guys,
i now have all my blinker / tail / brake lights working.....
i received my new blinker housing and switch from classic parts today, installed it and everything is working fine. tested it about 25 times.
in the beginning i had bad grounds, and that was causing the lighting of both elements in the 1157 bulb when only hitting the brakes or only headlights, but after i got the grounds fixed, i was having erratic light functions. turned out it was the blinker switch.
thanks to all, especially squeeze.
leonard