[StaryNghtAngel]

1965 289 v8...

I recently attempted to fix the nightmare that was my wiring harness in the engine compartment. Whoever the previous owners were it seems kind of did their own thing when it came to the wiring. I purchased the headlamp feed and engine gauge feed wiring harnesses and have replaced them following wiring diagrams to the "t". Long story short my car wont start...I have triple checked everything...I am left with two wires coming out from the tranny area...(coming from the neutral safety swicth??) They are black w/ purple stripe and white with purple stripe. I can not find these color combos anywhere in the wiring manuals....Also I believe my car does not have the correct gauges possibly...according the diagrams for the gauge connections...things just dont add up...for instance there were two thick solid orange wires attached to the amp gauge..ran thro the firewall directlty to the solienoid. Is this normal? Ive seen these wires no where listed either. Are there supposed to be wires connected under the solienoid with a bolt and taped together...wires such as the black w/ yellow stripe that supposed to be connected to the solienoid??? according to the diagrams anyway. Any help would be greatly appreciated and pictures of the same engine with correct wiring would be a god send...hopefully I have been clear and made some sense enough to get some help maybe. Thanks in advance...Cali girl missing her stang!!

[v8only]

try bypassing the neutral safety switch for the time being by disconnecting it at the firewall under the hood, and putting a metal jumper or wire of some sort between the cables coming out of the firewall. that would be my first step

[Icerat]

I agree with Jeremy, I would try bypassing the neutral safety switch. You have a manual? the auto has a blue and red wire I thought but that is not really important. The plug at the harness should be a red two prong rubber with one male and one female bullet connector about midway across the firewall. Try jumping those two together with a piece or wire or something similar and see if it will start. Also, I am assuming it just won't do anything when you said it won't 'start' and not that it is cranking but not firing.

[Veronica]

Hello. Those two black wires with what appear to be purple stripes are for the back-up lights. There should be a switch mounted to either the floor near the shifter or the shifter itself if it's a manual transmission car, or, attached to the side of the transmission where the shift arm is attached if it's an automatic. If you could answer a couple of quick questions, it would really help out.

When you pulled the instrument cluster out was the bottom edge of the hole that it fits into straight across the bottom, or, was there a downward dip in the middle of it, where the speedo goes?

Is this car an automatic or manual transmission?

Would it be possible for you to post a picture of the wiring behind the instrument cluster and a picture of the back of the instrument cluster itself?

[StaryNghtAngel]

First off thanks for the replies. I will take some pics and post them of the instrument cluster, I do belive it is not the correct one for this year possibly. The car is an automatic, I knew I forgot something. Pics will help Im sure..will post soon.

[Veronica]

Hi again. If you have the 5-dial instrument cluster, that was only used on cars that came with pony interior or with the GT package in 65, so, it is possible that it's actually right for your car, but, if the alternator gauge has a couple of wires sticking out of it, it isn't all that likely. Some pictures of the areas that I mentioned would sort that out. Since your car has an automatic transmission, it should have a neutral safety switch on the side of the transmission which will have four wires coming out of it. Two will be the black wires with what appear to be purple stripes which are for the back-up lights, and the other two will be red with blue stripes. There should also be two two-prong connectors sticking through the firewall to the passenger side of the master cylinder, which is where the wires from the neutral safety switch plug in. You could by-pass the neutral safety switch by running a jumper wire from one side of the firewall connector to the other side, and that will probably get your car started, but, it is never a great idea to by-pass components that have words like Safety, Hazard, emergency, and such in their name. Here's a picture of what you're looking for.