66 mustang issues

[ricanstang]

ok so heres the scoop other than my turn signal indicators everything else on my dash does not work, not only that but there is a short somewhere cus my battery keeps dying, so in order to patch things up to get my car running theres a few things that i want first. first of all my speedo doesnt work, which i imagine is all mechanical and should have nothing to do with my electrical issues how hard is it to get it fixed and ive never doen anything like that so i dont even know where the speedo gear is, im guessing in the tranny somewhere?

also in order to prevent my battery from dying and get it running for the time being until i fix it for good i was thinking of putting a battery disconnect switch that waywhen i park it i can disconnect the battery and it shoudnt drain my battery right???? oh and im pretty sure the alternator is good since once i jump start the car the lights work just fine.

my other issue is that i want to at least get the temperature gauge working and i have no idea of what to look at.

it doesnt have a tach but i have an aftermarket one i am going to put in soon but judging by the instructions it seesm pretty straight forward, but my question for that is what is a safe rpm to have it max at for a 289 engine, i dont want to over rev it and break something.


anybody know these answers, trust me they will be greatly appreciated.

[hotrodredneck]

dont go over 5K.....trust me on this..remember what I did to my 65..let me go to the gym and I'll do some research

[mustangman68302]

there should be a voltage regulator on the back of the guages, it will be a small metal box with a couple of prongs on it and thats probably whats bad and causing your gauges not to work try replacing that and they should work
also check for any grounding out wires while you have the instruments out

for the speedo first check the cable going from the gauge to the tranny and see if it broke in half or something, if it looks fine then at the tranny where it goes in there should be one small bolt holding it on undo that and it should pull right out and there will be a gear on the end of it, if it not striped try turning the end that goes in to the speedo and see if the gear turns if not then the cable is broke inside, if all that is good then its the speedo its self

with the battery how old is it? because the battery its self could be bad and it will work fine once its strated but wont start the car its happened to me before
if you got any ?'s just let me know i hope this helps

[my86gt]

to check to see if your speedo cable is broken, once you have it disconnected from the back of the speedo pull on the cable. if it broken it will pull out if its not it wont pull out.

[ricanstang]

ok now i know what to do with the speedo, ill also check that voltage regulator. however i already looked for frayed wires and didnt find anything. now the tach should be simple right? is there anything that the instructions dont tell u?

and since i bought the car not too long ago im not sure how old the battery is but im pretty sure its shot. im going to buy a new one and put a battery cut off switch hopefully it keeps it from dying overnight.

[hot95]

I mhave the same problem wih my battery in my 95. Your idea with the battery kill switch will work fine.

[hotrodredneck]

it will work fine to stop the batt from draining, but it still wont fix the issue!! Ricanstang, Are you still having the issue with the fuse blowing? Did you look at all the stuff that whats his name on MS told you to look at? Like the door switch and all?

[ricanstang]

it will work fine to stop the batt from draining, but it still wont fix the issue!! Ricanstang, Are you still having the issue with the fuse blowing? Did you look at all the stuff that whats his name on MS told you to look at? Like the door switch and all?

i know it wont fix the issue but at least that way i can still move the car around and stuff. and yes i looked at all that and didnt find an issue so now im trying to figure out a work around until i get it in the shop:awsome:

[hotrodredneck]

here is one to try....run the car and use a volt or multi meter to see what the voltage is at the batt. it should be arounf 13.5 14 volts (ish) then shut the car off, disconnect the batt completley and see what it is....see if it drops below 12 and keeps dropping while its unhooked. if so you know the prob. for the batt at least

[ricanstang]

while it is running i get around 14 i havent tested with it completely unhooked cus i didnt see the reason for it but i guess i could check it out.

[hotrodredneck]

the reason is you can tell if you have a bad cell in the batt.

[ricanstang]

well i bought a new batt and a disconnect siwtch, its started right up, well had to play with the gas for a lil but u know what i mean, question thou, if u unhook the batt while its running isnt it supposed to stay running? i unhooked it and it ran for a few seconds and then died does that mean my alt is bad? or is that the way its supposed to be?

[mustangman68302]

if you have anything running of your batt. like you distributor or coil or something it would make it die.

is all the wireing original or have things been changed around? if so what?

[ricanstang]

if you have anything running of your batt. like you distributor or coil or something it would make it die.

is all the wireing original or have things been changed around? if so what?

i dont know i didnt rebuild it... i bough it while i was deployed.

[mustangman68302]

does any of the wiring look like its newer or added on?
is there any other small wires coming of the batt.?
or wires not in a harness?
do you have a pic of the engine?

[mustangman68302]

oh and another thing is your radio wired to your batt. for power
if it is that to can drain your batt.

[ricanstang]

does any of the wiring look like its newer or added on?
is there any other small wires coming of the batt.?
or wires not in a harness?
do you have a pic of the engine?
nothing at all coming from the battery except the 2 main wires that i can see, and a lot of stuff loks, well not new but replaced. heres the pics of the engine
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n100/santiago_d_j/Picture248.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n100/santiago_d_j/Picture251.jpg
oh and another thing is your radio wired to your batt. for power
if it is that to can drain your batt.

theres nothing connected straight to the battery at all and i have the disconnect switch now too.

[mustangman68302]

it all looks wright the only thing i can think of is those wires coming from the distributor or maybe the way the the ignition is wired

but you really need to rebuild your carb. its got alot of fuel coming out around it

[hotrodredneck]

yeah it does.....


also, yes you are right Rican the car should run with the batt disconnected. But you already said you were getting 14 volts at the batt when it was running. what about now?

[ricanstang]

yeah it does.....


also, yes you are right Rican the car should run with the batt disconnected. But you already said you were getting 14 volts at the batt when it was running. what about now?

well i put the new batt in and the disconnect switch last night and it started great this morning obviously it doesnt fix the problem but itll do for now.

ill check it running again and let u know

after the fight with the fuses i finally got it in without blowing them and my dash lights work, the gauges dont but the lights do, i think i need to replace my headlight knob cus now when i turn on my turn signals well theyre acting up and i was moving the headlight knob back and forth and they would come on sometimes, so im going to replace that.

how i said ill recheck the voltage and ill get back with u guys and thanx for the help so far.

[hotrodredneck]

I would also search for a voltage regulator for the gauge cluster. Sean @ ACM has the best deals known for Scott drake parts...and they ROCK!!

[mustangman68302]

before you go and buy a new head light switch check and make sure its not just some lose wires going to it

[hotrodredneck]

that too....the one that made my stuff go nuts was the turn signal switch

[ricanstang]

I would also search for a voltage regulator for the gauge cluster. Sean @ ACM has the best deals known for Scott drake parts...and they ROCK!!
will do
before you go and buy a new head light switch check and make sure its not just some lose wires going to it
isnt the headlight switch fairly cheap? if so id rather get a whole new switch so i dont have to worry abou tit.
that too....the one that made my stuff go nuts was the turn signal switch
mine aint doing much better.

[mustangman68302]

cjponyparts.com has the switch for $22
thats about what it cost everywhere
but on wed. or fridays they do free shiping on internet orders

[ricanstang]

autozone had it for like 15, so i bough tit, and an alternator, and the starter solenoid, installed everything except the alt, its being a pain and i cant get the bottom bolt to nudge

[Sgt Abn]

i cant get the bottom bolt to nudgeI hate it when that happens. I'm glad to hear you were able to find some of the parts locally. That does make it easier.

[hotrodredneck]

youre gonna love doing the turn signal switch.............LMAO


If you are not electrically inclined, I suggest you find someone who is. and make sure you put the steering wheel back together right.....oh ****, speaking of steering wheel....does your horn work? the ring on mine was shorting out and popping fuses too...I just now thought if that while typing

[ricanstang]

youre gonna love doing the turn signal switch.............LMAO


If you are not electrically inclined, I suggest you find someone who is. and make sure you put the steering wheel back together right.....oh ****, speaking of steering wheel....does your horn work? the ring on mine was shorting out and popping fuses too...I just now thought if that while typing

no my horn doesnt work im going to have to install a separate switch for it cus i put a new steering wheel on and all the old stuff in there from the old one started falling apart. and i replaced the headlight switch and my turn signals started working again so im going to leave it alone, now i have to get the voltage regulator for the gauges and check the speedo cable, and hopefully everything works after that. oh and the ****ing alternator

[hotrodredneck]

make sure the horn wires arent whats grounding and popping the fuse too

[jcp123]

My horn didn't work from the wheel. Turns out the contacts were just fried at the wheel, so I installed a separate switch under the dash. Works great!

Since all the other q's have been answered pretty thoroughly, I'll get at the redline: I wouldn't go past 4500. 5k is the physical limit of what your motor will withstand, but at about 4000-4200rpm, you reach your HP peak, and beyond that you quit producing any really usable power power. When I was at the dyno, the first pull we went to 5k, the next I quit at 4500 when we realized that any more than that was wasted revs. In any case, the automatics on these shift at 4400 when you nail it, which is just about perfect.

[ricanstang]

My horn didn't work from the wheel. Turns out the contacts were just fried at the wheel, so I installed a separate switch under the dash. Works great!

Since all the other q's have been answered pretty thoroughly, I'll get at the redline: I wouldn't go past 4500. 5k is the physical limit of what your motor will withstand, but at about 4000-4200rpm, you reach your HP peak, and beyond that you quit producing any really usable power power. When I was at the dyno, the first pull we went to 5k, the next I quit at 4500 when we realized that any more than that was wasted revs. In any case, the automatics on these shift at 4400 when you nail it, which is just about perfect.

thanx for the info. i just bought a carb and intake so once i get that installed ill installed the tach and set the shift light around 4100, im sure ill shift lower thant that since i barely ever floor that car but this way if i do ill know where my max is.