part of the distributor when the points are closed, because the distributor is the ground for the primary circuit. If there is no power reading from the metal of the distributor, that means that power could not pass through the two contacts of the points, and that can't happen if the points are in a usable condition. Power makes it to one contact, but doesn't make it to the other = points are no good.If you have a power reading on the metal parts of the distributor when the points are open, that means that the primary lead is shorting itself out on the case of the distributor somehow, probably where it goes through that hole in the side of the distributor. The fix is to replace the primary lead and try not to scrape it up when it gets shoved through the hole in the side of the distributor. If the primary circuit checks out ok, but the plugs still aren't getting any spark, that is generally either a torched out distributor cap or rotor, bad plug wires or spark plugs that are fouled or just plain worn out. It's actually a pretty simple system once one understands how these components all work together to shoot sparks down to the plugs.

It is important that this system be properly maintained by means of a regular tune-up, which consists of replacing the spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor, points and condensor, along with inspecting the wiring periodically to make sure that nothing is damaged or worn out, or has a bunch crud or corrosion building up on a connection. These cars will keep on chugging down the road in an astonishingly poor condition, but it is costing you in a lot of ways to do that, namely, poor fuel economy and poor performance. Since all of the parts involved in this tune-up are really, really cheap, and readily available from any auto parts store, and the level of expertise needed to perform this tune-up is amazingly low, it makes no sense not to.

There is a problem that people encounter, which seems to be quite baffling to them, but results in 'car won't start'. If, when you turn the key to the start position, the car cranks fine, sounds like it started, but dies instantly when the key returns to the On position, that is almost always one of two things. Either the resistor wire is dead, and needs to be replaced, or, the car has a factory tach, and the tach has died. You could get a factory tach on these cars if A) you had a 65 or 66 Shelby GT-350, you purchased one of the over-the-counter Cobra or Rotunda tachs from your local Ford dealer, or your car had an original rally pac. How the factory tachs were wired was, two of the wires that came out of the back of the tach were connected in-line with the resistor wire at the ignition switch. You unplugged the resistor wire from the red wire with the green stripe near the ignition switch and plugged the two tach wires into the two ends of the ignition wiring. When the tach dies, it takes the car's ignition system with it. The fix is to unplug the tach wires and plug the resistor wire back into the red wire with the green stripe that comes from the ignition switch.

Starting system

2008-04-02T09:33:00.001-07:00

Here is the system responsible for starting your car for you. At a glance, you will immediately see that this is a veeeeery simple system. How this works is, when you turn the ignition key to the start position, that sends power to the ' S' post on the starter solenoid. It helps to think of the starter solenoid as a switch. When power goes to that 'S' post, that activates the switch and completes the circuit running from the positive post on the battery to the starter. When the key is released and it returns to the 'on', that turns off the switch and the starter quits turning because it has no power going to it. Cars equipped with an automatic transmission have a thing called the neutral safety switch. The wire going from the ignition switch to the 'S' post on the starter solenoid makes a trip through the neutral safety switch. This works as a kill switch so that the car can't be started while it's in gear. The transmission shift lever must be in either Park or Neutral. Manual transmission equipped cars don't have a neutral safety switch.

A starting system problem that is frequently mis-diagnosed is what is sometimes referred to as ' the starter hanging up'. That's when the starter just keeps right on cranking after the key has been returned to the run position. People run out and buy themselves a new starter, or beat on the starter with a hammer or something, when, if you think about it, the starter itself is the one thing that you know for sure is NOT the problem. It's down there cranking like crazy, working beautifully. The reason that it's doing that is because it is still getting power when it's not supposed to, so something along the line of power flow must be the problem. And that is the starter solenoid. It is continuing to supply power after it was supposed to stop doing that. The most common cause of the starter solenoid hanging up is a weak battery. Insufficient current combined with having system engaged far longer than it should be makes stuff start heating up. When the solenoid gets too hot, the contacts of the switch inside it try to weld themselves together.

Another thing that can cause what appears to be a starter problem is a bad ignition switch. You have returned the key to the run position, but, internally, the switch has refused to comply with your wishes and is still over there in the start position. But, it is far more common to have it be the starter solenoid.

Mustang Alternator and charging system 1965 and 1966

2008-04-02T07:52:00.001-07:00

This is a system which seems to be a prolific source of confusion and despair for people, but it is actually quite simple, once you understand it. For all practical purposes, the only thing that your battery is supposed to do is supply power to start your car. After the car starts, all of the lights and gauges, and the motor itself, is powered by the alternator. The alternator also makes sure that the battery is fully charged for the next time you want to start your car. The alternator generates power and sends that out into the cars electrical system. This system, like all other electrical systems, can't just push power out into the void. The power also has to have a way to get back to where it started from, or, a ground. That's why they call them electrical circuits. The power has to take the entire tour. You have a black wire with a yellow stripe coming off of the alternator post marked ' Bat' that goes to the hot side of the starter solenoid. This is the same post that your positive battery cable goes to from the battery. You have a black wire with a red stripe that is attached to the post on the back of the alternator marked 'Grd'. This is, that's right, the ground. This is basically one wire with three ends. One end is attached to the alternator, one end is attached to the engine block on the same bolt that the negative battery cable is attached to, and the third end goes through the headlight harness and is attached to the radiator core support with one of the screws that holds the voltage regulator onto the car. You have a white wire that is attached to the back of the alternator on the post marked 'Fld. This wire goes over to the voltage regulator and is going into the terminal marked F on the side of the voltage regulator. It should be the terminal on the bottom with the voltage regulator mounted on the car with the plug thingy on the driver's side. There will be a yellow wire that goes from the voltage regulator terminal marked 'A' over to the hot side of the starter solenoid and that's all that there is for the actual functioning of the alternator itself. The alternator generates nearly 15V, it goes to the voltage regulator and gets knocked down to 12V, comes back and goes into the electrical system of the car. This part of the system is the same, whether you have an alternator light or an ammeter gauge. The differences between the two systems are all in the way that the charge indicator tells you what's happening with the system.

The charge indicator light works like this. There is a white wire with a black stripe attached to the post on the back of the alternator marked 'Sta'. That wire goes to the voltage regulator and then winds it's way to the charge indicator light and miraculously turns green with a red stripe along the way. There is another wire that is black with a green stripe that jumps off of the red wire with a green stripe that comes from the ignition switch and then goes to the charge indicator light. The light will have two wires coming out of the back of it, one black with a green stripe from the ignition switch and one green with a red stripe coming from the voltage regulator. The two pictures of the back of an alternator show how the wires are supposed to be attached to the back of it. The one with three wires attached to it, without one attached to the stator post is for a car with an ammeter gauge, and, the one with four wires attached to it is four a car with the charge indicator light.

The ammeter gauge works in one of two ways. On a 66 model car, it will have a red wire that goes out to the hot side of the starter solenoid, and a yellow wire that splices into the black wire with a yellow stripe that also goes to the hot side of the starter solenoid.
On a 65 model car that came with either the GT package ( performance/image option) or the pony interior ( Interior Decor Group) the ammeter gauge doesn't actually have any wires attached to it. It has that big black wire with the yellow stripe passing through a metal loop which is attached to the back of the ammeter gauge without actually touching anything. If I didn't have any understanding at all about automotive electrical systems and was asked to pick which one of these two systems normally doesn't work, the 65 system is the one that I would pick, since there aren't any wires attached to the gauge. But, I would be wrong. The 65 ammeter gauges almost always still work forty plus years later, and the 66 ammeter gauges, more often than not, didn't work brand new. There is nothing strange about your 66 ammeter gauge not working. It's nothing personal. They treat everyone like that.

Mustang gauges 1965 and 1966

2008-03-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

This is the wiring diagram for the gauges on a 66 or a 65 that has either the GT (Performance/ Image Option) package or the Interior Decor Group, a.k.a. Pony Interior. What I'm dealing with here will just be the water temp, fuel and oil pressure gauges. The ammeter gauge is a free-standing, independent ststem that has absolutely nothing to do with the other three gauges. The gauges on your car make up a system that supplies you with some very useful information when it is working correctly, and is a very simple system to understand and repair. What you have is a dark green wire with a black stripe on it coming from the back of the ignition switch going to the instrument cluster voltage regulator. The ICVR takes the 12V from the switch and, by means of thermally actuated contact points, knocks the voltage down to about 6 volts. The reason that Ford did it like this was because they had all of these perfectly good gauges of a proven level of reliability that were originally intended for a car with a 6V electrical system, and, rather than redesign and manufacture all new stuff, they just used a voltage regulator in the system. The Borg/Warner part number for the ICVR is R302, and is available at any major auto parts store. Ok, now that we have gotten that out of the way, you still have that dark green wire with the black stripe going from the switch to the ICVR. On the other end of the ICVR you have a wire, still green and black that splits off to the three gauges. That wire plugs onto the what is the driver's side of the gauges when they are mounted in the dash. This wire brings power to the gauges. On the fuel gauge there will be a yellow wire with a white stripe that goes to the fuel sending unit in the gas tank. On the water temp gauge there will be a red wire with a white stripe that goes to the water temp sending unit, located towards the front of the intake manifold on a V8 and towards the rear of the cylinder head on a 6cyl. There will be a white wire with a red stripe going to the oil pressure sending unit, down near the oil filter. The wires going to the sending units work as a ground, with the sending unit itself determining how 'good' of a ground the gauge is getting.

If all three gauges are acting stupid on you, the problem is either the ICVR or the wire bringing the power to it. There is a dash to chassis ground wire that is hooked to the mounting screw of the ICVR, but that is what makes your dash lights and stuff go goofy on you. It doesn't have anything to do with the gauges.

If one or two of the gauges seem to be functioning normally and only one or two of them is having trouble, then the problem is almost always either the sending unit, the wire going to the sending unit, or the wire going from the ICVR to the gauge. Once in a blue moon it will actually be the gauge itself, but that happens so seldom that it really isn't even worth mentioning.

If the gas gauge is the one acting goofy the first thing that you want to do is to unplug the wire from the sending unit and, with the key in the 'On' position, ground that wire out to a suitable place on the car that isn't insulated from the rest of the car. The leaf spring shackles, for example, are in a handy location, but are completely insulated by the bushings. If the gauge pegs to full, the problem is inside the tank. The problem inside the tank is, far more often than not, the float isn't floating anymore. The brass floats cost like 5 bucks, whereas, a Ford sending unit costs nearly two hundred, and the repops cost about fifty and normally don't work. If the gauge does not peg to full, then the problem is either the wire going to the sending unit or the wire coming from the ICVR to the gauge.

If the water temp gauge is the one acting funny, again, ground the wire out somewhere and see if the gauge pegs. If yes, replace the sending unit. They also are cheap. If no, it's probably the wire going to the sending unit. People have the annoying tendency to cut that wire and then strip back both ends and tie the two ends back together. Don't do that. A brand new engine gauge feed only costs about twenty bucks, and you'll have brand new stuff that will work reliably for many years to come. If money's a bit tight, use some proper connectors of the male/female plug-in variety and wrap that to insulate it. All of what I just said about the water temp gauge is also true about the oil pressure gauge.

This isn't complicated. You can do this, and you can do it right.

Setting the points in your distributor

2008-03-30T09:49:00.001-07:00

Contrary to popular opinion, setting the points in your distributor is not a dark art. It is actually a very simple procedure. In the picture on the bottom, the point gap, circled in red, is closed and there is a yellow arrow pointing at one of the 8 ( or 6 on 6 cyl car) distributor cam lobes. In the picture on the top, the points are open and the point gap is indicated by the yellow arrow. After removing the distributor cap and rotor, and then installing the new points, rotate the crank shaft in a clockwise direction from facing the motor with a 15/16 socket wrench on the big bolt in the middle of the crank shaft pulley until the points are all the way open. With the two mounting screws loose enough to slide the points back and forth, move the points to the place where the gap is correct. On a 6 cyl car the point gap should be .024-.026 inches, on a 260 or a non-hipo 289 the point gap should be .014-.016 inches and on a hipo 289, or K code, the point gap should be .019-.021 inches. Then tighten up the two mounting screws. A hipo 289, the K code, is supposed to have a dual point distributor. On these, you do what you just did twice, as there are two sets of points in there instead of just one. The reason that the hipos got this type of distributor was because the motor was designed to run at much, much higher RPMs than the other motors, and in extremely high RPM situations, something called 'point float' can occur. That's when the points don't really close quite right and sort of hang around the outside area of their travel and flutter. Having two sets of points greatly reduces the frequency and severity of this happening.

Breaker point ignition systems have fallen into ill-favor in most circles, but personally, I don't think that they deserve this. A whole bunch of cars kept chugging down the road for a whole bunch of years running on breaker points. I have a pertronix unit in the distributor of my car, because they function consistantly until the day that they fail entirely, kind of like a light bulb, but I also keep a set of points and condensor in the glove box of my car, because that is something that I know for sure will work, and is a very simple swap, in case I have to do that on the side of the road.

Date codes

2008-03-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

Ford used a few different formats of date coding the parts on a 65/66 Mustang. On sheet metal parts, such as fenders, hoods, shock towers, etc... there will be a number that goes like 4 12 2D. The first number is the month, with this one being, as you might suspect, April. The next number is the day of the month. The next one is the shift that stamped this particular part, in this case the second shift, and the letter indicates the plant that produced this particular part. The D is Dearborn, MI. C would be Cleveland, OH. W is Windsor, Ontario. There is nothing to indicate the year on the sheet metal parts. The picture is from the floor of my car underneath the back seat and this part was stamped on May 21st on the 3rd shift in Cleveland.

On cast iron parts, like cylinder heads, engine blocks, etc.. the format is different. They go like 4M13. The first number is the last digit of the year, the letter is the month and the next one or two digits are the day of the month. The picture of the engine block shows a date code of 5L20, which is november 20th of 65. The picture of the cylinder head shows a date code of 9A9, which is January 9th of 69. On the letter designations a lot of people 'miscount' because they didn't realize that Ford did not use the letter I (eye) because it looks too much like the number 1.

The aluminium parts, like bell housings, some water pumps, etc.. Had a system that is a little bit weird looking if you are unfamiliar with how it works, but is actually pretty simple. There will be a two digit number, indicating the year, inside a circle that has some bumps around the perimeter. On a really, really nice one, it looks like a pie sliced into 12 pieces, but most parts haven't withstood the march of time nearly well enough to be able to see that. On this picture of the starter hump on a five-bolt bell housing, you will see the number 64, indicating, as you might suspect, 1964, and 4 little bumps. That means April, so this bell housing was cast in April of 1964.

Nothing to it.

The date codes used for the scheduled production dates of cars was simply a two digit number, indicating day and a letter indicating month. There is sometimes a little bit of confusion surrounding the letter designations for the 65 model production year. The sheduled production date of the first Mustangs were in march of 64, so the letters A and B weren't used then. They started with C for march of 64, going C-H for march through august of 64, skipping the letter I and using the letter J for september and going J-M september through december, jumped back to the letter A for january of 65, B for february of 65 and picked back up with Q for march of 65, and went Q-V for march-august of 65.

The carburetor tag will have a date code stamped on it which will have 3 digits, one number followed by two letters. The number is the year, followed by the month and then the week of that month. The one in the picture says 6CC, which would be 1966, march, the third week of the month. Sometimes you will see the letter 'E' as the last digit on the tag, which is the fifth week of the month. If the first falls on a friday, production for that month would have fallen across five different weeks.

The distributor date code is in the same format as the cast iron parts, except for it is stamped into the housing, instead of cast in, like on an engine block or cylinder head or something.

1965 Mustang wiring diagrams

2008-03-29T21:38:00.001-07:00

1966 Mustang wiring diagrams

2008-03-29T21:36:00.001-07:00

Fog light wiring

2008-03-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

Here is how you hook up the fog lights under the dash so that they will A) work like they're supposed to, and, B) not set your car on fire. The picture at top is the end of the tail light harness that is under the dash. The two prong connector is the rear turn signals and it is plugged into something that comes out of the steering column, near the rest of the wires that come out of the steering column for the turn signal switch. The three prong connect is plugged into a matching three prong connector that is part of the under dash harness. Unplug those two connectors in your car and plug in the two three-prong connectors of the fog light under dash harness ( middle picture) with the connector circled in red on the tail light feed plugged into the connector circled in green and indicated by the two yellow arrows in the picture of the fog light underdash harness. Plug the other connector circled in green into the three prong connector in the car's main underdash harness that is still just flapping in the breeze up there. The connector circled in red on the fog light harness plugs into the connector on the fog light switch. The long grey wire goes out through the firewall and the blue wire with the black stripe is attached to a little circuit breaker. The other prong of the circuit breaker has a wire ( supplied by you) that is attached to the back side of the ignition switch. On a real-live, factory GT, (which was what the fog lights came on) that circuit breaker would have been mounted on the big bracket that the pedals are hanging from. It needs to be mounted somewhere, though, and insulated, so that it isn't bouncing around, shorting itself out on stuff as you go down the road. Most folks mount it to the pedal bracket and wrap it up with some electrical tape.

!965 and 1966 Mustang horn wiring and troubleshooting

2008-03-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

Here is how your horns are supposed to be. The first picture is the wiring of everything horn-related that isn't right behind the steering wheel. The last picture is a new turn signal switch. This one is the switch for a 68. I used it because the only new switches that I could easily find were all 68s, but the part concerning the horns is the same as a 65/66. The arrows are pointing to the horn contacts in the switch. The one with the yellow arrow is the one supplying power to the horns and the one with the blue arrow is the one that takes the power from the switch out to the horns themselves. The third picture is the back of a steering wheel. This is an 85 crown vic steering wheel, but, again, the horn stuff is the same. One of the horn contacts on the turn signal switch is making contact with one of the copper rings on the steering wheel, and the other horn contact touches the other ring. On the front of the steering wheel, with the three-legged horn button removed, you will see a little metal 'finger' sticking out. That is in contact with one of the copper rings on the back of the steering wheel on the back and is in contact with the metal ring on the three-legged horn button. You will also see two contacts, each made of white plastic with a little copper contact on the front of the steering wheel, held onto the wheel with a screw. In this picture of the back of the three-legged horn button I have circled two contacts on it. When you push on the horn button, that causes one, or both, of the contacts on the horn button to touch the contacts on the steering wheel, completing the circuit and causing the horns to honk.
It is a very common problem for the contacts on either the steering wheel or the horn button to be worn down enough to either make very poor contact or no contact at all. To get your horns to work, first check and see if the horns themselves work by removing one, grounding the mounting bracket on the negative battery post and supply power to the connector on the horn with a wire from the positive battery post. If the horns work, check with your volt meter to see if power is getting to the horn end of the wire that is supposed to be supplying power to the horn with the button pushed. If yes, then the horns aren't making good contact with the radiator core support because of excess paint or something. If no power is getting there with the horn button pushed, you'll need to remove the horn button by pressing and turning the horn button counter-clockwise and it will pop off of the steering wheel. Take a little wire or the trusty screwdriver or something and groun one of the contacts on the steering wheel to that little finger sticking out. If that makes the horns honk, the problem is the contacts on the back of the horn button. If no, then you have to remove the steering wheel. Once you've accomplished that, take the screwdriver and and ground one of the contacts on the turn signal switch to the other one and see if the horns honk. If yes, then the steering wheel was not making contact with the turn signal switch contacts and when you reinstall the steering wheel, you need to make sure that it gets pulled down far enough to make contact by checking to see if the horns honk by grounding one of the contacts on the front of the steering wheel to that little finger. If no, then the yellow wire probably isn't supplying power to the system at all and you need to first check if the yellow wire is bringing power from the headlight switch. If yes, you'll be needing a new turn signal switch.

Turn signals

2008-03-29T01:33:00.000-07:00

Here is the wiring diagram for just the turn signals. How they work is power comes from the ignition switch to the signal flasher. From the signal flasher it goes into the turn signal switch and from there to the appropriate stuff on the left or right-hand side of the car. On a 66, or a 65 with the GT package, or pony interior, if only one indicator isn't working, like the left dash indicator for example, that is normally the bulb is burned out. Sometimes it will be a socket or a wire problem, but normally the bulb itself. On a 65, there is only one dash indicator light for both turn signals. That bulb has two wires going to it, instead of only one, like a 66. If an entire side isn't working, that will normally be a turn signal switch problem. If nothing works at all, start at the signal flasher to make sure power is both getting there and leaving there. If yes, you probably have a break of some sort in the wire that goes from the flasher to the turn signal switch. If the appropriate lights come on, but just don't flash, that is a bad flasher. Your car uses the flasher with the part number of 552, and is available at any auto parts store for nearly nothing.

Electrical problem diagnosis

2008-03-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hello. The electrical problems that your car might experience are generally not very complicated. The first step in figuring out how to fix the problem is to determine if there even is a problem. That might sound a bit odd, but I have seen many, many occassions in which someone was trying to fix a problem that didn't exist, so, first, find out if the car is supposed to be ' doing that' or not. The only tool that you will need, other than basic hand tools, will be a volt meter of some sort. Electrons flow, for all practical purposes, just like water. They need a place to come from, they need a place to go, and they need an unbroken path between those two places. Once you have determined that there is a problem with a particular system, you start at the battery and check with your volt meter for power all the way along the circuit until you find the kink in the flow. On electrical systems, the ground is the ' place to go'. A faulty ground connection can make electrical systems do all sorts of weird things, just bear in mind that extreme symptoms don't always indicate an extreme problem. Normally, on these cars, electrical problems result from either a failed component, like a signal flasher or voltage regulator, a ground connection that has gotten all corroded and funky-looking or a wire that has corroded or broken. You simply start at one end of the system and go through until you find the culprit. Intermittent problems, like headlights blinking out at bad times, are normally, but not always, the result of an ancient switch that just needs to be replaced. If jiggling something seems to be making something get better ( or worse) then whatever it is that you are jiggling is probably either the actual problem area or is attached to the problem area. It isn't rocket science on these cars. You can do this.