Hidden in plain sight ign. switch for AD trucks

Buildin' an old Chevy truck for my dad. We wanted to use as much of the old dash, gauges, switches, etc as we could. Problem was the old ign. switch does not have a start position. It's only on or off. I really didn't want to use a cheap, made over seas replacement. So I hid the ign. switch behind the old choke cable.
Here's a pic of the parts. The old choke knob with the cable cut off, a brake light switch from a Chevy C 10 truck, a couple of springs, a length of pipe, a couple of fine thread nuts, and a washer.

I pulled the knob out of the tube and cut here.

After I cut the tube off I put the knob back in, loaded the springs over the shaft, compressed the springs slightly, and made a mark to cut the shaft off.

After I cut the shaft off I compressed the springs with a pair of needle nose vise grips, positioned the washer at the end of the shaft and welded it to the shaft through the hole. Then I took it to the grinder and ground down the washer to leave just a small shoulder to retain the springs.

Here's a pic of the spring loaded choke knob.

Next I took the length of pipe and welded the nuts to each end.

Here's a pic of the assembled switch.

And finally here's a pic of it in the dash. Now after you turn the key on you just pull the knob to start the engine. I suppose the "C" could now stand for crank. I will probably use this switch to fire a pilot relay as I'm not sure of it's amp rating.

 

Perfect. Gonna use this idea for sure! Thanks.

 

this place is full of idears
looks good

 

Yes sir,,I think that is a clever move.

 

American Ingenuity at it's best.......great idea for the memory bank

 

Nice idea. I like it.

 

very slick

 

That's cool. I just went and added a simple chrome starter button on the dash of my Studebaker to get rid of the clutch pedal starter. Never even thought to do something tricky like that, but that looks nice.

 

An option is like my MG has
Pull cable and switch oem
Moss motors link here shows at top left
http://www.moss-europe.co.uk/Graphi...s/Morris-Minor-fascia-switches-controls_1.gif

 

The nice thing about this was I just used stuff I had layin' around. It could be adapted to many old cars as most had cables on the dash.

 

Good idea, nice, useage of the stoplight switch. I believe you will find most brake light circuits are 20 amp, therefore that switch should be rated at 20 amp.

 

FWIW, the lock cylinder is interchangable on most of your 1966 or so and older GM ignitions, and the threads that mount them are also the same, so if your ignition has no Start or no Accessory position, just get one out of a '60s vehicle that did have them and run that, you should be able to install it like it grew there in the first place. It does help if you can get one out of a parts car and cut the plug off with some pigtails to splice it into your harness, since that's one place that changed quite frequently.

 

Very neat. What a slick way to utilize unused cable controls.

 

Really slick.

 

"C" for C-neaky!
and cool!

 

Great idea, and that should help keep others from starting the truck since they don't know how!

 

Yeah, that's kinda what I had in mind.

 

thats an awesome Idea, really like it

 

This idea is really cool and I like how you're using original items too. Would it be a good idea to have it wired so you have some sort of lockout/safety so someone doesn't grab it and pull it and activates the starter when you don't want it to? Just a thought...

 

Very cool idea! On my 50, I plan on keeping the choke cable and original style key switch still working, but instead of a foot starter, I will pull the Throttle cable and in place of it, use a push button like this one:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PCO-5509PT/?rtype=10

I drove an early 50's Ford Custom pickup with this setup, and I really liked it.

 

sweet dude

 

can this same idea be used in one of the radio knobs too? a guy could have a non operating radio and use one of the radio knobs for the ign.

 

Not necessary. Power will first go through the key switch then to the choke / start switch. So, you would have to first insert the key and turn it on before the choke / start switch will do anything. Without the key, you can pull on it all you want and it will do nothing.

 

Yeah, I don't see why not. It would be cool to use one of the push button presets for the start. In one of my old trucks I took the old radio out, took the face off, and mounted it along with the buttons on a piece of sheet metal with a small bulb to light the old dial up and reinstalled it in the dash. The modern radio was hidden behind the old speaker grill which was hinged.

 

Not just cool, completely unexpected! That's what tech week is about!

 

Cool Tech idea.

 

Did a similar thing in reverse with a cigarette lighter. Removed the element and when you pushed it in, made contact for the switch. Definitely use a relay, those switches are made for much lighter current.

 

Thats a neat idea,thanks for the tech and pics

 

very sweet!! hey count i actually used to live in murfreesborotn, worked at maxi muffler welding up exhausts every saturday !!

 

Novel approach!