On Sun, 21 May 1995 S1500@aol.com wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> The recent thread on starting your car in neutral etc. reminded me
> of a "feature" on my '75 Spit. While inspecting the tranny some
> time ago, I discovered an extra switch attached near the gear
> selector. This appeared to be <neutral-detection-switch>.
> ...Although disabled by a PO, it appears
> that you would have to have:
> a) your seat belt fastened
> b) you passenger's (if present) belt fastened.
> c) tranny in neutral
> before you could start the car. The passenger <seat-belt-switch>
> and the <seat-belt-neutral-switch> appear to have been deleted in
> the later '75s and onward.
> Bob Sykes
> 75, 78, 78 Spitfires
Ah, yes Bob. The immortal 1974 U.S. Federal seatbelt interlock. Mom had
one on the Volvo she bought new that year. It actually worked for
several years, one of the few reliable electric/electronic bits on that
car. :-(
I had a 1974 Spitfire back around 1989-90. It, too, had the same sort of
interlock. Unfortunately, after a while, the SMITHS module that
controlled it became somewhat tempermental, finally to a point where the
interlock became the ultimate safety device -- you couldn't start the
car even if you, your passenger, your luggage and the tarp on the nearby
woodpile were all properly strapped down. Bypassing the module with a
nice little piece of wire from key switch to solenoid took care of the
problem.
Sadly for us here in the USofA, some of these market-specific,
short-term wiring nightmares were not as well documented in the workshop
manuals as they might have been.
Andy Mace
|