How about some ideas on a transmission neutral safety switch in a non-standard
(land speed racer) configuration. I'm not interested in a fancy drag race
style shifter with ratchets, lockouts, etc. I want a very simple shifter - I'm
thinking of using a discarded 3-speed Hurst, hooking the R-1 arm to the Turbo
350 transmission for simple straight froward and backward movement to put the
transmission in gear and out of gear. I'm considering a swing down, hinged
gate so that once the motor is running, the transmission is moved to Neutral,
the gate is dropped down, and the lever can only engage Neutral and Drive.
I'm thinking of using a mechanical arm, brake light switch (now sold by Flaming
River and/or Lokar, but used to be stock on 53-54 Chevy). When shifter is in
Park position, it activates the switch, and it is wired from hot - through
switch- to starter button.
As an alternative, I'm also thinking about mounting the starter button itself
on the side of the shifter housing, and adjusting the two shifter arms so that
when the R-1 lever is where the auto trans is in Park, the shifter lever can be
moved to the right through the shifter gate, and the side of the shifter arm
itself would physically push in the starter button. I.E., once in Park, push
the lever to the right and it would engage the starter.
I am pretty sure that no matter what I use for a switch, I will go with that
hinged drop down shifter gate though. I hate to admit it, but I ran Maxton in
second gear one time. I didn't want to move the shifter during the run because
I wasn't really sure what gear I was in. I just knew my RPM climbed awfully
fast, and I peaked awfully soon! Only after the run did I figure out what had
happened. I yanked the lever a little too hard at the start line, and Bam! -
second instead of drive! The hinged gate would prevent that from ever
happening again.
Any comments on these ideas? Anybody got other ideas?
Dick J
In East Texas
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