Mike7447

It kinda blows my mind that there is so much redundancy built into the interior. W/o that “ knee guard” the dash looked complete to me. Adding that thing increased the depth required to get that switch installed properly. However, considering that cover is made out of steel, and isn’t padded, I’m not convinced it’ll serve any purpose in insuring my knees don’t get hurt in a wreck. Bottom line here is : problem solved.

Thanks I will.

I’ve since purchased a really hugh 40mm spacer for the rears to make up for the stupid deep Mustang backspacing. The 18x8 wheel for the S550 mustang has a 6.25” backspacing, and by my calculations, the factory rear 16x8 Starion wheel is 4.25. Says to me that I need to move that wheel center out 2” to keep everything happy.

It’s the one that’s been dangling since I removed the dash

It’s mounted in the surround hosing. It still hits that metal piece before I can even snap the thing in that hole.

how am I supposed to get this thing in there with the metal “ missing a screw bracket thingy” behind there. the steel thing in the background with the screw hole won’t allow the switch to fit in the dash. It hits well before even coming close. Can someone please explain why this is happening? What am I missing here?

sooner or later, it usually does. Problem is, on this particular project, seems there’s a lot more “ later”.

Which electrical schematic allows me to control f? I have been using an actual service manual for all of my schematics.

Well thanks for that… I decided to buy a used one from Steve Sutherland, as well as a few other clips and assorted doo-dads. In reality, I could give a rats red bunion hole if I’m not able to flash someone prior to passing them, but for 25 bucks used, I figure WTH…I prefer to actually have the completed circuit as opposed to a janky single wire jumper.

Well,…almost had an anurism trying to reinstall that dash, 3 times on/off before I could actually bolt it down…..and by the third time, I was ready to have a stroke. The first time was all too easy. The thing almost slid into place. *but the wires for the clock and daylight sensor were dangling, and impossible to fish into place. The second time was not so easy, but when I finally got it into place, I attempted to plug the wires in for the AC control panel after it was up there, and panicked because there are actually 3 female sockets on back of the panel, and there were only 2 male plugs available. I couldn’t find the other, and assumed that I had managed to somehow bury the other male plug behind something else, so off it came again. * There’s only two male plugs dedicated to the AC control panel, the other is for some kind of test port. The final time, ( after removing the AC panel from the front of the dash) I installed it, I did it w/o the steel braces at the bottom, (which makes it easier to install).. but trying to put those steel braces back in place with the dash up there left me cussing loudly and repeatedly. Turns out, my electric power steering motor mount did create an interference issue after all. Had I tried to install the dash with that brace in place, I would not be writing this right now. * I would have committed Seppuku with a Sawzall blade. The brace had to be cut to add the needed clearance to clear the steering motor mount bracket and the controller. It’s up there, but if I ever have to take it back off…. I’d hate to be me. The other side, which should’ve been a breeze considering there was no steering column to deal with, simply wouldn’t go in. I ended up cutting it in half, and making a reinforced backer that allowed me to bolt it in two sections. i love this car.

From what I’m seeing, the wiring for the ac compressor circuit is coming from there, as well as the water temp circuit which is tied into part of the activation protocols for the compressor, and the OD, and kick down relays ( at least that’s the way I see it.) I isolated that wire, and will ground it.

Well…. Im retired. This car is my “job”. Every morning, I go into the garage at 9am, and work on it relentlessly till the trend of the day at 5-6. Sometimes, I’ll take a lunch break, sometimes I’ll just work thru till the end…dragging my a-ss up the stairs at the end of the day wiped out. Some days I’ll hang my head, cause the car kicked my a-ss,….other days( like today), I’ll come up with a little smile. Knowing that it was my foot that did the a-ss kicking that day. Today was one in the “ Mike wins” column. The interior is wired. Everything that I can think of has been accounted for. Gauges, Audio, Boost, Afr….. I put the carpet back in. You probably cant see it from this pic, but there are no factory connectors going to the gauges. Weatherpack connectors are now there. You can see the electronic power steering motor and its controller under the column. If you’ll look to center, you’ll see the external crossovers for the component 5.25 speakers up front that’ll be under the head-unit. I also have component 6.5’s in the rear factory location. Kinda up in the air on whether I try and start it w/o the dash in place, or just put it all back together and pray.

I had a 347/tr3550 combo back in 2005 that I drove the hotrod powertour. The car was fine at speed and in light traffic, but stop-n-go was pure hell. I had a universal fit aluminum radiator mounted in front of the saddle, and whatever electric cooling fan that was available at the time sucking air thru it, (probably 16” diameter). I tried a diy shroud, but that didn’t seem to help much. today you can fab up some pretty strong dual 12’s that’ll pull a lot of cfm if you haven’t already, and even put a 14-16” pusher on the other side for traffic if you’re not already. That is how my current car is done, but I have yet to drive it to offer testimony as to how it works.

Just to make sure I’m not wasting anyone’s time here. * from my other post concerning the passing relay: I figured out my headlight issue. #1. I am an idiot. i had the male headlight harness plugged into the wrong female socket. unfortunately, I managed to kill the passing relay while trying to bypass junk. if all this thing does, is raise the headlight doors and allow me to flash someone I intend to pass, then I can forego using it. It appears a new one is about 100 bucks. i know I can jumper headlight function simply by combining the blue/red, and the blue/yellow wire that goes to this relay and get the 95% function that I need, and when I decide to cough up a hundred bucks, unplug that jumper,I just want to be sure that’s all it does.

I figured out my headlight issue. #1. I am an idiot. i had the male headlight harness plugged into the wrong female socket. unfortunately, I managed to kill the passing relay while trying to bypass junk. if all this thing does, is raise the headlight doors and allow me to flash someone I intend to pass, then I can forego using it. It appears a new one is about 100 bucks. i know I can jumper headlight function simply by combining the blue/red, and the blue/yellow wire that goes to this relay and get the 95% function that I need, and when I decide to cough up a hundred bucks, unplug that jumper,I just want to be sure that’s all it does.

What is a PMU? I’m currently using a MS3 pro mini to control the engine. * Edit, just googled it. Power management unit. why this instead of a complete rewire? I had a 1987 car that I spent 40 hours wiring on, but the car had a v8 that ran on its own ecu as well. I have all kinds of handwritten “notes” in the service manual where I was hacking into the wiring harness to make the headlights and power accessories work, but don’t remember if I actually fully re-wired it. At this juncture, I’m getting really close to doing that… the relays, that talk to relays, that talk to relays is just crazy.

I do the same thing with the schematics and have the entire 3 page flow chart from the ecu all taped together. the headlight circuit ground source looks to come from the headlight switch itself. I’m gonna cut into the two wires that are supposed to be ground, and tee a 14 ga. Wire. I’ll ground that to the column mount.

Well, just like cancer, when you think you’ve got rid of it, the more you dig, the more you find. The rot I’m currently fixing revealed itself to extend all the way into the actual bottom of the door jam…,previously fixed with fiberglass reinforced filler. I don’t know whose work this was, but I suspect it was from the last guy that owned it. The guy who sold it as an original survivor, or the previous one. And while my fix involves cutting out that rot, and replacing it w/20 ga steel, my level of metal repair skills and the tools required to fix it when it involves multiple contours, is woefully inadequate. it’ll have new steel there, it just won’t be anywhere close to perfect. Body filler to the rescue.

The problem is…. They neither fit well, or look decent. A short, bent, rubber stub does not look better than a completely hidden mast, (where if it was up to me, would better serve its purpose sunk in its hole.(( I mean who even listens to FM anymore???) ).

I’m going crazy trying to determine the issue. Dash is currently out, but I’ve got the cluster switches and multifunction switch plugged in. the passing control relay under the dash is plugged in. The instrument panel is unplugged, and cannot be plugged in, I’ve hacked it up to customize the instrument cluster. the issue is when I turn on the headlights, the doors raise, but no headlights, or passing control pop-up. Interior lights, hazards, running and tail lights work. ive checked 44x it clicks. I’ve pulled the passing relay, and jumpered the pin to simulate operation, again 44x clicks. I’ve ckd the fuses, and continuity on the fusible link for the headlights, all is good. when I probe the three pins on the headlight socket with it unplugged, there is 12v on one pin. When I plug the headlight in, there is 12v on all 3 pins. I am missing a ground signal. I’ve ckd that lug at the ground area on the passenger side inner fender wall, removed it, cleaned the area, and made sure it was tight. i don’t know how or where this circuit flows to eliminate or bypass a damn relay. I am at a loss for where the ground signal even comes into the circuit, and why there is 12v on all 3 pins after I plug a headlight in. if I turn on the fog lights, ( they don’t work) but with the headlight plugged in , and if I probe the pin on the headlight that should be ground using my test light, the fog lights come on… going crazy here….ive looked at that headlight circuit diagram so many times, I can almost see it in my head.

Whatever it is… the pop ups work. The tail lights, interior lights and marker lights work,…no head lights, no fog lights, brake lights or turn signals. There is 12v on all three pins of the headlight socket when the headlights are turned on. I will fix this!

Sigh…. I guess I’m updating this purely as therapy for me, although everything I’ve ever heard/read, talking to yourself isn’t supposed to be heathy. Still messing with the wiring. I’ve got something going on in the headlight circuit. When the headlights are plugged in, the ecu buzzes, and they don’t light up, and courtesy lights on the doors go out. Unplug the headlights, and the buzz stops and the courtesy lights come back on. Clearly there’s a short somewhere. Granted, I cut all of the wires that came out of the passenger side strut tower, and along those lines, should not have a short, but should instead be an incomplete circuit. im figuring it out though, I have a complete 87 service manual, and as stated before, I am “that” guy. So far, I’ve found the main ecu ground that’s part of that batch of wires I cut that isn’t grounded. Maybe that will make my headlights behave, I’ll know soon enough. The AC circuit wires are also there too and I’ve reconnected that too. I figure that whichever temp sender wires that need to be grounded to make the AC, OD and kick down relays work will get terminated at the same point as the ECU main ground. That is all.

Ha ha…The one thing I remember saying to a friend that owned a shop was that I was amazed that he was in business. Thinking that all “ car guys” knew ( or would learn how) to do the stuff he charged them to do. Turns out, there’s a lot of people that would rather pay to have one rather than learn how to make one. Today I spent hours trying to figure out how to band-aid the old factory wiring harness to where it’ll do what it needs to do, to control the headlights and AC now that I’ve cut the engine harness out of the system. The wife came downstairs and saw all of the “ guts” hanging out, and she said you’ll never get this going again… Ive been married 40 years., I asked her when have I never got a car running again? she went back upstairs.

I’m 67, and I’m very familiar with what happens to a car doomed to life in a rust belt state. I should’ve known better when I was bidding to buy this thing. The listing stated the car had spent its first two years in Ohio and had “ surface rust” behind the two front wheels…..I figured maybe that’s all it’ll be….😒 That turned into complete lower front fender apron replacements. Although I can “ manage” to do do this kind of repair, I freaking hate all of grinding after tediously tack welding a billion little spots, while all the time worrying about warpage, and grinding the metal to paper thickness. It is what it is when you’re a cheapskate like me…or a glutton for punishment, one or the other. or both.

In my case, 2 years living in Ohio. I used to live in Omaha back in my early years, so I am no stranger to what kind of havoc exposure to salted roads can do to a car, but up until now never had a timeline. when I bought the current CQ, the fact that it had lived the majority of its life in Arizona made me overlook the first 2 years it spent in hell. ( read that: Ohio) This is what’s left of the left rear quarter apron. This is the rough cut after removing the lower skirt on the driver’s side.. Annnndd..this is what had become of the wheel well lip, all of which was filled full of body putty in an attempt to hide this mess. Ordinarily, this woulda/shoulda been on the passenger side of the car, due to its constant exposure of curb slush, but the passenger side of the car was “normal”. The tale of the tape best I can see/tell was that the car sustained a small amount of front quarter panel damage that caused a separation of the inner wheel tub from the outer quarter panel, and dude drove it through a couple of winters in Ohio that way. And give Ohio, Nebraska, Michigan, Indiana, or any other rust belt state two whole years to leave crud somewhere where a pressure washer will never get to it… Sweet home Alabama. fortunately for me is that I have modest metal fab skills, I feel confident that I can fix this….repair pics to follow.