Turn Signal Switch Testing

Recently, I had a situation on my 68 convertible where the Left Rear tail light night marking lights would work but not the turn signal or brake light.  In my case the issue was traced to being a combination ground and short in my left light assembly.  My tail lights house Scott Drake analog sequential turn signal modification so they're a bit more complicated than factory but the debugging is pretty much identical.

In a nutshell, the turn signals and brake lights are managed via the steering column turn signal/hazard/horn switch assembly.  There are plenty of other sites and various forum threads that describe how these switches work but none that really went over the testing of the switches.  But what if the switch is actually good but the issue is wiring before or after the switch?  What if the issue is like mine where the tail light housing was the culprit?  These switches are near the $100 mark so how do you keep from burning one out after another?  In my case, the tail light housing burned out the original switch and then a repro switch before I understood how to trace the issue back to the rear of the car without risking another switch.  So, here's a test method for testing the switch once you remove it from the car.

First I'll go over the 7 most important wires that feed to and from the switch.  Here's a diagram provided by Scott Drake for their repro 68 switch (PN 13341-5a):

The 7 lines that we are going to examine are:

White w/Blue: Right Front Signal OUT
Green w/White: Left Front Signal OUT
Green: Brake IN
White w/Red: Emergency flasher IN
Green w/Orange: Left Rear Signal/Brake OUT
Orange w/Blue: Right Rear Signal/Brake OUT
Blue: Turn Signal Flasher IN

Testing The Switch

Note that we have 3 lines IN and 4 lines OUT.  We're going to check continuity between the various IN and OUT lines so you're going to need to use the continuity function of a multi-meter (that's the one that beeps when you touch the two leads together).  Remember that for these tests, the switch is out of the car and all lines disconnected.

First, let's test the brake line connections.  The brake line is the pure green wire (no stripes). The contact on the switch for BRAKE is circled in the picture below:

Make sure that the turn signal rocker is centered and the emergency switch is out and place one multi-meter lead on the metal end post circled above and the other lead on the cable ends of the following wires:

Green w/Orange: Left Rear Signal/Brake OUT
Orange w/Blue: Right Rear Signal/Brake OUT

Both wires should cause the multi-meter to beep or show continuity.  In normal operating mode the brake line input should always be connected to the rear outputs.  If either output fails to indicate continuity, the switch is bad.

Second, let's test the turn signal connections.  The turn signal flasher line that feeds all turn signal outputs is the pure blue wire (no stripes).  The contact on the switch for SIGNAL is circled in the picture below:

Make sure that the signal rocker is centered and the emergency switch is out and ensure that the blue wires have continuity to each other by placing the tip of one of your multi-meter leads on on of the terminals circled above and one lead on the other terminal circled above.  The multi-meter should beep or display continuity between the terminals.

Next touch one lead of your multi-meter to either of the terminals circled above and the other to the cable ends of the following wires:

Green w/Orange: Left Rear Signal/Brake OUT
Orange w/Blue: Right Rear Signal/Brake OUT
White w/Blue: Right Front Signal OUT
Green w/White: Left Front Signal OUT

None of the lines should indicate continuity in normal operating mode.  If any of them shows continuity with the emergency switch out and the signal rocker centered, the switch has a short and is bad.

Next, ensure that the emergency switch is out and the turn signal switch is rocked clockwise (or the direction required to indicate RIGHT turn).  Touch one multi-meter lead to either of the terminals circled above and the other to the cable ends of the following wires:

Orange w/Blue: Right Rear Signal/Brake OUT
White w/Blue: Right Front Signal OUT

Both of the lines above should indicate continuity.  If either or both lines do not, the switch is bad.  Conversely, touch the other multi-meter lead to cable ends of the following wires:

Green w/Orange: Left Rear Signal/Brake OUT
Green w/White: Left Front Signal OUT

Neither of the lines above should indicate continuity.  If either or both lines do connect to the blue terminals circled above while the switch is set to RIGHT turn, the switch is bad.

Now, flip the signal switch rocker counter-clockwise to the LEFT turn signal position and perform the following tests with your multi-meter:

Green w/Orange: Left Rear Signal/Brake OUT
Green w/White: Left Front Signal OUT

Both of the lines above should indicate continuity.  If either or both lines do not, the switch is bad.  Conversely, touch the other multi-meter lead to cable ends of the following wires:

Orange w/Blue: Right Rear Signal/Brake OUT
White w/Blue: Right Front Signal OUT

Neither of the lines above should indicate continuity.  If either or both lines do connect to the blue terminals circled above while the switch is set to LEFT turn, the switch is bad.

The final test of the switch assembly is the EMERGENCY flasher.  The emergency flasher wire is the white with red stripe and is the input terminal on the switch circled in the image below:

To test the Emergency flasher start by ensuring that the turn signal rocker is centered and the emergency switch is pulled out.  Place one lead of your multi-meter on the terminal circled above and the other lead to the cable ends of the following wires:

Green w/Orange: Left Rear Signal/Brake OUT
Orange w/Blue: Right Rear Signal/Brake OUT
White w/Blue: Right Front Signal OUT
Green w/White: Left Front Signal OUT

None of the lines should indicate continuity in normal operating mode.  If any of them shows continuity with the emergency switch out and the signal rocker centered, the switch has a short and is bad. Conversely ALL of the lines above should indicate continuity with the turn signal switch centered and the emergency switch pushed IN.

Now What?

Okay so you've confirmed that the switch is good OR you've confirmed that it's bad and have purchased a repro switch and confirmed that IT's good.  Now, how do you debug the system after eliminating the switch as the problem AND if your old switch was bad, WHY was it bad?  Worse yet, did a short in your system burn it out (as happened to mine)?  If your front or rear lights are burning out switches, it could cost you mint and a lot of time before you figure out what it is.

So, I'll describe the process I used to solve my issue and hopefully, something similar will help save you some time. 

The first thing I did was install the switch in the steering column but I left the steering wheel off.  Make sure your switch doesn't contact the metal housing of the steering column anywhere that it's not supposed to and that includes the horn contacts.  Some after-market steering wheels may crush into the switch assembly and short it out so make sure your steering wheel clearances are good before continuing and that your horn contacts aren't bottomed out if the wheel is installed.  There should be a bit of distance between the steering wheel horn contact rails and the turn signal switch assembly with the exception of the spring-loaded horn contacts which should make connection with the steering wheel horn rails.

After ensuring mechanical function of the switch after being installed including the emergency switch bezel and the turn signal lever and the wires run out the back of the steering column housing, plug the signal switch wiring harness wires into the harness connector with the exception of the following lines:

Green w/Orange: Left Rear Signal/Brake OUT
Orange w/Blue: Right Rear Signal/Brake OUT
White w/Blue: Right Front Signal OUT
Green w/White: Left Front Signal OUT

This will isolate the various feed wires from shorting something out in the switch again.  If you're sure about the function of any of the lines above, go ahead and plug them into the harness connector and leave the questionable line(s) isolated.  We can run the same tests that we ran above except we will be running the multi-meter on DC Voltage test mode instead of continuity.  Place the black lead of the multi-meter on ground and place the red lead at the end(s) of the wires that were left out of the harness connector.  For me it was the wires:

Green w/Orange: Left Rear Signal/Brake OUT
Orange w/Blue: Right Rear Signal/Brake OUT

I used the red multi-meter lead on the ends of the wires above against ground.  With the car's battery hooked up, I could test the function of the brake, signals, and emergency against the OUTPUT of the wires from the switch by applying the brake and looking for a constant 12V signal on the multi-meter.   Testing the right/left turn signal with the ignition key set to Accessory, the multi-meter will display a kind of a weird millivolt and then a quick 10V or 12V indication for just a fraction of the second as the signal relay clicks on an off.  The same type of signal will be seen when the emergency flashers are activated by pushing in the emergency switch.  These tests would also be useful at the onset of debugging a signal/brake issue but you would disconnect the switch harness connector from the dash harness connector and remove the suspect wires as indicated above and then reconnect the switch harness connector.  There is a special tool that can be used to pull the wire ends out of the harness connector.  You can make one with a 5/32 piece of brass tubing.

If one of the connected tests fails, perhaps the issue is at source of the INPUT signals to the switch, e.g. - the brake light switch or the emergency or turn signal flasher lines.  Otherwise, if the connected tests are successful and you see voltage on the OUTPUT wires where and when expected, it's time to trace the lines back to the trunk or forward to the fenders.

An Example Wire Trace

This example is how I tested the wires that ran from my under-dash wiring harness back to my tail lights.   I first wanted to ensure that the wires are not shorted to the chassis somewhere between the dash and the trunk.  I first had to isolate (unplug) both ends of the line by removing the signal switch harness connector from the dash harness and unplugging the left tail light housing from the trunk harness.  This left the Green w/Orange wire disconnected all the way to the back.

I then used an alligator test lead  with one end clipped onto pin 8 of the under-dash signal harness (see first picture of this blog entry) connector (the dash connector, not the switch connector), and the other end clipped onto one lead of my multi-meter set again to continuity.  I then touched the other lead of the multi-meter to a chassis ground point and was rewarded with no beep (no continuity).  This indicated to me that my tail light harness wiring itself was not shorted.  Further testing involved then touching the other lead not to ground but to each of the other pins in the harness connector to ensure that the subject wire wasn't fused into another wire on the harness which can happen in extreme cases of wire over-heating where the wire insulation melts or burns away but does not necessarily short to ground.  This test was also negative.

This is good news but just because it's not shorted doesn't mean it's connected all the way to the end.  So the next test was for a break in the wire.  The best way to do this is test for continuity from one of the Green w/Orange wire to the other end.  Since one lead of my multi-meter was already attached to pin 8 of the dash harness, I just needed to run the other lead to the end of the wire that's in the trunk.  This was accomplished using a "jumper" wire.  That is, a wire extension from the second lead of the multi-meter to the left tail light signal wire connector in the trunk.  The use of a 10' long strand of extra wire I had laying around and another alligator test lead made this possible and I confirmed that the wiring did not have a break or a short so I was good to re-connect the Green w/Orange wire back into the under-dash harness while leaving the tail-light disconnected as I had found my likely culprit.  I pulled the left tail light assembly from the car and rebuilt it while checking for bulb issues, shorts, and adequate grounding.  When I reassembled the tail light, I was able to test it before installing it by connecting it and leaving it laying on the trunk floor.  The tail light proved functional again and did not burn out the new switch.

I hope this helps somebody else at some point.  Thanks for reading.

Update 03/12/2024

By request, I'm posting this image of the back-side of the switch to help people trace wires that don't follow the Scott Drake color coding scheme:

 

 

Life On the Road - 2015

I've been quite the blog-slacker during the past year-and-whatever.  I even don't have any really good excuses other than just living life, driving Ol' Rusty, and working on other projects/hobbies.  I mean, it's not like your just sitting there, clicking the refresh button every few minutes, anxiously awaiting another riveting post about your favorite internet car noob, right?  Right?  You HAVE?  Seriously?  Wow, I'm speechless.  I had no idea.  I really feel terrible now.   Well, then you're going to be even more disappointed in this rather insubstantial drivel that I'm about to unleash on the unsuspecting cloud, that henceforth can never be removed from the virtual wasteland that is "the internet" (much like an errant Kardashian selfie).

Since my last blog entry, Ol' Rusty has logged 4,400 miles.  Mostly back road drives on weekends,  after work, and several smaller shows and cruises.   However, there has also been a few more substantial memories which I will share with you now.

September, 2014:

We try to take a drive on the Old Columbia Gorge Highway once a year, this year we took it in Ol' Rusty and weren't disappointed by the weather, the scenery, or the experience.  We stayed on back roads (Hwy 212) all the way from our house, up to Troutdale, OR, and onto the Historic Columbia River Highway.   We visited each of the historic sites along the route such as Multnomah Falls,  the many other water falls, and the historic Vista House.  We continued winding down this narrow, flashback to a simpler time beneath the reddening maple branches and along the Victorian style ornate concrete guard rail until we reached the end of the historic leg at which time we exited onto the bustling I84. We then drove up I84 to the Bonneville Dam where the Federal guard joked that he may need to confiscate our car to which we chuckled, nervously.  After touring the facility, we continued East through The Gorge to the small town of Cascade Locks, OR to get ice cream at the Eastwind Drive-In.   After we stuffed ourselves, rolled back onto our feet, and bottomed out the shocks on the unfortunate car, we drove back West on I84 back towards Portland, and home.  There are few drives more beautiful than this and I strongly recommend the experience with or without a classic car. 

A view from the parking lot of Vista House

The WHOLE family.  The fuzzy one is "Angel".

A look at the damn.. err dam.

October, 2014:

Later in October, we joined our club, the Mustang Wranglers, for the annual "Fruit Loop Tour" cruise.  The area around Hood River, OR is known for its many orchards and agriculture.   In the month of October, during the Fall harvest, the various orchards and farms open to the public.  The Mustang Wranglers gather up a parade of cars and drive this Fruit Loop route stopping by several choice orchards and pumpkin patches for the hording of much produce.  It's amazing how much harvest can be stored in the trunk of a Mustang, like the cheeks of a squirrel preparing for Winter.

Parked among the apple trees.

A farm.

Another farm.

July, 2015:

It seems that the most memorable events we've attended were made possible by our membership in the Mustang Wranglers club.   The Wranglers get invited to some pretty spectacular stuff, and, by extension, so do we.

The 2015 Oregon International Air Show at the Hillsboro, OR airfield was an incredible opportunity to park our Mustang on one of the runways as an additional attraction for the air show.  In doing so, we got a front-seat view of the performances.  Although the temperature on the tarmac was 95 that day, we were able to setup a canopy to hide under to try to stay cool.  This particular air show included performances by the Blue Angels, Lucas Oil Jump Team, The Red Tail Squadron, the C-130 "Fat Albert", and many other stunt performances.

Sitting on the tarmac.

Watching a "hammer head" maneuver.

Mustang Love.

September, 2015:

The 6th Annual Cruise to Historic Downtown Oregon City was a fun car show where several square blocks of the downtown area of Oregon City, OR was filled with various cars.  The Mustang Wranglers took over one street of an entire block.  It's a relaxing event with lots to see as you walk around the town, chatting with other car enthusiasts and visiting the quaint local stores and restaurants.

Classic grace among modern muscle.

Mmmmmm...

March, 2016:

Fast forward to March 18, 2016;  The date of the 60th Annual Portland Roadster Show at the Portland Oregon Expo Center.  Again, the Mustang Wranglers were invited to take part in an amazing event, this time setting up a Mustang display in a huge, historic show of primarily high-end vehicles.  We were lucky enough to be chosen among the six cars to participate.   Guests of the show included Chip Foose and Dave Kindig.  It was at this event in 2010 that I met Foose and received a signed jacket (for free) and "Jack" from Gold Rush in 2014.

Our club met up in Hillsboro, OR on the preceding Wednesday and then drove as a kind of a group to the Expo Center about 20 miles away.  I say "kind" of a group because it's really hard to stay grouped up on heavy traffic on Hwy 26 into downtown Portland but we all got there at fairly close times.  We setup our display and then I hitched a ride back home with our awesome club President, Dan.  We went back to spectate on Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, and then, finally, on Sunday afternoon to drive Ol' Rusty back to the ranch.  We didn't meet any celebrities this time around but it was a really cool experience and it was great to get to park in the vendor lot with a three-day vendors pass.

There were so many great cars there that I can't post all of the 140 pictures I took.  I'll just share some of my favorites.

The Wrangers display

Ol Rusty standing proud with her high-end buddies.

A Foose creation

There's just never quite enough horse power.

I loved this 38 Cabriolet.  Watch those speed bumps!

Such a cool little bus.  Isetta-like front and a hunched stance.

The Bat Mobile before Batman was cool

What more can I say?

I loved this car mostly for it's ornamental "easter egg".

So, those are the highlights of our year.   I've ordered the parts to install my freshly-rebuilt AOD transmission.  We'll catch you up again soon I hope.

Update 4/6/2015:

The temperature in April climbed into the high 70's today which was pretty rare.  So, I loaded up the family to take a top-down drive to get dinner at the Dairy Queen in Canby, OR.  My wife suggested we take the Canby Ferry which is a ferry service across the Willamette River between Wilsonville and Canby.  We pulled onto the ferry behind one other vehicle; A late(er)-model Porsche Carrera.  After the ferry got under-way whom should extricate himself from the little car but a rather large, bearded, man who looked very familiar to us.  "Oh my God, it's Todd Hoffman", I muttered to my wife.  He got out of his car and followed the ferry operator into his cabin for a few minutes, presumably for a crash course at ferry driving.  When he was finished, he came out and asked what year Ol' Rusty was.  I answered his question and asked him one of my own; If he would have the time for a selfie.  He agreed, we took the selfie, and parted ways.   Oh and the Dairy Queen Bruschetta sandwhich was delicious!

Todd Hoffman stars in Discovery's Gold Rush TV Show (if you didn't know)

It's All About the Concours of Course.

My club, The Mustang Wranglers, was invited to the 42nd Annual Forest Grove Concours d'Elegance to represent "50 Years of Mustangs".  I was asked to represent the classic convertible body style so I jumped at the opportunity (free admittance!).

We started out by waking up at about 4:00 AM so we could meet the club at the staging point at around 5:00 AM.  For my wife and I, it was a 30 minute drive.  After everybody had arrived at the staging point, we drove as a group (more of a parade, really) to the show site another 20 minutes away.   As we pulled into the Pacific University campus, they directed us up a narrow sidewalk between two buildings where we played a large game of "Car Tetris" to fit the 12 vehicles into the venue that was assigned to us.  Later on a pile of Porches arrived and were situated between us and the entrance.  This show was also representing the 50 year anniversary of the GTO for which THEY got to be placed in the main show grounds just up the hill (harumph!)

Between 6:00 AM, when we arrived, and 8:00 AM when the show starts and then 4:30 PM when we were officially allowed to leave, it made for a long day.  However, once our club placed our lawn chairs in a large Pow-Wow circle and BS'd and started answering attendees questions, the day actually went fairly quickly.  Also, there was food and a LOT of cars to look at.

Separate from us and up in the main show area, there were the Judged Mustangs which were either very original and thus concours by nature or beautifully restored concours cars.  The winner of that category, which included 64.5 - 72 Mustang.  That's right, ALL body styles and builds in one 8 year span.  The winner was a gorgeous 1967 Shelby GT-350 (which wouldn't start when came time for him to drive to the winner's circle.  LOL!)

The show had pretty much wound-down by 3:30 with many of the show cars having packed up and left so we dropped the ropes and snuck out as well.  All in all it was a fun time and we're proud to have been a part.

It was a bit chilly in the morning so top was up.  I dropped it around 8:00 AM.

Other representatives included 2 1969 Mach 1's, a gorgeous 1968 fastback, and a very original 1964.5 coupe driven by it's original owner.

And then 8 more later model Mustangs including Boss 302, Cobras, Saleens, and others.

This is the collection of judged Mustangs.  The winner was that red convertible Shelby in the background.

This was my personal favorite judged car.  A perfect 67 GT convertible.

One of the stars of the show was this 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900, designed by Touring

Just breathtaking.

Try not to notice the bored millionaire in the background.

New Shoes/Problem/Near Death Experience/Success

One of the most contentious chapters of the restoration story of Ol' Rusty was the retention of the original wheels and hub-caps (white walls out!).  Honestly, I liked them.  I thought they gave the car a nostalgic olde' fashioned feel.   I had received some positive comments on them from strangers but maybe those were more like the polite comments of passers-by about an ugly baby, "Oh, he has the most impressive ears and the crossed eyes give him an aire of mystery!"

Regardless, I've always had new wheels in the plans for the old girl but after visiting the local Les Schwab for a quote and coming out with a $1600 heart-stopping response.  They didn't sell 14" wheels that I could use with my existing tires so of course that meant a whole new set of tires AND wheels 15" or larger.  Now, I like slightly larger wheels as much as the next guy but am not a fan of anything larger than about 17".  Regardless of my personal tastes (or lack thereof) the guideline I've followed with this build has generally centered around originality and, above all, budget.

For the past couple of years, I had strongly believed that I was limited to larger wheels due to the largish 11" front OEM style rotors; that 14" wheels wouldn't fit them.  After discovering VMF user Dodgestang's wheel guide, and after reading several threads regarding wheel fitment, my conviction regarding wheel size receded into the realm of myth.  It was stated by several well-known experts in the area of Mustang wheels and brakes, that pretty much any wheel manufactured in the past 30 years will fit OEM discs.

One fine day CJ Pony Parts had another of their famous 20% off sales and what should be included in the sale but a set of 14" Wheel Vintiques Magnum 500 wheels in a kit with center caps and lug nuts for $599 with free shipping.  How could I pass that up?  The kit was actually a pair of 14x6 wheels for the front and 14x7 wheels for the rear.

About a week later, the wheels arrived on my doorstep.  I called my local Les Schwab tire center and set up an appointment for that evening to drop the new and old wheels off to be switched over.  Before doing so, however, I felt the extreme need to open one of the 14x6 boxes and test-fit the new wheel on my disc brakes.  Sure enough, they fit perfectly and didn't rub any part of the steering or disc assembly but the whole story wouldn't be told until the tires were mounted.

Boxes and boxes of shiny goodness

Does it fit?

Yep, seems to fit!

A bit more confident in my purchase, I threw the 4 old wheels/tires and 4 new wheels in the back of the SUV and dropped them off at the tire shop.

While the wheels were away and the car was up on jack stands, I took the opportunity to fix an issue that had cropped up during the past couple of weeks.  I had noticed a tiny puddle of oil under the rear right tire when I backed out the garage.  I wiped it up, took the car out for a drive, and parked it again.  The puddle had returned, with the unmistakable odor of gear oil.

Now, replacing an axle seal isn't really that big of a job.  The problem is the mess it leaves behind, the brake shoes were completely soaked as well as the entire brake assembly.  It all had to come out and be cleaned up or replaced.  I ordered two sets of Raybestos 151PG Professional Grade Drum Brake Shoes and a new 9569S Seal.  Why two sets of pads?  Because I was taught by the old man that brake pads/shoes should be replaced equally on both sides.  Why the 9569S seal?  Because that's the correct seal for the 8" open rear diff with 28 spline axles specifically 1.365" x 2.264" x .4375".   If you accidentally buy the seal for the 7.25" rear diff, it will look very similar but actually .0485" larger OD and will eventually fail.  Ask me how I know.  No, I didn't accidentally buy the wrong seal, I was SENT the wrong seal and failed to confirm the OD before installing it.  I felt something was wrong (look for the quote, "Those seals were very difficult to drive in and have a kind of concave look to them. Honestly, I think the repro seals from NPD are a few thousandths too large OD") but decided to put my faith (and ignorance) into it it instead of correcting it.  Fast forward a few thousand miles and there I was, staring back into the void of an axle housing tube.

I really didn't encounter any problems with the seal swap as I had removed the 4 nuts that hold the axle bearing retainer allowing the whole axle to slide out of the housing.  Once removed the brake shoes were a cinch to remove, clean up, and replace.  The old seal was popped out with a slide hammer and the new one driven back in with a seal driver and finally, the whole she-bang re-assembled.  The other side just required the shoes to be replaced so I repeated the process with the wheel hub in the way that time.

.

Uh-oh, that's not good.  A black spot of trouble.

Yep, it's fatal.

Four nuts hold the axle shaft in.

.

Axle removed

See.. that don't look right...

I shouldn't have left it like this when I refurbished the rear diff.

The new seal.  It's narrower than the original.  We'll see if it lasts.

Looks like it fits better.

New brake shoes.

Axle installed with cleaned-up drum

Ready for the wheel.

Finally, I could install in the new wheels.  I put the 14 x 7's on the back and the 14 x 6's on the front and gave them a snugging with the air hammer and ensured that they rotated fine with the tires on the wheels (they did!).  I dropped the car off of the jack stands and checked the clearance again while I popped the new center caps over the hub.  I wondered to myself, "How do they looked out in the daylight?"  I jumped in the car and back out onto the driveway to take a look.  Nice!  I called my wife out and said, "Want to take a test drive?"   She got her coat and off we went... see anything wrong yet?   If so, I wish you would have called me!  If not, it's okay, I didn't either...

We got about a half mile down the road with the radio on and the wind in our hair and my wife reaches over and turns the radio down.   This bums me out a bit, is she just getting too old for a good tune on an evening drive?  I begin to protest and she says, "Sush!  Do you hear that 'thunking' sound?".  I listened... and I did.  Ooohhhhhh..... crap.  My blood ran cold and the hairs stood up on my neck and I started muttering expletives while s..l..o..w..l..y.. turning into the nearest parking lot.  Yup, you guessed it, the friggen wheel was LOOSE!  Clunkity... clunkity... clunkity... with every rotation.  I grimaced with every 'clunk' as I got her pulled into a parking lot and let out a huge breath while I set the brake.  The right front wheel was very slightly askew.  I pulled the jack and lug wrench from the trunk and lifted the car up at each wheel to push the wheel back to the hub and friggen tighten that son-of-a-gun down.

I was so thankful for having my loving wife at my side at that time, you'll never know.  Thanks again Kelly, sorry  I tried to kill us Hon!  I came > < this close to going onto the freeway so she very probably saved our lives.  After I was sure that each wheel was secure, we continued our test drive without any more drama.  The new wheels look great and ride is very smooth.  We're very fortunate that no damage was done during my brain fart.  I know this is common-sense stuff but I hope others will remember this and laugh at my stupidity while they torque their wheels down.

.

Ohhh... sssssexy.  Whitewalls IN this time.

This story has a fairly happy ending, however, because that weekend we took Ol' Rusty to participate in the Mustang Wrangler's 37th Annual All Ford Show and Swap Meet.  This is an event that my club puts on once a year and although we're not allowed to judge, we can enter and be judged by the public and members of other regional Ford clubs.  We were honored to received 1st Place in 67-68 Convertible Mustang class.  The trophy is in the shape of an old visible gas pump and serves as a liquor dispenser.

Winner winner chicken dinner!

What to fill it with?

I don't know if it was the new wheels or just luck but I think I now see why some folks buy the wheels before they even begin to fix up the car.