Jay,
I had a similar problem with my Cobra's hydraulic brake light
switch. More pedal pressure than is normally required in street
traffic was needed to turn the brake lights on. Actually this is
kind of a generic problem for Cobras, because the gearing is so
low. At 80 MPH, the engine is running at about 4k RPM. Engine
braking does about 95% of the stopping in street traffic.
I tried replacing the switch, but it didn't make any difference. Since
I'm a cheapskate, I came up with a very inexpensive and simple
solution. I bought a limit switch at a local hardware store. This
is a switch with a long metal tab for the switching mechanism. I
mounted it so the back of the brake pedal arm presses on the
tab and holds the switch "on".
The switch can be wired to be normally-on or normally-off. I
wired it for normally-on. In other words, the switch conducts
current when the pedal is pressed and the arm is no longer in contact
with the tab. I don't know what the pedal setup is like on your
Alpine, but on my Cobra I didn't need a bracket to mount the switch
on. In fact it's held in place on an adjacent frame tube with nylon
cable ties.
As for the wiring, I ran extra wires from the limit switch to the
hydraulic switch and connected them in parallel with that switch's
terminals.
Actually I'm on the second switch now. I managed to mangle the
first one while doing some brake work a couple of years ago. But
the first one did last more than 10 years.
Roland
On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 14:45:05 -0800 Jay_Laifman@countrywide.com writes:
> I was actually thinking of using an old door light switch for it.
> I've
> got one and it has a very light spring mechanism. I actually have
> two
> Rootes factory original GT ones, but thought I'd use one from
> another car!
>
> I'm not sure I understand about the wires in the passenger
> compartment.
> Are there two leads that will complete the circuit? If so, what
> about the
> wires next to the hydraulic switch? Do they need to be connected?
> Left
> separate? Any idea what colors these extra wires are? My wiring
> harness
> is from a very late SV Alpine - though it is in a S3 body.
>
> Jay
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