Midlife

Easy enough to do...all one has to do is to ask for it, but I will need the underdash harness to extend the dash cluster wiring. Back to the original poster's problems: here's another example of why the circuit boards need to go bye-bye and an alternative method of wiring the dash cluster (hint hint... http://1969stang.com/forum/index.php?/topic/53089-doing-away-with-the-dash-cluster-circuit-cards/).

Yeah, but I think what everyone else is referring to is *shudder* FaceBook.

FB = fastback

What socket was that? I don't recall one with a green and a tan wire, let alone a socket with interchangeable pins that go to the front.

PM sent.

Do a continuity check from those white wires to the alternator plug and other pins around it; if you can find where at least one end of the wire goes, the wiring schematic will tell you where the other end goes. Or...you can send everything to me and I'll fix it right up for you.

Oh Gawd...I know about this. Sometime during the middle of the year, Ford changed the wire colors. Just get the electrical assembly manual or the wiring diagrams and go by the pin locations in the VR plug and to the alternator. Be careful: there are two basic designs: one for a tach dash and another for the standard dash. Don't mix them.

Check your dimmer switch.

Oh...that's tape on the two large female bullets, not a splice/junction. My bad.

Well now...one of those large female bullets has a wire splice down its wire. And looking at the second picture, it appears that wire doesn't come out of the wire bundle in the center of the grommet but from the bottom! So what's really going on here? I dunno. At first, I thought this might be a 70, where there's a second large female (third if AC) for the carb solenoid, but that molding is white and the wire is a greyish blue. If this is a 69, then I think someone added an extra line, perhaps for a resistor wire bypass? One needs to examine the passenger side of the firewall to see what's truly going on here.

That green wire with the black plug looks very similar to the AC clutch/compressor signal line. What's unusual is the black trace on the wire near the firewall side. The other plug is your PRNDL signal. The NSS/Backup light switch plugs into a four prong square plug: two black/red wires and two red/blue wires.

Well, you know with advanced age, you forget about a lot of things one thought of long ago...

Hmmm...one could slip contact pins beneath the existing cluster pins, but how to keep them in place? RTV? Ugh...

By Gawd, Danno, you're right! I looked at my schematics and the wires are tied together inside the MC line and are grounded whenever the shuttle goes left or right. My humble apologies for thinking you were wrong.

I'm not sure that tying the two purple wires together at the MC will work. That will essentially take the MC brake switch out of the circuit. What might be effective is routing the ignition power line to one side of the dash cluster light, then take the other side and route it to the MC brake switch where it would be grounded if the MC is bad. That's a significant wiring change, though.

Almost always inboard.

There's two brake sensor switches: one for the brake lights located at the brake pedal, and another for failure of the master cylinder.

That's perfect! Thank you! I don't care if the gauges work or not, as I can replace most of them with 65/66 versions to test if the wires have integrity. I believe you have my address. If you have the circuit card, send that along, as I can use that to double-check where everything goes.

I'm sure those of you who own 69 and up Mustangs have experienced problems with the dash cluster circuit card: broken traces, poor contacts, etc. I have had customers go through 3 reproductions before they have found one that worked. Enough is enough! I asked myself: can the dash cluster be hard-wired with a multi-pin connector? Someone provided a 71 dash cluster for me to work on. Here's what the back of it looks like with the flexi-card on it: The desire is to minimize modifications and make a new harness plug-n-play. There's no means of using the existing connector with the rounded contact tips, so a new connector pair must be made. There are 14 lamp sockets, and these are 1/2" holes, not the standard size for 1895 or most 194 bulbs. I found a wired replacement socket and went to town. Here's what the final product looks like: And here's my testing of the entire assembly using a 12V power supply: The dash lamps are lit, believe it or not. The diffusers are what suck up the photons. For 1971-73, I can build the dash cluster harness and a pigtail for those who want to splice their own wires for $100. For the same amount, I can add that to your existing harness. I need to find a 69/70 dash cluster to use as a template, so if anyone has a beater laying around, let me know.

I think they are really called "quarter panel burn-out debris prevention flaps".

Now then, can someone plant a very fertile money tree in my back yard?

Don't you just hate those flexible circuit cards? I know I do. I'm working on a feasibility project to convert 69-73 dash clusters to being hard-wired with a different connector type than the stock one, as those curved contacts are another source of problems. If everything works out, everything should work with your existing cluster without a circuit card and only the underdash harness' dash cluster connector needs to be changed. I'm shooting for a price point comparable to the cost of a circuit card. Stay tuned...I'll know a lot more in about 1-2 weeks.

OK. Sorry, but I cannot help you there. Replacing only the grommets and keeping wires intact with no splicing is nearly impossible.

What heater wire grommet are you talking about? I'm not familiar with that one at all...I presume it is not part of the main underdash harness.