Girl needs help with 87 Mustang LX 2.3 Liter problems

[chromatic_chic]

Man! Where do I start? I had this same exact car, same make, model, color, convertible 10 years ago and loved it like a baby. Just found another one, bought it, and not one month into owning this car, it's having some gnarly problems. I really want to get more into fixing everything myself, but the fact is I'm a girl and I'm still kind of naive when it comes to anything past changing the tires, oil, thermostat, and other basic stuff.

Here's my list, I hope someone will be able to have a field day with it.

1) Transmission. I don't know whether it's the linkage or the tranny but something is going. When I kick the car into reverse, it almost always jerks into gear. Rarely, it doesn't feel like it catches at all, and will just act like it's in neutral. If the car hasn't been driven in a couple days, I'll start it up, give it a few minutes to warm up and then drive. The problem is that after about a minute or two of driving, she'll act like she's in neutral. I'll pull over and put the car in park, wait a second, put it back in drive, and no problem. This has only happened twice so far but it's really scaring me. Same exact thing started with the old car, same way, and well, $1,234 later I had a rebuilt transmission in it. Any ideas? I was 17 when I got the other tranny, and I these guys might have taken advantage when it may have been a lesser problem. I dunno.

2) Weird turn signal problems. When I bought the car, they all worked, albeit a little slower than usual. Now, my driver's side turn signal works, but only the inner light blinks. Checked the other bulb today, it's not blown but it won't even light up.
The passenger side turn signal (both lights) just stay lit when the turn signal is deployed. I have to manually flash it (almost funny). I can hear the clicking noise when the driver's side one is on, and like I said, the one (1) singular bulb does work, but the outer one doesn't at all. My question is: Am I more likely looking to replace the flasher, or the switch in the steering column? Any troubleshooting that might help solve this problem?

3) The Gauges. Oil, and battery both seem to fluctuate, or bounce up and down in rhythm sometimes, this is just bizarre. You can hear the oil gauge 'ticking' while it bounces, sounds electrical. My battery is brand new, and I check all the fluids religiously.

I need a mustang savvy boyfriend... any of you gear head guys interested in a hot, single 27 y/o blonde?
Yeah I'm stressing.
I love to fix things myself, but this is just out of my area of expertise.

4) Not power steering. Hating the fact that I have to drive down what appears to be a goat path of a road in downtown Pittsburgh to get to work 6 days a week. The car recently started to make that sort of 'I need power steering fluid' sound from the steering column. I checked the fluid, it's full.
Now I'm more convinced that it's coming from the front passenger side wheel. It's just a plastic rubbing plastic sort of straining sound, not very loud, but what could it be? I'm as gentle on the car as I can possibly be, but I do need to get shocks and struts soon.

That's pretty much it, but damn, when you don't feel like you can't do anything about it or you've tried and it didn't work. It really sucks. It would be great if there were a shop in the area willing to take on an apprentice, I'm dying to learn more about how to fix more problems so that I don't feel like it's the end of the world.

The 'in a nutshell story' about the old stang that I loved more than life: An accident on a bad road where they had construction ahead. A giant extended cab Chevy silverado swerved in front of me and slammed on his breaks.

Yikes! New radiator, new front clip, new side panels... bought em all. Car was parked in the driveway, being worked on, mostly by myself. Even got the hood on, by myself, primed and sprayed all the panels, when some idiot kids in the neighborhood, that they never caught, set the car on fire while I was bartending that night, Along with the neighbor's shed.
I'll never forget how depressed I was for months. Never thought I'd ever have the opportunity to drive the same car again.
But enough of my 'lil sob story, I want to fix this car. If anyone can help with the troubleshooting, I'd appreciate it very much.
Love my stang.