Progress Thread 1978 Mustang II Rallye Overhaul (302, C4, T-Tops)

LILCBRA · Jan 22, 2025

It used to irritate me, now it's just annoying at most. For the most part, the only people that really say anything negatively are on the interweb - we all know how that goes! There are WAY too many armchair car "experts" or whatever. A lot of them only spew what they've been told, and a lot of times they're wrong. I generally ignore them, but every once in a while I'll troll them for and grins. It's been a LONG time since I've heard anyone give negative comments when I have the car out, though. The usual comments are "I had one of those back in the day" (or they knew someone that did), "That sounds good!" or "Nice car!" followed by someone wanting to buy it. The way I see it is that those who can only say anything negative are either jealous for whatever reason or they're just plain ignorant. In any event, f-em - I don't need their negativity in my life.

As for fabbing some frame mounts, I don't think it would be all that hard really, you'd just need the tools and equipment to get it done. Or you could go the route that @78 Mach1 did with his Cleveland swap: https://stangnet.com/mustang-forums/threads/351-cleveland-swapped-mii.926215/ There are a lot of ways to skin that cat.

As for r/r'ing the wiper motor, I can only speak from when I did mine - I had my car completely stripped down so I had uninhibited access. I remember thinking that I was glad that the dash and everything was out....

balaseca29 · Jan 26, 2025

That's pretty much what I had guessed. I think the kids call such people "Haters" lol.

I'm gonna give @78 Mach1 's thread a good read through.

I did find out that I need to replace my radiator. Otherwise fuel system and brakes are now working and the motor runs fairly well. Once I get a rad to put in it, I'll do the timing and set up the carb and she may just be driveable. My new gauge cluster housing should be here in a week, so I'll be putting all that back together. I think that electrical stuff is gonna be the biggest worry on the car (until I get into vacuum stuff) and that will hopefully just mostly be annoyance.

balaseca29 · Feb 7, 2025

So, the current conundrum is the brake lights. Replaced the switch, and replaced the fuse. I'm getting voltage to the wiring for the switch (not much, but some). Absolutely nothing happening at the tail lights though except turn signals and normal tail lights. Does this circuit run through the cluster?

LILCBRA · Feb 7, 2025

balaseca29 said:
So, the current conundrum is the brake lights. Replaced the switch, and replaced the fuse. I'm getting voltage to the wiring for the switch (not much, but some). Absolutely nothing happening at the tail lights though except turn signals and normal tail lights. Does this circuit run through the cluster?

I don't think it runs through the cluster at all. It may be a ground issue somewhere though. Or, I suppose it could be an open wire somehere in the brake light circuit. It's been a short 20+ years since I've had mine apart, but from what I remember, the tail light harness can be separated from the rest of the car. That may not be a bad idea to find that connection and test the circuit's continuity. It should also help in finding and ensuring you have a good ground back there, though it kinda sounds like that may not be an issue. I'd suspect it shares the same ground as all of the other lights back there.

extra_stout · Feb 7, 2025

Did you remove the light bulbs and check for corrosion on the contacts? That was the issue I had at my car, which was parked for 20 years...

balaseca29 · Feb 7, 2025

The reason I ask is that my tail lights are absolutely fine, it's just that they don't light up for the brakes. The wiring diagram I have has part of the circuit from the switch going to the cluster (which is slightly confusing).

LILCBRA · Feb 7, 2025

balaseca29 said:
The reason I ask is that my tail lights are absolutely fine, it's just that they don't light up for the brakes. The wiring diagram I have has part of the circuit from the switch going to the cluster (which is slightly confusing).

If I had to guess, that's most likely for a warning light. Didn't really think too much about that part of it all.

The diagram in the back of my Haynes manual has a LG-R wire coming from the fuse panel location F-8 to the switch. Then, it's LG all the way to the tail lights, then the bulb (obviously....) and black to ground.

These are the 78-specific schematics, but I looked back at the 77 as well and the wire colors were the same. I didn't confirm ALL of the different schematics in the book, but I imagine they're wired the same. Let me know if you want me to look at the others.

nickyb · Feb 7, 2025

Thank you for your service to our country, and welcome aboard this crazy train called stangnet.

balaseca29 · Feb 8, 2025

That tracks fully, thanks @LILCBRA. Those are the right wire colors, and I guess I'll be chasing that wire around the car. Haha

extra_stout · Feb 8, 2025

Is the brake light switch itself working? As far as I remember correct its sitting where the brake pushrod is connected to the brake pedal. You can remove the connector of the switch and bridge it with a cable... Than you know if its still a wiring issue or the switch itself.

extra_stout · Feb 8, 2025

Thats what the brake light switch looks like

balaseca29 · Feb 8, 2025

extra_stout said:
Is the brake light switch itself working? As far as I remember correct its sitting where the brake pushrod is connected to the brake pedal. You can remove the connector of the switch and bridge it with a cable... Than you know if its still a wiring issue or the switch itself.

Yeah, the switch is fully functional. Its brand new, and I did jump the two connectors. I've gotta pull the interior panels anyways to paint them, so I'll just check the wiring.

balaseca29 · Feb 8, 2025

Upon using my brain for once, I decided to see if either side was grounded, and guess what... the LG side is grounded somewhere. So, it looks like I get to chase it around the car and find out where, then fix it.

balaseca29 · Feb 14, 2025

Well, I've decided that I'm going to skip gutting all of the wrapped wiring going back to the tail lights and just run a new wire from the switch to the lights. I'll wrap it to the existing harness with some wiring loom tape just to keep things neat. I figured that that would be a more efficient use of my time.

My new gas tank and sending unit should be here tomorrow, and therefore I will have the car legal to drive and actually able to drive on the road!

Next question is reverse lights. Not sure if its a grounded wire from the reverse light/neutral safety switch, or a bad switch, but they get ZERO power when the shifter is in reverse. Which is more likely, in y'all's opinion?

LILCBRA · Feb 14, 2025

Most likely an open wire. If I had to guess, it'd probably be in the same vicinity of the open brake light wire.

balaseca29 · Mar 1, 2025

@LILCBRA - It's looking like that.

Anyone have any clue why the only gauge that works is my fuel gauge (new sending unit)? New body ground, new circuit board for the cluster...

LILCBRA · Mar 2, 2025

My only guess would be that you have more wiring issues somewhere. Cut wires in the dash or elsewhere? Maybe the connector is bad/worn out? Bad sending unit for the water temp? Or maybe one of these guys is having a heyday....

balaseca29 · Mar 2, 2025

I mean, all the lights work, just not the tach, water temp, or charging gauge...

LILCBRA · Mar 2, 2025

Well, the tach has it's own harness, so it's probably something somewhere in that specific circuit. If I had to guess, it's probably not hooked up to the coil as it should be. Let me know if you need me to snap a pic of the diagram and I'll share one later. The temp gauge not working is probably the same, either not connected to the temperature sender or a bad wire somewhere. And, imo, the ammeter never really did anything anyway.... lol

balaseca29 · Mar 2, 2025

Awesome. I've got a Haynes manual to look at the diagram. I'm currently running fuel line, so it'll be a bit before I tackle the wiring under the hood again. Good news is that she runs fine at least. Body ground solved some of my issues with electrical.

Progress Thread 1978 Mustang II Rallye Overhaul (302, C4, T-Tops)

LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

balaseca29

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balaseca29

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LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

extra_stout

balaseca29

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LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

nickyb

I gotta say i never painted my nuts, Never Ever

balaseca29

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extra_stout

extra_stout

balaseca29

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LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

balaseca29

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LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

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LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

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Progress Thread 1978 Mustang II Rallye Overhaul (302, C4, T-Tops)

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