Flaming River Steering Column

Cougar Community Classic Cougar Maintenance Restoration and Repair
1

Upgrading my stock Column to Flaming River tilt column, having an issue with the wiring.

Wires from column to female connector has 10 wires.

  1. Yellow - horn power I read somewhere
  2. Blue w/ yellow stripe - also read horn
  3. White w/ red stripe
  4. White w/ light blue stripe
  5. Green w/ white stripe
  6. Green w/ orange stripe
  7. Green
  8. Red
  9. Orange w/ blue stripe
  10. Blue

However, the male end of the pin connector to main harness has 11 wires
1.Yellow connects to yellow pin from above
2. Light blue w/yellow stripe connects to blue w/ yellow pin
3.green w/ red stripe connects with white w/ red stripe pin
4. Orange w/ black stripe connects with green w/ orange pin
5. Orange w/ black stripe connects with orange w/blue stripe
6. Orange w/ yellow stripe connects blue pin
7. Red connects with light blue pin
8. Green to blank pin
9. Green w/ white stripe connects to pin that has light green and white wires (2 wires)
10. White w/ light blue stripe connects to white w/ light blue wire and violet wire (2 wires)

The flaming river harness I have to splice into has only 8 wires, this is the harness the vendor said was for the 68 Cougar

  1. Black - horn
  2. Light blue - LF Turn signal
  3. Blue - RF Turn signal
  4. Brown - hazard power
  5. Purple - turn signal power
  6. Yellow - LR Turn signal
  7. Green - RR Turn signal
  8. White - brake light lower

I’ve downloaded the wiring diagram, but am admittedly making best guesses at it.

Any help wiring this up would be appreciated!

2

No one ever done this? Flaming River tech support is running me in circles with an answer.

3

I believe I have come across a thread talking about the wiring on these aftermarket columns but cant remember where it was at now. By chance have you compared what they told you was correct for a cougar to what the mustang version is?

4

Thanks DieselD,
I looked at the forums as well, saw a lot of the same wuestion but never found “this wire to this wire”, so I thought i’d ask.

I did find this for the Ididit column, was afraid to gice it the oke college try, didnt want to be wrong and fry something.

Wiring for ididit Steering Column

https://www.ididitinc.com/files/pdf/1968-69_mustanginstallinstrrhd.pdf

5

Generally people have found the GM switch to be incompatible with Cougar sequential turn signals.

6

From your picture, it appears that this column is for a 1968 Cougar.
The 1968 Mustang turn signal switch wiring is very different from a 1968 Cougar.

Last year, I wrote up an application note for wiring GM switches into 1967 Cougars,
the wiring color codes for a 1968 Cougar is the same (see attached).
The turn signal switch wiring is fairly straight forward except for the 4-way flasher circuit.

The emergency relay, in the trunk, requires a 12V signal (when the flashers are OFF)
to connect the inner and outer lights. When the E-button is pushed in, this signal turns off.
The relay then disconnects the inner and outer lights, so only the center rear lights flash.
This feature is a requirement because the GM turn signal switches cannot handle eight 1157 bulbs.
If fact, a GM switch cannot handle the current load of four 1157 bulbs.
Based on the calls I’ve had, the typical GM switch fails within hours of installation!

The only way to make a GM switch last is to convert over to the WCCC Led bulbs.

The emergency relay control signal comes from the '67-68 Ford turn signal switch but is not available from a GM switch.
One solution is to recreate this signal by through an Emergency Signal Generator (ESG) circuit.
For 1967 Cougars, this can be done using 3 Bosch style SPDT relays, as described in the application note.
For 1968 Cougars, this circuit is much more complex because of the way the indicator lights are wired.
I have designed a circuit for the 1968 Cougars but it is currently not in production due to lack of demand.

However, if you run LED bulbs, on a 1968, you can connect up the light blue #514 wire to 12V all the time -
this will sequence the emergency flashers instead of just flashing the center bulbs.

Do not try this trick with 1157 bulbs - the excess current from running eight bulbs will fry the turn signal switch very quickly!

Also, the horn circuit must be converted to use the horn button to actuate a horn relay.
GM switches only have one horn wire - it is connected to ground when the horn button is pushed.
A 1964 1/2 Mustang horn relay or Bosch-style SPST relay can be used for this purpose.
GM Ididit switch in a 1967 Cougar V2.pdf (508 KB)

7

Wow! Fantastic write up and I really appreciate the response!

Let me make sure I got this right.

  1. Get the LED bulbs, then for the #514 wire, splice that directly with the 440 and 441 wire?
  2. Black wire on the GM harness is not used, I do not see it in the chart.
8

On a '68, the #514 light blue wire can be connected directly to switched, fused, +12V.
Only use this setup with LEDs!
If this trick is used on a '67 only one indicator light will work, thus the circuit with 3 relays must be used.

On a GM switch, the black wire goes to the horn switch, so it is used to connect the horn relay ground.

If you are using a Bosch-style SPST relay,
Black (on GM switch) → 85
Yellow (on Cougar harness) → 86 and 30
Blue/Yellow (on Cougar harness) → 87

9

a wire for wire diagram would solve this issue

10

#514 lt blue wire is where

11

Open Vics doc, it is on there.
Light blue is on the steering wheel.