A few years back I tore a bunch of stuff out of an '86 Taurus before it was scrapped. Went down last night to see what electrical parts there were. Found this light switch which I think will work great for the cobra. The wiring swap will be simple as the pins are identical so you can just use a small screw driver to pop them out of the two connectors. A simple push will insert the Mustang pins into the Taurus connector. Most of the wires are even the same colour code. It's is a rotary switch with 2 positions (park and lights). The knob in the last picture is from a '97 Cavalier heater control unit (consider it a Chevy tribute to Randy J). So that the knob points up when off and to the right when on, it will be mounted upside down. It will have to be mounted back a bit in the dash but that should be easy to do. I'll post showing the wiring pin outs once I have confirmed them. Any comments?
Hi Jerry,
The Taurus actually uses a very similar dimmer to the Mustang with the same connector (plug and play). I'll probably mount that up under the dash out of site. Still have to figure out what IP lights I'll have though.
dv/dt-
The Taurus solution is a nice one! I would like to replace the Mustang light switch under my dash with this one. I am very interested in the schematics etc.
Best regards,
Chuck
Hi Chuck,
Here is what I came up with. The LB/R and BK wires from the Mustang switch are for it's internal light and are not used on the Taurus switch which does not have an internal light. So just 4 wires to swap over which only took a couple of minutes (no cutting required). Both diagrams are looking at the connector from the switch side (same convention as the Haynes manual diagrams).
Note that I am not sure if the Taurus switch ran the headlights directly or if it used a relay. As such, I do not know if it can take the load of running them directly which is how the Mustang is wired. I planned to use a relay in the headlight circuit and drive it from the switch anyway so I will still go with that plan.
dv/dt - I'd have to agree with DMW. I'm at the identical point in my build ... I went to the junkyard today and picked up an '89 and '93 Taurus headlight switch (identical switch and wiring, though the '89 has the tabs for mounting, as yours does). I installed the switch today (4 minute cutless job, as you described) and I am not running a relay. All lights work perfectly. Hope this helps some others.
yohappa, great to hear that it works! I'm still a little ways from powering up anything so confirmation is nice.
ChrisH and Rickster, I was thinking billet but I am looking at using some of the controls from a Cavalier (tore one apart for spare parts a couple of weeks ago) for my heating system so the knobs would match up this way. If I can find some billet ones for those then I may go that route. What knob you use will dictate the orientation of the switch so you would want to figure that out first.
Not sure what heating system you are using, but if it's the Vintage Air then you could use Prodigy's knobs on all three. Great set-up either way. Wish I'd seen this earlier! I have the Painless wiring harness, so wiring would be a little tricky to figure out, but I like this much better than the plunger style switch I am using. Might have to think about switching (yuk,yuk) it over.
Duh...just re-read your last post. You are using the Cavalier controls for your heater.
ChrisH, the wiring shouldn't be difficult at all. Here is a generic diagram:
The upper Batt+ feeds the headlights (16 gauge fuselink) and the lower Batt+ feeds the park, instrument & license plate lights from a 10 Amp fused circuit that is a branch from the upper Batt+ feed.
Rod,
I scored two switches at the local "U-pullit" and got two of the 97 knobs-all for $17.50US.
I will install the switch in my new dash when I get it.
Thanks again for the tip!
Best regards,
Chuck
i got it in. now i want a dash mount hazard switch I picked one up today from the JY off an infinity Q45. Just need to find how to mount it since my dash has long since been padded
brown is running lights. what are you guys doing for a round hazard to match the light switch?
Dave
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Factory Five Racing Forum
3.3M posts
50.6K members
Since 2002
A forum community dedicated to Factory Five owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, racing, conversions, modifications, troubleshooting and drivetrain. We discuss MK4, GTM, 818, Type 65 coupe, roadsters, and more!